PrintType Designers Amused at Street Cart's Typography
Not only was NYC's Calexico Cart a favorite among judges at this year's Vendy Awards, type-design team Nick and Adam Hayes name it as one of their favorites—but for reasons other than its food:
We’ve also found this strange use of Monark for a street vendor selling Mexican food [in Soho, New York City]. They used Monark for the menu and the logotype. I have no idea why a street vendor would use Monark to promote their services, because it was a typeface originally designed for a magazine. We love waiting and watching for our typefaces to pop up in the strangest places. This has got to be one of our favorites!
This item, from Print magazine's "Good Type Gone Bad" column (which analyzes strange typeface choices) also has designer Sami Kortemäki talking about McDonald's use of a typeface he co-designed. [Fourth and seventh items.]
Related: Calexico Cart Review
Calexico Cart
SE Corner of Prince and Wooster Streets, New York NY 10012 (map)
calexicocart.com
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8 Comments:
RE: "I have no idea why a street vendor would use Monark to promote their services, because it was a typeface originally designed for a magazine." Are you serious? Me think the type designers need to realize that nobody pays as much attention as they do to something so mundane. The most important thing (in addition to the food) on a food cart is being able to read what has been written on the menu. If a clean, sans serif font serves the purpose it matters not that it was created for a magazine or the side of an airplane. Maybe they need to get out of the office more than once a year.
steveTV at 7:54PM on 12/15/08
I dunno, I think it's kind of cool. If I was responsible for creating something and saw that someone liked it enough to use it for a purpose I never intended, I'd be pretty tickled myself. =)
kfarrel3 at 8:37PM on 12/15/08
LOL, steve, you are totally right and I was thinking the exact same thing. (And for full disclosure, no offense type nerds, my day job is graphic design.)
simon at 9:00PM on 12/15/08
One of the brothers who runs the Calexico cart also has a day job at a marketing agency as a graphic designer. Mystery solved.
kathryn at 9:55PM on 12/15/08
That's awesome. *kicks self in ass*
simon at 10:14PM on 12/15/08
The fact that I LOVED this post and the fact that someone from Serious Eats found this topic interesting enough to talk about further illustrates one thing: Foodies are f*&$ing nerds.
PumpkinBear at 11:21PM on 12/15/08
I think Calexico used Monark nicely. I don't have a problem with it, and in fact, think it's quite successful.
JustNancy at 12:13PM on 12/16/08
I think the font works very well which was the point of retorting the "designed for a magazine" comment. If something works it doesn't matter what the original intent was. Yes, foodies are more than willing to give their opinion on anything. By the way, happy National Chocolate Covered Anything Day.
steveTV at 7:51PM on 12/16/08