molly.com
Wednesday 13 July 2005
Portland Typographic Style
Well, I’m in Portland, Oregon for WebVisions 2005 as well as a workshop at Portland State University tomorrow. Walking around the city with a friend last night, I became very fascinated by the many interesting uses of type in various signage - particularly for hotels and cafes.
I’ve collected a few favorites here, and I’m curious if this is something I’m finding especially obvious here in Portland or if I’ve just been asleep at the wheel in every city I’ve been in over the past years!
Here’s Intelligent Design, an interior design company:
Saucebox, a restaurant - (which would also make a great name for a band):
I love this one! Good Dog, Bad Dog: Sausages for All:
I ate there, a big juicy Polish dog with horseradish, swiss cheese and grilled onion. Oh lordy it was bad. For my arteries, that is. The sausage was excellent.
The signage at my hotel is wonderful. Actually, my hotel is quite wonderful - Hotel Lucia, a boutique hotel in downtown Portland. It boasts 600 of Pulitzer Prize winning photos from the fantastic photographer David Hume Kennerly. Every hallway and room is a gallery, it’s great!
The hotel sign outside:
Room 411:
And this is amusing - the hotel’s unique take on “do not disturb” . . .
. . . and “please make up this room”:
Of course, there are a lot more examples, but I think this shows a bit of what I’m getting at. Also, I realize these photos are quite small but I wanted to post on this. I’ll be Flickr’ing more photos (note that Flickr’ing is now a verb, too) as I get them organized in between work and what-not, and many of the ones in my soon-to-be Portland2005 set will offer larger views than those available in this entry.
So back to the question at hand: Is it just me, or is Portland really a designer’s town, and does that explain the interesting typography everywhere?
Filed under: web design and development, photos, travel
Posted by: Molly | 7:20 pm |
July 13th, 2005 at 7:57 pm
You’re just hanging around the nice part of town. I’ve lived here 15 years and while I love it to death, most of Portland is really ugly.
We do have some nice design, though.
July 13th, 2005 at 8:28 pm
Welcome to Portland. We’re very happy to have you here for Web Visions. Five of the designers at my company are attending your workshop tomorrow, and they’re very excited!
Portland does have a lot of places with good typography. I drive past an upholstery store that I have a desire to frequent solely because of the typography in the sign.
July 14th, 2005 at 6:57 am
This has nothing to do with design, but while you’re there, check out the Red Star (if it’s still around). Delicious food, especially the chevre.
July 14th, 2005 at 6:59 am
Good turtle, bad turtle!
July 14th, 2005 at 8:24 am
Snow and I just moved to Portland in March, and I think the first commenter is dead wrong. Just about every area I’ve been to for eating, shopping, etc. has great examples of design-in-action, whether it’s the New Seasons market on NE 33rd, the shops on Alberta St. (where we live), downtown (NW), SE, or even in the outskirts of Troutdale. It’s happening!
July 14th, 2005 at 9:15 am
no molly, you haven’t been asleep. portland is particularly funky … i stopped over on my way to mt hood for a conference. wish i could have stayed longer.
July 14th, 2005 at 10:01 am
Robert — Okay, maybe I overstated it. Let’s say Portland has some nicely-designed parts of town. Still, take a stroll up Sandy Blvd. or down 82nd sometime. It’s depressing.
Like I said, I love Portland, and we do have a lot of nice design to appreciate, but at least for me, it lacks the “city feel” I get visiting Toronto, or San Francisco, or even Seattle.
Partly it has to do with the number of people actually out on the streets in those other cities. There, sidewalks are crowded with people shopping, or eating at outdoor cafes. Portland has small areas like that (NW 23rd, small strips of Hawthorne and Alberta, the Pearl District) but it’s just not as lively and cultured—the city as a whole—as those larger cities.
Of course, maybe I only spend time in the lively, cultured areas of those other cities.
July 14th, 2005 at 11:17 am
“I ate there, a big juicy Polish dog with horseradish, swiss cheese and grilled onion.”
I’m so hungry.
July 14th, 2005 at 5:32 pm
How coincidental, I ate at Good Dog/Bad Dog yesterday too. The Magma Dog, done “Face Melter” style, is the thing to get if you like it hot.
Looking forward to your talk tomorrow.
July 14th, 2005 at 8:34 pm
Okay… this post doesn;t have anything to do with Portland either. I just wanted to let you know, Molly, that I’ve had it with the Flickr.com people getting away with using my name without paying me any $$$ for it. So, as revenge, I decided to sue them.
You can read all about it starting on Tuesday the 26th over at CommunityMX.com.
Oh, did I mention you were go to guest star again????
0:-)
Remember, Tuesday, July 26th!
:-)
Chris Flick!
July 14th, 2005 at 8:36 pm
Although I should mention that YOUR guest appearance won’t appear until August 23. Sorry.
-Chris
July 15th, 2005 at 7:33 pm
I’m happy that you had such an appropriate takeaway from your visit.
Portland is very much a design town, driven partly by the proximity of Nike — a famous training ground for young designers on their way up.
I think it also has something to do with the strong DIY music scene here, which generates an amazing tide of poster art.
Another factor is no doubt the consciously pedestrian-friendly downtown, an ethos which has gradually leaked out to other neighborhoods (and other cities).
July 26th, 2005 at 4:57 am
Nice photos of some of PDX, I like it there… well, when it’s not raining. Oops, hang-on, I guess I don’t like it there…
It’s a far cry from smalltown PA; good food, lots of stuff for a web geek to do. A far cry from smalltown PA…
May 24th, 2006 at 4:58 pm
Very Very nice information here… Thanks
August 13th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
I couldn’t understand some parts of this article Portland Typographic Style, but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.
April 7th, 2008 at 2:38 am
it is easy to find it, i think u just search on google or yahoo
April 8th, 2008 at 6:41 am
but, i think it is another thing which you have
April 8th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
i like it
April 8th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
interesting, thanks
April 9th, 2008 at 6:53 am
do you know everything about css?
April 9th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
how can i find everything about css?
April 10th, 2008 at 5:34 am
what do you want to learn about css? we can help easily
April 11th, 2008 at 8:52 am
i want learn too, i want start at the beginning of css
April 21st, 2008 at 2:44 pm
it is good t see u
April 21st, 2008 at 6:55 pm
thats the matter i want to learn
April 21st, 2008 at 11:03 pm
ok,thanks
April 24th, 2008 at 6:26 am
hi, umit. how is going on