Faux-typefaces: the Hebrew version

31/07/2007

Sing Long

ChineTown

Yakuza

Some people seem to think that trying to imitate one "exotic" (i.e., not-Roman) language (more precisely, one writing system) when writing in another one is cool (see also Tibetan-looing Chinese).
So for the greater good I started looking for Hebrew texts (logos, mainly) that do it. Chinese and Japanese restaurants seem to be a good place to start, as the three logos above (Hebrew: "Sing Long", "China Town" and "Yakuza") seem to prove.

For me, Chinese-like restaurant logos is a bit outdated, not quite sophisticated. They are trying to seem exotic, but we don't really think of Far-Eastern food as exotic these days, do we. Not with half a dozen Sushi bars in the shopping malls suburb of Rishon Lezion.

Hummus brands that come with Arabic-evoking logos are similar but different. Here it's not about being exotic (Arabic isn't really exotic in the middle east, after all). It's more about being authentic. It's not a Hummus from the Yekim in Strauss! It's the real stuff!

Samir
Abu Ramzi

AgadirThe example of Agadir is somewhat different. It's also meant to evoke Arabic, I think - but more of Arabic calligraphy, or Islamic art. But Agadir, while named after a Moroccan city, it a hamburger restaurant.

Aha! I commented yesterday that I couldn't find this post - now it seems I can find it again, so thanks. carla 06/08/2007
[...] couple of days after I wrote about Faux-typefaces in Hebrew, I came across this ad on a Ramat-Aviv [...] Misuse of Faux-Typeface (and some more thoughts) - Idiosyncr 06/08/2007
brilliant! i absolutely loved it!!!! how did u think about this subject? i'm glad the tour in rishon played a part in your cultural abstruction :) the ичёт word - i dont know how you interpreted it, i could not in a million years switch my brain to see anything more than the meaningless russian word "ichyot", and the inventory part is a bit of a farfetched asociation - weithergeholt. mary 07/08/2007