Stop Gap
The combination of slick receipt paper and a glass countertop make it difficult to write with some pens.
Decoration
Tis the season.
Remote Connectivity
You can't flush toilet paper on Caye Caulker, but you can check your email over your morning coffee. How some things are demanded while others remain tolerable.
Multitasking
Truck Stop Gender Studies
A Curious Trio
The Elevator, Boiler, & Amusement Ride Bureau makes for one hell of a business card. What was the original reason to put one group of people in charge of such a seemingly disparate group of things? And is that reason still relevant?
Repetition
I can't find anything online about this, but I think Subway is using repetition to draw the eye and cause it to linger on their signs in the few moments motorists have to take stock of the roadside logos. I want to know if it's effective.
Implementation Fail
General-Specific
Uggs are popular enough to be called out specifically when this place probably offers cleaning services for shoes of all types of materials. The sign does double duty, alerting potential customers to the availability of shoe-cleaning services whether they own Uggs or not.
Built-Ins
Balancing beautiful, built-in infrastructure with the expectation of obsolescence
Customer Preferences
Service providers need to do a better job of allowing customers to declare their preferences. However, these notes may serve as a signal to others of the social capital available in the building. Without them, each individual's preferences may tend more toward caution.
Designed by You
This ad employs a rather loose definition of design. Choosing the color of your phone barely even qualifies as customization.
The Lowest Price
Regular gas without ethanol, which has long been the more expensive option compared with the blended mid-grade fuel, is being phased out in Iowa. But that only partially explains this little handwritten sign. Those who really care about getting the cheapest gas are always going to scan the prices, even if it's mostly habit to grab for one or the other. Was this the value they thought they were creating? Just a "hey, pal"?
Recycled Language
"Keep Calm and Carry On" has been appropriated for all manner of commercial purposes. Is it simply distance through time that allows cultural artifacts like this to lose their original significance? How long until you can slap the consoling slogan of a war-torn nation onto the side of a burrito bag?
From Wikipedia:
The poster was initially produced by the Ministry of Information, at the beginning of the Second World War. It was intended to be distributed in order to strengthen morale in the event of a wartime disaster, such as mass bombing of major cities using high explosives and poison gas, which was widely expected within hours of an outbreak of war.
Intentional Misinformation
The contents may have cooled or the cup could be refilled with a cold beverage. We have an appropriate way to describe this in English: "Caution: Contents may be very hot."
Liability is a bummer.
Simulacrum in Architecture
I believe this structure is referred to as a pole barn. This particular one is a simulacrum of a more traditional farmyard barn. Tacked to the sides are entirely decorative panels made to look like barn loft doors. And on top, two weathervanes, pointing in two different, wrong directions. This building is set back off the street by a longish driveway and nothing is even immediately next to it. Why the kitschy, sentimental, decorative elements for a building that is so removed?
Knock-Offs
This is from an unauthorized "Hard Rock Cafe" in a town south of Seoul. According to a friend, you go and watch pirated music videos, an experience somewhat inferior to the official franchise. What are the legal and cultural conditions that allow a brick-and-mortar based on stolen IP to operate?
Service Expectations
Dining out in a foreign country can give you loads of insight into the local culture. On my first trip to Asia, and South Korea specifically, I encountered a different expectation of service. Servers wait to be called over to take your order rather than asking if you are ready. Some places, especially those that may require lots of mid-meal requests, like the Korean barbecue joints, have buzzers on the tables. Not unheard of Stateside, but certainly more common in Korea. I wonder how this expectation translates across other industries, if at all.
Symbols in Braille
The braille in this picture simply reads "#1". Probably unintentionally, the thick, vertical line separating the star symbol and the braille text is illustrative of the gulf between people who are blind and the vast world of iconic representation. I love this sign because the symbol is also raised, able to be felt by hands probing the surface for messages. I'd rather the meaningless line not be there, but the raised star still provides some opportunity to connect the dots... I couldn't resist.