Moncton Street Signs Improved

This news comes a tad late. As you can see in the image, the newer version of the sign (top) is wider and has dropped the bilingual St./Rue that are still on either side of the older versions. This allows for wider tracking*. Even for longer street names like Vaughan Harvey. It's a great improvement in my opinion as the signs appear much easier to read at all distances and at significant speeds (don't ask how I tested that). Also, the font itself -which looks a lot like ClearviewHwy and likely is Clearview- is a bit lighter and has less exaggerated thick/thin transitions creating a better balance between positive and negative space. The street names are set in title case. It is common knowledge that title, sentence and lower case text reads better due to word-shape recognition non-existent in upper case text. See below image.











The higher placement of the new signs makes it easier to view them over traffic and positions them nearer to street lamps for better visibility at night. There are a few other features like a white outline and rounded edges to the sign. As far as I can tell most of the major intersections where street lights with dual braces are present sport the improved signs. It makes sense. A single brace would make it difficult to attach a sign.












My favorite feature of the new font is it's night legibility when refracting light. This is where the design really "shines".


















The change is not complete however. Currently, if you drive from northwest Mountain rd. all the way to the downtown end you will see at least 4 different typefaces on street signs set in both upper and title case. I'm guessing that the job is still under way or that the project so far applies only to major streets where driving speeds are significant and legibility is a higher priority. Hence the reason for adopting the Hwy version of the font.

I'd love to see all of Moncton's street signs undergo a typographical makeover. It would go a long way to spruce up the look of the city. Not that I'm complaining about the new signs. Easier to read signs will allow tourists more time decide wether they want to change lanes to turn on Killam or stay in the same lane. Plus it's nice to look at good typography while waiting for the green.

If you'd like to read more about what goes into a project like this, follow this link for an in-depth article**.

*Tracking is the consistent spacing between the letters of a block of text.
**Thanks to my fellow Howies for the help finding the articles.

City Hall art art opening

Shayla Perreault-Newcomb - my wife - will be displaying her latest works at the Moncton City Hall. The show is entitled "growing roots" and it attempts to demonstrate how the arts can stregthen the community. There will be three live performances on opening night 6:30 pm dec 12. A Dancer, an Actress, and a Singer. Come for refreshments, lively discussion and a great show!

click for a larger view

Moncton's new logo

Perhaps you've already heard of Moncton's re-design project handled by hawk communications and I had promised to release news of this exciting undertaking as soon as I got it. So today when going to City Hall for unrelated business guess what I found!

Yup! Here it is!



I'm afraid all info I have about the creative brief and objectives are only hearsay so we'll have to wait for that. Stay tuned!

Meanwhile, compare with the mark that will gradually be phased out.



Feel free to express your opinons and discuss the change.

City of Moncton website

NEWS: City of Moncton's Brand to Change

The City of Moncton has hired Hawk communications to redesign their identity. Here is a quote on the subject from Hawk themselves.

In a competitive pitch with five other agencies hawk has been awarded the creative execution for the City of Moncton's new brand. The new brand has been developed through a rigorous process of community and stakeholder consultations, competitive analysis and in response to focus group results obtained throughout eastern Canada. Forerunner Creative and Tourism Strategies led the process of developing the brand position.

"We are very pleased to be working with hawk and their team on developing the creative execution of our new brand," said Paul Thomson, Director of Communications for the City of Moncton. "Their experience and passion for our city was very evident in their presentation and we are very confident they will help us develop a visual image that captures the essence of Moncton."

"We are thrilled to be given this assignment," Bill Whalen, President & CEO of hawk said. "Moncton is our home and to work with the City to develop the new creative execution of the brand is something our whole team is very excited about."

They have already unveiled, to city officials and others, at least a proposal -perhaps a final version depending on how you interpret that Hawk quote- of the new brand. I spoke with an attendee to the aforementioned unveiling but would rather not be responsible for generating unfounded rumors so I will refrain from expounding on what I've heard. I will leak this much, it seems they are going for a radically different and modernized approach then what is currently the identity, ergo this crest.


Needless to say I can not wait for more details on this project and will do my best to keep you posted as I catch whiff of more news.