Yet another bit of typography that I discovered and pondered while at work. Naturally I encounter numerous examples of bad typography while at work seeing as I work in Chinatown but this little bit of typography (once it was explained to me) was so bad it had to be acknowledged and ranted about in some way. When the restaurant first open (a couple of weeks ago) I was thought ‘Hmm…’Chinese Restaurant.’ How unique.’ Note the dripping sarcasm. It didn’t really stand out from the rest of the bad typography in the neighbourhood (notice the use of 3 different fonts not counting the Chinese characters). After a recent conversation, I realized that the words ‘Chinese Restaurant’ wasn’t actually the name of the restaurant but rather the description and the actual name was ‘Grand Treasure’ but it’s shoved into the top right hand corner of the sign. Apparently the typographer decided that underlining it was enough emphasis. I find that this sign must be confusing for both English and Chinese-speaking parties as ‘Grand Treasure’ is in Chinese to the left but not the words ‘Chinese Restaurant’ so really the venue could be anything (i.e. hair stylist, etc..) whereas those who don’t read Chinese would get confused by the misguided hierarchy. Kudos to bilingual Chinese/English speakers, they will only be slightly confused.
~Teri Yeung
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