Drawing by Travis Olson, Center for Historic Architecture and Design
|
Chicago’s Devon Avenue has a multi-layered sense of place that can neither be captured by a snapshot study of buildings and landscapes nor by a sociological study of its people. Instead, this project suggests a multipronged strategy where time becomes a central unit of analysis as we unpack the social and spatial complexity of this thoroughfare. Intertwined Cultures strives to discover and tell that story of Devon Avenue.
|
Signage on Devon Avenue
The landscape of Devon Avenue is a curious mix of hyper visible and invisible, permanent and transient spaces, not easily seen by outside observers. Contemporary Devon Avenue, between Ridge Avenue and California Avenue, is touted as merely “a global marketplace” by a popular advertisement campaign undertaken by the local chamber of commerce.
Stores selling South Asian garments, food, jewelry, electronic items, and luggage, together with the ebb and flow of crowds of shoppers of South Asian origin, make this street unique. The stores utilize an abundance of visual information in the form of signage to attract and communicate with customers. The visual culture of signs transform this retail street into a unique South Asian immigrant space. The character of this street has been described as cluttered and disorderly and the city government has tried to work with local businesses in order to organize the street signage.
This research argues that the material culture of this street has its own generative logic. In order to understand and analyze patterns that organize the signs and visual character of Devon Avenue we identified and studied the building facades on a series of street blocks. Our research organized the street signage into four categories based on permanence or longevity, function or use, material and construction details, and extent of protrusion from the wall plane.
Stores selling South Asian garments, food, jewelry, electronic items, and luggage, together with the ebb and flow of crowds of shoppers of South Asian origin, make this street unique. The stores utilize an abundance of visual information in the form of signage to attract and communicate with customers. The visual culture of signs transform this retail street into a unique South Asian immigrant space. The character of this street has been described as cluttered and disorderly and the city government has tried to work with local businesses in order to organize the street signage.
This research argues that the material culture of this street has its own generative logic. In order to understand and analyze patterns that organize the signs and visual character of Devon Avenue we identified and studied the building facades on a series of street blocks. Our research organized the street signage into four categories based on permanence or longevity, function or use, material and construction details, and extent of protrusion from the wall plane.
FunctionThere are various types of signs along storefronts. Some are personally created by storeowners. They are printed, hand drawn or photocopies pasted on storefronts with adhesive tapes. Such signs include notices of merchandise on sale, social events and seasonal festival sales. These signs are dynamic because they change very often. These signs are directed towards pedestrians since they are too small to be read from a moving automobile. More permanent signs are institutional in nature. They include neon displays, store name boards and parking signs. We identified and counted the various kinds of signs in two urban blocks and plotted them in a graph. The number of temporary, hand made, personalized signs exceeded the more permanent and institutional ones. The preponderance of handmade and temporary signs on doors and storefronts reflect the pedestrian-oriented and dynamic quality of this street.
|
PermanencePermanence refers to the life span of the signs. We carefully catalogued the signage along Devon and identified three levels of permanence: temporary, semi-permanent, and permanent. These levels depend on how signs were used. For instance, advertisements and seasonal sales brochures were temporary while store names and parking regulation displays were more permanent in nature.
MaterialMaterial refers to how these signs were put together, their construction system and the cost of manufacturing. Material and construction determined how visible, durable, and costly these signs were. Some signs require massive mounting brackets to hang from buildings while paper signs only require tape or staples to hang. Choice of material in signs shows the importance and intended longevity of the message.
ProtrusionProtrusion refers to the distance the sign extends from the wall façade. Signs protruding off the building plane provided greater visibility from a distance. Such signs were easily read from a moving automobile. The amount of protrusion produced a hierarchy within the myriad signs along this street. Signs that protruded off the facade seemed more important that those signs with no protrusion at all. Signs hanging off roof supports and stanchions protruded a significant distance from the facade plane.
|
Despite a seeming cacophony, there is a visual order to the way signage is organized along Devon Avenue. A correspondence between the physical dimensions, construction systems, intended purpose and targeted audience explains why the signs along Devon Avenue are organized the way they are. Also, their temporal durability generates an internal hierarchy within the organizational system of signage. Time plays a significant role in the way we interpret the signs along Devon Avenue. Festival advertisements, seasonal product displays, and weekly or daily sales announcements are transient compared to store names and neon backlit signs. The day and night cycle influences visibility of signs through lighting. Most importantly, signs tell us about social relationships that are present in the community. The language of signs targets certain audiences through permanence, function, materiality, and protrusion. Analyzing signage on Devon Avenue has revealed four distinct patterns that indicate a complex visual order. This order shows communication between the various stakeholders who interact with these signs.
Text by Jared Schmitz