Mansfield Road to Clumber Street
This exercise involved taking photographs of shop fronts from the top of Mansfield Road, at the edge of the city, to Clumber Street in the city centre. It was interesting to observe the types of businesses that became more or less common towards the city centre. In total I took over 100 photographs and produced this infographic to display the variation in types of business. The gaps between colours represent businesses that have closed down.
I am now going to analyse the signage used on some of these businesses to see the differences between smaller, more independent businesses at the top end and the more commercial brand names at the bottom. I will select a few examples from the top, middle and bottom of the road to give an idea of the contrast.
Mansfield Road (top)
At the top of the road there are many more small independent businesses such as the record shop ‘Anarchy Records’. Like many of the shops in this area, it’s signage is not particularly ‘professional’ looking. The signage doesn’t even spell out a clear name for the shop however this isn’t necessarily needed as it isn’t a business that needs a clear brand name. It only requires local recognition and the bright hand painted signage is certainly bold enough to attract the right market. It stands out amongst the saturation of other shops because of it’s unique style.
Another shop in the area that exhibits it’s own unique style using hand painted signage is ‘Spit & Sawdust’. I consider both of these examples to be evidence of where ‘unprofessional’ signage doesn’t necessarily mean it is poorly designed or unattractive.
Other businesses in this area show examples of what would be considered poorly designed signage including things like off licences, takeaways and barbers. A lot of this signage is very dated or has clearly been a quick fix for a small business that may not need/have the funds for professional branding. The images shown are some typical examples.
Mansfield Road (middle)
To start with, we begin to see small businesses using cleaner, more professional signage juxtaposing the unprofessional signage that is more common at the top of the road. The string of small businesses with unprofessional signage eventually gives way completely to well known brands which have more corporate identities and look much more upmarket.
Clumber Street
The trend of professional signage and established brands continues on Clumber Street. There are now practically no independent businesses. Everywhere you look there is a recognisable logo and a professionally designed shop signage to go with it.
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