multilingual streets

Un dia en Quinta Avenida de Brooklyn

Un dia en Quinta Avenida de Brooklyn

As I walk on the 5av in Brooklyn, I feel as If I am constantly surrounded by mass-produced, hand mande signage and typography. I see brightly colored, large scale lettering adorns restaurant and shop windows, walls, almost everywhere. The typography is richly textured from the surfaces they are printed on and from the distress of the elements

Not only does the typography speak to traditional Latin American styles, but also does the entire environment. Spanish people painted everything in bright color. I almost felt like I was in another country.

Latin American design is a reflection of the rampant street art scene: colorful, tantalizing, soulful, and a bit naive. The letters of the storefronts are imperfect and inconsistent. They are commercial with no pretensions toward institutional neutrality or modernist simplicity. But the contrasting colors, wacky typography and energetic shapes really entertained people, aren’t they?

We love

neons

We love

neons

The owners of these restaurants and stores did not forget about consumers’ children. I saw a lot of vintage electronic rocking horses in front of the stores. The sound or the music also made me feel like in another world.

Latin America is blessed with a fertile culture of urban street art that provides many young people with a way to exercise their freedom of expression and thought. There are also graffiti artists who help to build communities and advance urban renewal.

These posters I found on the wall do not seem so nice. Too much color and text make the information on the ads look so confused.

Mappingthe worldof colors

50th st 5av

60th st 5av