Which Came First?

Near the University of St. Catherine (of which I wrote yesterday) is a business called Accolades. As you can see, it is a salon & spa (or perhaps a salon | spa, see below).

It first caught my eye because of the relatively unreadable treatment of the name shown above, which is on a lighted sign 20 feet above the parking lot, visible from several directions at the corner of a busy intersection.

Then, later, I noticed the sign below, which is just above the front door and is mostly only visible if you are heading north through the intersection.


I vastly prefer the second version -- partly because it's not trying to be clever, and partly because the name is clearly readable -- and can't help wondering why the two signs are different.

I suspect it has something to do with the cost of replacing the lighted sign. But when you're in a consumer-oriented aesthetic business, it's probably worth the money to make your visual branding consistent.