Walked into a coffee shop in Denver and their logo made me leave

The whole brand was this messy handwritten font that looked like a 5th grader scribbled it, and it was impossible to read from the street. I almost walked into the wrong place because the sign blended into the brick wall behind it. Has anyone else bailed on a business just because their branding was impossible to read from the sidewalk?

2 comments

2 Comments

lucas15921h ago

Yeah that whole "artsy over functional" thing really hits home. I mean, I remember driving around trying to find this new taco place everyone was talking about, and they had this giant mural of a skeleton holding a taco but the name was in this tiny cursive font hidden in the corner. I literally drove past it three times before I gave up and went to Chipotle instead. Maybe it's just me but it feels like some designers are more worried about their portfolio photos than actually helping the business sell stuff. Like cool, your sign looks great on Instagram, but nobody can find your store from the sidewalk so what's the point you know

kim.hannah1d ago

This is basically modern design's obsession with being "artsy" over being functional. Take a walk through any downtown area and count how many storefronts prioritize looking cool on Instagram instead of actually being readable from five feet away. It's like businesses forgot that your store sign's first job is to tell people what you are, not to be a conversation piece at design school.