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November 22, 2004
DeLux
A tiny restaurant in the south end. After waiting an hour for a table there once, we were then informed that they were out of the ingredients for about 50% of the menu.... All the same, the place's identity is quite striking in the context of its neighborhood which maintains a painfully tasteful and traditional (though admittedly beautiful) Boston aesthetic of brick, bay windows, and colonial ironwork. As a result the white-on-bright-red characters of the DeLux sign positively scream, despite the fact that they would be virtually invisible were the storefront on mass ave or commonwealth.
I particularly like the contrast of the red squares against the dark green paint of the door and shutters. And within the cells of the signs itself, the white of the characters stands out quite starkly, but the effect is considerably more calming than it would be were the red and white reversed. Also perfectly chosen for playing up the disconnect between the restaurant's graphic identity and that of the surrounding neighborhood is the typeface---a mid-century modernist sans serif. It is overwhelmingly unadorned and makes for yet another interesting contrast between its own minimalism and the comparatively ornamented entrances and walkways nearby. The one interesting feature of the font itself is the `e' character whose outline is almost perfectly rounded as it turns in upon itself.
Posted by cds at November 22, 2004 01:18 PM