Why does every coffee shop in Austin use the same minimalist poster style?

I stopped into Radio Coffee on Menchaca last weekend and counted 5 posters on their wall that all looked identical - thin sans-serif type, single flat color, tons of empty space. It felt like someone just copied the same formula from 2015 and never thought about standing out. Has anyone else noticed this trend killing local character in signage?

2 comments

2 Comments

noah_black1d ago

elliot_harris25 hit it on the head with "blends together". That's exactly it. I was at a place up in Seattle last year called Victrola and they had this old school hand-painted sign for their espresso that was all crooked lines and chipped paint. But now even they switched to that same flat sans-serif poster look. It's like someone decided coffee shops need to look like Apple stores before they opened for the day.

elliot_harris252d ago

I read somewhere that this design trend started with big tech company offices and then bled into coffee shops. They wanted that clean, no-distraction look. But it all blends together now. Radio Coffee is a good example. Their old menu board had character, now it's just another poster that looks like every other shop's.