The New Taxi Logo is Blobby

the new NYC taxi logo on a Lexus 400 Hybrid; from NYC TLC website

We began seeing the 'new' New York City Taxi logo on cabs around town earlier this week. At first we thought it was possibly a film car from a movie shoot, imported from a place where the prop master had never seen a real New York cab and was winging it when he painted it. Or a rogue medallion owner decided to violate Taxi & Limousine Commission specs and give his car a makeover. Either way, until we saw several more (and by Friday night the infestation had gone critical), we never considered that this could be the new standard. Why? Because the logo is, well, just so damn...blobby.

We used 'new' in quotes here because the previous NYC Taxi logo was not a logo at all. It was either a decal in 50 point Helvetica or a spray-painted stencil reading "NYC Taxi". So the idea of a logo treatment is very appealing. The old identifiers had all the panache of army surplus vehicles or Chinatown delivery trucks.

But the new look - created gratis for the city by Smart Design, a brand identity and design shop who's created some fantastically-elegant products (OXO kitchenware, XM's SKYFI receiver) and brand communication (Simple Human's branding and packaging) - is heavy and awkward. At a glance, it looks like someone painted it freehand with a too-large brush. Or stenciled it with too much black paint, which oozed in all directions.

We're no typographers, but the "NYC" portion looks like a variant on the old Varsity font (outline removed), turned ultra-bold and short-tracked until the letters run together. Super blobby.

The "TAXI" portion consists of a rounded sans-serif "T" (different font) knocked out of a big black circle (ripping off the MTA's subway line designators?), and the "AXI" in positive lettering that's been pushed away by the big black circle to the point that "AXI" reads as a separate word. Mediabistro nailed it: "Sir, can you call me a T-Axi?"

For the record, we love the checkerboard reference on the rear quarter panel. The fading checker pattern looks like a graphic representation of a bitstream, and makes the cab look like its going fast, even when its locked in the Holland Tunnel approach lane on a Friday afternoon. The fare panel, which is also a decent modernization of the old barber-shop menu decal, swaps positions with the new logo and lives on the rear passenger doors where it belongs. But the pricing info (which competes for space with a cute-but-unnecessary cab hailing person icon) is impossibly small; possibly it was made intentionally illegible, given the two recent fare increases.

Sorry to be so critical (though that's what we do best, isn't it?), but when you set out to redesign something as iconic as the look of an NYC Taxi, its important to get it right. Given the pace of change at the TLC, we'll likely be stuck with the blobby taxi logos for decades to come.

Edge Fence has Gone Ghetto

We've been hating on the Williamsburg Edge development's logo-wrapped construction fence since it first went up last spring. The two-block site fronting on Kent Avenue sports a cyclone fence swaddled in a vinyl mesh scrim that's slathered with inane (and occasionally nauseating) marketing slogans aimed at convincing prospective buyers that living in a riverfront high-rise with a 11211 zip will allow them to partake in whatever vestige of 'cool' that might remain when the development opens in 2009.

Examples of the blather we've been staring out at for the better part of a year:

ROCK
Indy Bands + Stone Countertops

Huh?

SHOP
The Hippest Zip Code + The Coolest Dress Code

Ewww!

Anyway, to be fair, to-date the Edge's site has been one of the cleaner, more professionally-run construction sites in the neighborhood (trust us, that ain't sayin much).

But the winter winds, regular douchings of road salt, and general Williamsburg grime have taken their toll. The fence is caving in in several places, the scrims are tattered and dirty, signage is broken and dangling. The thing has become an eyesore that deserves to be spruced up before their sales office opens across the street in a few weeks.

The Splasher IS American Apparel?

the paste was still wet

Imnotsayin was this close to nabbing the Splasher in mid-pasting tonight: we shot these pics of his latest work on North 6th in Williamsburg while the paste was still wet. Or were we?

Even at first glance, the latest batch of posters is strange:

• The new posters appear paint-splashed. The Splasher splashes others' art, and posts clean manifesto posters alongside. It doesn't make sense for him to splash his own work.

