A dozen top theme park art directors could not come up with a place like this beloved and wacky restaurant. Festooned wall to wall and front to back with posters, photos, historic objects, menu suggestions and colorful objects, the ‘delly’ is the Main Street delight of historic Annapolis, Maryland. Tight,… Read more »
Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America By Eric Larson (Crown, 2004) Combining the story of the design and construction of the seminal 1893 Chicago World Exposition with an actual murder mystery of the same era, this page-turner is a must for… Read more »
As visually engaging as some public art installations, these super-graphic warnings are seen on sidewalks in downtown Los Angeles. So, while you are enjoying the dramatic graphics, the doors may suddenly open, sending you down into industrial basement purgatory. It’s the ‘old trap door in the sidewalk’ public art gag.
(originally posted to FAILblog.org)
The City of Ventura sign code prevents this local cafe from using an existing signpost and panel to advertise its little shop. Like many cities, Ventura often restricts the size of a sign to be commensurate with the shop it represents. Likely, this sign was built prior to a city code barring… Read more »
There are a lot of great and appropriate places to display our national flag, but stenciled on a curb is not one of them. The “flag should never touch the ground” concept is pretty much obliterated by the well-meaning, but ignorant companies that will, for a donation, gladly stencil your… Read more »
Talk about your animated signs! We often say that a human being is the best directional sign. Here, we get a sign and a person. And we get motion – real human powered animation. Occasionally annoying, but often entertaining. And so far, the sign codes haven’t figured out how to… Read more »
We’ll line up for almost anything, but seldom for art. Here, on New York’s High Line, artist Richard Galpin has ‘em waiting in line to look through his clever stencil-cut panel that aligns architectural features in the background with cut-out forms in the art (foreground).
Embodying many of the characteristics of the trendy term ‘total design,’ M&Ms are surely one of the best-designed candies. First, M&Ms are colorful, a rainbow of pure primary and secondary hues enhanced by a gleaming high gloss finish. M&Ms are modular — each piece is a perfect round and sculptural… Read more »
Small bits of animated color add much to any environment. Color provides depth, definition and drama to otherwise neutral vistas. Color is counterpoint and contrast. Take out color and the resulting monochrome scene is just not the same.