Helvetica premiered at SXSW and is selling out wherever it plays; it’s also receiving rave reviews.

OK, Logo Cities is finally up and running. It’s not perfect, and there’s a lot more we want to do with it, but there you go. Any and all feedback appreciated. I also got interviewed by the Montreal Mirror (article here) and Urbania magazine about sign heritage.

The first phase of the Logo Cities project is nearing completion. The interface, above, features four different, panoramic views of the city of Montreal. These can be viewed as they appear at night or during the day. Clicking on a prominent logo on the skyline brings up some basic information about that sign, and, ultimately, a short contextual commentary. Due for an initial launch at www.logocities.org in late May.

(Readers who have arrived here via an article in Concordia’s Thursday Report should note that, alas, I am an assistant professor of communication studies, not an associate professor.)

The way each of us relates to cities depends, to some degree, on the familiar (or not so familiar) skylines that greet us when we arrive via road, rail or air. Although these urban skylines are usually described by an orchestrated jumble of high-rise buildings, another key component – especially at night – is the gallery of illuminated logos, brandnames and trademarks that mark off key institutions and entities. In combination, these graphic symbols can be as particular to one city as the silhouette of an especially expressive building (the Gateway Arch in St Louis; Toronto’s CN Tower).

The image, above, was drawn, without coaxing, by my seven-year old daughter. (What you can’t tell from the picture alone is that she adopted a purposely naive, storybook tone in order to fill in the pages of her new Hello Kitty notebook.) This particular page is a rendering of our adopted home, Montreal. For her, the CBC tower is emblematic of the city: something uniquely Canadian and familiar (we drive by it often enough; some of her favorite shows are also on the CBC). I’m intrigued by the fact that she didn’t attempt to draw the ubiquitous CBC logo that is actually to be found on the tower – and all over the TV. The logo was designed in 1974 by Burton Kramer.

My current project involves exploring Montreal from this graphic perspective, from the huge illuminated crucifix on the Mountain to the old Farine Five Roses sign down by the river. The first objective is to log as many of these signs as possible and to provide some historical background in terms of graphic design/public signage, as opposed to ‘pure’ architecture. More soon.