• On closer inspection, the splashes are part of the print. In fact, the posters are identical color copies or color prints; most likely from a digital photo of a real Splasher posting. The entire print has a pinkish cast and all the postings have identical "paint splashes", integral to the print.

• The dead giveaway: all the new posters have an American Apparel snipe - a black band that overlays everything, including the fake paint splash. The snipe says "Try This!" alongside what appears to be an actual American Apparel advertising still - logo and all. The photo itself is "splashed" with an exact (tiny) version of the large "paint splash".

Here's our theory:

American Apparel IS the Splasher. Their clever marketing department cooked up the original Manifesto and began posting it and splashing prominent Faile, Obey, Banksy, etc works in key AA neighborhoods - the Lower East Side and Williamsburg, knowing it would spark a controversy among hipsters and artists.

Much to American Apparel's delight, prominent NY news outlets including New York Magazine and the NY Times picked up the story. The Times has run two stories, including a huge splash (sorry) on the front of Thursday's Metro section.

Delighted by the unexpected press, American Apparel decides to cash out, hiring a local street artist to paste up the mashed-up ads, and exposing itself as the culprit.

Naturally, they'll deny everything - after all, graffiti in all forms is still technically a crime, isn't it? But they'll reap plenty of publicity, and unlike the recent Aquateen/Mooninite debacle in Boston, pasteup graffiti isn't often mistaken for improvised explosive devices...

That, or the Splasher's gone corporate on us.

Either way, we'll get them him next time...

More American Apparel / Splasher Love [Flickr]

Previously on imnotsayin:

Paint Job Failes to Curb Street Art: Take That to the Banksy

Williamsburg Graffiti War Rages On; Dadaist Manifesto as Rationale for Destruction

Marketing that Barges Right In

We've been known to dabble in unconventional marketing strategies (hey, it pays better than blogging, k?) so we're always on the lookout for virgin territory for plastering up a good tagline or corporate logo.

Dow Chemical, the friendly folks who brought you Bhopal, napalm, and breast implants, obliged us with the first barge-based ad we've seen. Our formerly promotion-free view of the East River was finally brought up to snuff today by this smallish (by barge standards) floating billboard featuring Dow's "Human Element" campaign tagline.

The tug and barge combo - readable by land-lubbing consumers with high-powered lenses - made several passes, competing with Starbucks' annoying Tangerine Frappuccino banner plane (which can be read by the naked eye).

The campaign (FCB Chicago) "is about reconnecting the company with the faces and values of the people Dow touches in a positive way" and features images of "real
people rather than professional actors". Unfortunately for the real person whose face is on the barge, the real-world need to use blow-through vinyl mesh to keep the banner from being ripped apart by the wind means you can't really see him. Maybe Dow can whip something up in their lab?

closeup of the Good Ship Dow

I've Seen the Future

and the future is, well, bright. And full of moms and little kids.

imjustsayin headed down Kent Avenue yesterday to inspect the new East River esplanade and Water Taxi landing behind the Shaefer Landing complex just south of the Williamsburg Bridge. Frankly I was generally impressed with the aesthetic - the waterfront access was a key aspect of the long-fought Williamsburg/Greenpoint rezone that took place last year and is enabling much of the present building boom in these parts.

The faux paving stone walk and modern street furniture is reminiscent of that found in its Husdon River Park cousin. A bit light on shade trees, but it is brand-spanking new so we'll be patient. I made two trips down there in the late afternoon, and both times found the walk crowded with Southside Moms and their kids, enjoying their first taste of neighborhood waterfront access.

By the way, there's a very subtle, brushed-aluminum plaque with a funky acquatic 'W' and a TEENY TINY "Department of City Planning" imprint installed near the entrance on Kent. You can see it in the linked Flickr set. Has anyone seen this logo anywhere else in the city?

Naturally, the upscale residential complex features its own - gated - courtyard, cleverly elevated above the public promenade so as to afford its residents their own, um, meditative river view.

The Water Taxi from 34th Street landed right on time, at the height of rush hour, and dropped one happy commuter off. The MTA can take heart; that's one less body on the L train...

imjustsayin's shaefer landing photo expedition