Thursday, October 17, 2019

More Hair Salon Signs

I see it's been almost six years since I posted a set of hair salon photos, so today is the day for another round. What is it about these businesses that attracts mostly bad names and iffy design? I blame the cringey signage on the loss of talent in sign shops as technology replaced lettering apprenticeships and training; but the names, I fear, must be the fault of the business owners.

First there are the shops that try to use rhyme or alliteration:






Yes, most people want to get their hair done in a hut.

Some of the names are presented as if their owners think they're clever, but all too often it's in a way that doesn't work or even has bad connotations:




Some are straightforward but screw up in implementation, from punctuation to bad clip art to stretched out typefaces:






But all too often, they just have names that no one thought about hard enough:


Allusions with a "z"? Is your hair an allusion? An illusion? What?


Your appearance is so altered at this shop that you will leave with no eyes.


Aside from the way this logo tries too hard by using two different ideas (the bowtie-eyed beehive woman and a b-comb), I just don't get the name. Hair Comb? Is it a clever play on words in some way that I'm missing?


The design of this sign isn't bad (it's visually strong from the street) but I reject the idea of hair as a lifestyle. Or is it hair, life, style? Whatever. Are they selling life, as well as hair and style? I doubt it.


And this one. I have no idea what the script part says, and then there's "personal branding." Oh, ick.

3 comments:

Bill Lindeke said...

LOL at the apostrophe. This is great, Pat.

Michael Leddy said...

These signs are, as they say, “troubling.”

“Hut” is so weirdly popular. Pizza, Foto, Sunglass.

We have a Valerie’s Hair Affair. Also a Mangy Mousse. And there’s more than one such Mousse in the country.

Which reminds me — we were driving through Amish country yesterday and noticed a scrapbooking store, Kuntry Treasures. That rustic k is weirdly popular too. Help!

Daughter Number Three said...

Mangy Mousse... wow, that really sells it. I wonder if the Amish are so naive as to not realize that the spelling "Kuntry" has at least one other glaring problem, and it's not the K.