Medeterenian Dizzastur

I saw this sign today while in South Minneapolis. Wow. I don't know where to start.

Probably with the unintelligible spelling of Mediterranean. I know that's a hard word to spell, but really, couldn't someone have used a dictionary before committing it to back-lit plastic for all time, and making all of us look at it?

Then there's the typography and "design." I am just aghast. Three typefaces -- one from Star Trek the Next Generation (which seems oddly appropriate since the design is probably from another planet). Then the semi-unreadable "GRILL" complete with flames. And finally the stretched-until-it-almost-breaks irregular sans serif with the unfortunate misspelling. All tricked out in yellow and orange at random intervals and thrown onto the sign in no organized way.

And finally the illustration (aka clip art). It's visually weak (almost invisible from across the street) and marginalized by the layout, and anyway, what does its graphic style (and the type of waiter represented) have to do with the rest of the sign or the type of restaurant it is? It's a grocery store, for god's sake, with some take-out food.

One of the great losses of American commercial culture (if such a phrase isn't an oxymoron) was when sign-making stopped being a craft that was taught and instead became a cheap commodity that any dummy with a computer could do.