About Designing Springfield

I'm a graphic designer - illustrator - cartoonist with a fondness for typography and a liking of the Simpsons. It seems only natural to put them together and have a little fun with the world of Springfield. It might also lead to paying work....
Showing posts with label Things Unnecessary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Things Unnecessary. Show all posts

Monday, June 15, 2009

Things Unnecessary


"Things Unnecessary" is the store where Homer bought himself a $500 astrolabe in the Season 15 Christmas episode. The store is intended to be a satire of outfits like Sharper Image and Brookstone, but the name is a play on a chain store called "Things Remembered." These are stores that specialize in items for people with more dollars than sense; personalized tchotchkes, the sort of thing you might receive as a gift if you were a bridesmaid. The merchandise is all the sort of thing I call "look, I got you a gift" gifts; somewhat impersonal (in that it doesn't reflect anything at all of the recipient's tastes or preferences), almost entirely useless, but too expensive-looking to dump at the Goodwill, and since it usually has the recipient's name or initials engraved on it, it's almost impossible to re-gift. Exactly the sort of place that would stock $500 astrolabes.

The name and type of business demands a logo that has a veneer of elegance, an upscale look, with a sleek but ornamental typeface, so I started with University Roman, a somewhat swashy font with big loopy letters, a strong vertical shape, long spiky serifs, and what I would describe as a "Disney" flavor. Elegant but superficial, with something of a soulless quality.

A veneer of reflective gloss with a slightly cold metallic color, and a completely extraneous ligature of the too-precious double-s and the g, and we have an upscale logo with a vaguely tacky feeling about it.