I guess we are bombarded with images and advertising all day long, from morning until night, and one place a I spend a few hours a week, and I always hope I’ll get some half decent design with my serving of advertising, is the TTC. I take the subway about 8 trips a week and spend about 3 hours total in (mostly) subways and stations.
To be completely fair, the TTC has been plagued with terrible design. They have little fashion sense and miss opportunities to make income from their brand and logos (via their boutiques or websites), and the information graphics are notoriously horrid and almost patronizing (ie “How to hold a handrail while on escalator”).
A week ago I saw one of the first nicely designed ads, with a little cleverness and a little color, that I’ve seen in what seems an eternity. This photo was taken with my cellphone in High Park station, at platform level. It’s a pretty decent attempt at a well-designed ad to encourage ridership that utilizes the typical subway route image to an overall nice effect.
It seems Toronto streets have had some fresh new postal boxes appearing in the last few months. I spotted a couple on Carlton and King and took these quick snaps with my cellphone. I let out a big “Wow!” and had to stop and investigate when I realized the new colorful all-over wrap design with postal codes was meant to discourage taggers and other vandals. I don’t know if it will stop people from postering the boxes but I bet it will deter the marker taggers quite a bit. An impressive design that adds a little flair and color to the streets – and ironically/interestingly is a concept directly influenced by graffiti.
