3. Do these methods (diagramming, media translation) work
with strangers? Yes, with guidelines, convergent
thinking required
What OTHER methods or themes will help graduate stu-
dents break down disciplinary walls? Food, social
interaction (potential friendship), projects,
manual tasks
Is there an exit point for me, as the designer? Possibly
Is this process (re)packageable? Yes
If so, what is that form? Handbooks, Toolkits,
Instruction sets, Training others
QUESTIONS ANSWERS
7. Rhetorical Dimensions of Typographic Signage
in Historic Architectural Restoration
OR
Dream of Wholeness: Restored Signs and
Fractured Communities
Robin McDowell
Rhetoric & Social Style – Prof. Barry Brummett
Adapted from a presentation given April 23, 2014
8. WHAT I AM LOOKING FOR:
Commercial signage on significant structures
in fractured communities that have fallen into
decay or disrepair, then restored or renovated
under private or civic auspices. These sites do
not necessarily have to be completely overhauled.
9. MY ARGUMENT/HUNCH:
How typographic signs are treated during the
architectural renovation/restoration process…
a) Tells us about the values of a designer/architect
business owner.
b) Demonstrates that style is a powerful force in
reconstructing fractured communities.
c) Can be used by community members to
enunciate social identity and agency.
10. BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Original Structures: 1850-1950
Restorations/Renovations: 1997-2014
Proximity Environments: semi-public shared spaces such as
neighbourhoods, parks and work environments*
Typographic Landscape Category: Commercial*
Sub-Categories: Honorary, Artistic, Accidental
Anna Paula Silva Gouveia, Priscila Lena Farias and Patrícia Souza Gatto. “Letters and cities: reading the urban environment with the help
of perception theories,” Visual Communication Vol. 8 (2009), 339-349.
11. “In order to describe signage in an urban
space, we have to go beyond a description
of the graphic features of material production,
recover the historical and cultural models of
spatial order within which signage functions,
and then we must include discussion of signs
as a part of a system of enunciation. In other
words, any instance of language in the
landscape enacts social relations.”
Drucker, Johanna. “Writing Spaces, Species of Éspaces, or Models of Signage as Enunciative Systems.” for LogoCities,
Montreal, May 5, 2007.
12. WHAT I WANT TO KNOW/
WHERE I MIGHT INTERVENE:
What happens to the sign?
Who is involved? Why?
Who decides? How?
13. FINDINGS SO FAR:
US Department of the Interior
Texas Historical Commission
City of New Orleans Historic District Commission
Vieux Carré Commission
...
DO NOT HAVE COMPREHENSIVE (PUBLISHED)
TYPOLOGIES OR CASE STUDIES FOR TREATMENT
OF HISTORIC SIGNS...
14. Brief Citations
“Keeping the old sign is often a good marketing strategy. It can exploit the recogni-
tion value of the old name and play upon the public’s fondness for the old sign. The
advertising value of an old sign can be immense.
Signs often become so important to a community that they are valued long after
their role as commercial markers has ceased...They no longer merely advertise, but
are valued in and of themselves. They become icons.”
Auer, Michael J. “The Preservation of Historic Signs” in Preserving
Historic Architecture: The Official Guidelines, U.S. Department of the
Interior. New York: Skyhorse Publishing, 2013. pp.275-286
City of New Orleans Historic District Landmarks Commission. “Guide-
lines for Commercial Buildings.” August 2012. Accessed April 22, 2014.
15. Treatment of a historic sign during a typical
restoration or renovation project is determined
LAST, many times by a third party graphic designer
or marketing agency.
Signage is not typically included in the application
for National Historic Place status
or project budget.
“New businesses used to have
sign-raisings. Like barn raisings.
The whole town would come.
No one does that anymore.”
Remarks from Norma Jeanne Maloney of Red Rider Studios, Austin. April 30, 2014.
Review of Preservation Worksheets from Irwin, J. Kirk. Historic Preservation Handbook. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003.
16. I took a stab at a typology based on
observation, archival research, and
first person accounts...
17. RESURRECTION
Circle Food Store
PRESERVATION
ArtEgg Studios
Preservation Hall
Rice Mill Lofts
American Can Apartments
REINVENTION
Morning Call Coffee Stand
The Victory Grill
APPROPRIATION
Quickie Pickie
Pagoda Cafe
18. 1. RESURRECTION
original signage is:
- Damaged
- Destroyed
- Removed
Signage is reproduced and re-installed in exact
image of the original in the original location.
the function of style:
- Social cohesion
- Denotes arena for community activities
- Space becomes Place/Landmark*
*Lynch, Kevin. The Image of the City. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1960.
Lippard, Lucy. The Lure of the Local: Senses of Place in a Multicentered Society. New York: The New Press, 1997.
24. 2. REINVENTION
original signage could be:
- Damaged
- Destroyed
- Removed
- Intact
New signage, inspired by the original, is produced
and installed at original or new location.
the function of style:
- Space becomes Place/Landmark (Lynch, Lippard)
- Cultural and Geographic (Re)Orientation
- Authenticity of operation and structure
25. Example 2: MORNING CALL COFFEE STAND
1870–1976: French Market, New Orleans
1976–2005: Metairie
2013: City Park, New Orleans
31. 3. PRESERVATION
original signage could be:
- Damaged
- Intact
Signage is restored to its original image or saved in
situ with original materials intact.
the function of style:
- Colonial or community concession
- Demonstration of “Fitness”
- Authenticity through narrative
39. 4. APPROPRIATION
original signage is:
- Removed
New signage is invented, produced, and installed
that is inspired by other historic signage, but not
specifically associated with the particular building,
landscape, or historic period.
the function of style:
- Associates site with cultural values of displaced
location, community, or time period.
- “Virtual Nostalgia”
Xue, Haian and Pedro Carvalho de Almeida. “Nostalgia and Its Value to Design Strategy: Some Fundamental Considerations.” Paper presented at
the Proceedings of the Tsinghua-DMI International Design Management Symposium 2011 Hong Kong.
46. “This ‘dream of wholeness,’ implies a sense
of partialness and fragmentation that resides
just beneath the surface. The appeal of style
in twentieth-century cultures cannot be
separated from the conditions of the human
subject it addresses.” - Stuart Ewen, All-Consuming Images
“And signs, for aught we know, may be but
the sympathies of Nature with man.”
- Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
47. CONCLUSIONS + NOTES
This project/paper is NOT focused on:
- Branding/logos/designing branded experiences
- Critiques of gentrification
- How to salvage/preserve materials
- Historic Preservation Law
- Prescriptive graphic design
- Exclusively positivist accounts of rebuilding
- Exclusively post-Katrina rehabilitation projects
What this project/paper COULD BE about...
48. Typology for Architects, Preservationists
and Planners with Aesthetic, Historic,
Technical, and Social Dimensions?
Full Case Studies? Focus on One?
Community/Public Interest
Design Project?
49. IO NON SONO IN VIAGGIO
PER L’ITALIA
Doing Public Scholarship Seminar (June 5-25)
Prof. Randy Lewis, American Studies
Independent Study 1: Reading Seminar (Gloria)
American Commercial Signage, Urban Studies Foundations
Independent Study 2: Field Research (Gloria)
Austin, TX & New Orleans, LA
