SoHo

For my linguistic landscape project, I am going to be focusing on SoHo. Although I personally have never lived here nor do I have a family who lives here I always find my way to come and visit the area. I like to come here to see all the different amounts of backgrounds and art that are visible in every street. Another reason what brings me to come to this area a lot is all the big brands in the area. I like to go into the stores and look for things I want to buy or eventually want to buy some time in the future. SoHo is well known for having a diverse set of streets. Every street you walk into, you will always see something new and will see people from around the world as well.

The majority of SoHo is very commercialized, NYCGO states “SoHo is one of the City’s most eclectic shopping enclaves, holding everything from designer boutiques and one-of-a-kind shops to bargain emporiums and kids stores.” (Perrella, 2016).  When looking at every store a common idea you will see is a sign. These signs are what attract people to come into the store and some signs are similar while others are different. Image 1: LeicaImage 2: Store Line

When you are walking around the streets of SoHo what people notice first are the different signs hanging on the side of the buildings. People will want to look at are the different brands on the signs but the design of the sign is what attracts a person’s eye.  Depending on the street you are some of the signs have a noticeable common pattern. Image two shows various signs that are hanging off a singular flag pole and either has the brand name in black lettering or white. Some stores also put their brand name on the front of the store with big letters and a color that will make it stand out from the front of the store. For example, in the set of images below you will see that Gucci has its brand in golden letters on top of a white wall. When you think about gold, the first thing that comes into mind is money. Gucci is known for its high-end brand, which is why some products are costly. Loewe has its brand name on top of the glass, which is a transparent background but the inside of the store is white making it more visible and easier for people to notice the store name.
Image 3: GucciImage 4: Loewe

Soho introduces several international backgrounds that can be seen in each banner. The name of the brands come in various languages and some resemblance to where the brand was first founded. Being able to have these different ways of presenting every store is what will attract the customer to the store.

An example of this would be the Ben Sherman store. They have the United Kingdom flag in front of their store with a Script font. Another detail is the phone booth outside. Although it is not hanging on the front of the store it is still being used as a sign. The store wants to give out the UK feeling when you approach the store. Then when you enter the store the clothing is manufactured in the UK as well.
Image 5: Ben Sherman

The brand Balenciaga was founded by Cristobal Balenciaga who grew up in the Gipuzkoa region of Spain (You). When looking back to the brand Ben Sherman, Ben Sherman is an English name while Balenciaga is a Spanish name. Looking at the sign although it doesn’t have designs from Spanish culture. Somethings they have in common is the white brand name and the flag pole that is being used to hang the sign. The white color was chosen to be on the front making it more appealing to the eye and more noticeable. Even if you arent looking at the sign directly the shift in colors will attract your eyes to the sign and you can see the name brand from far away because of the white lettering on top of the black background.Image 6: Balenciaga

The name Variazioni is an Italian word. The difference between this storefront compared to Balenciaga and Ben Sherman is the brand name is above the door in the front of the store.  This time the name is in yellow on top of a cyan background.
Image 7: Variazioni

One other patter I notice is some stores have a double sign. Some of the stores put the logo itself on one sign while the other sign has the logo and more background color to it. Some also just put their logo on both signs but make it look really big so it can stand out more than the other stores around it.

An example would be Canada Goose. The store has 2 signs in front of their store. One sign being the actual logo design and a banner which has their logo in the middle. The store will want you to focus on the details of the logo. The top of the ring says the name of the brand. On the bottom of the ring, it says the arctic program and in the middle of the logo show the inverted of the north pole, the white parts being the ocean and the little blue parts being islands that are around (Burrell, 2014).
Image 8: Canada Goose

Louis Vuitton also comes with 2 banners but has orange banners in front of the store and you can also see the orange lighting inside of the store. The lettering on the banner is in brown. The design of the banner is similar to the Canada Goose logo. They have both the name of the brand name and the logo in one place but the logo and the name take up a huge chunk of the sign. Most of the store’s products come in brown which is why the sign has a similar tint of brown which represents the brand. 
Image 9: Louis Vuitton

All three banners are a lot similar to each other when it comes to size and having the background of the banner one color and the name of the brand is a different color.  The brand Supreme has its banner in the middle and only has the name. There are 2 more banners in the same area as the supreme on but those banners are a darker color and Supremes banner is brighter making it stand more over the other 2 banners. Image 10: Supreme

Being able to go to SoHo at any given time to see all the different stores from places outside the U.S is what really makes SoHo from other neighborhoods. We see brands that come from Spain, Italy, France, Germany, the UK, and etc. Being able to have these international brands in one area is what really brings out a lot of signs. These brands want to attract as many customers as possible. Every store sign is almost like a huge ‘Welcome Home’ sign. When looking at the signs some stores want to make their banners different because they want to be noticed. A lot of well-known brands make their signs simpler than others because the name alone attracts people. SoHo is a very commercial heavy location and the more eye-catching the sign is then the more people will be attracted. I personally have not entered all of the stores but I always see the different designs in products. Every literal detail that goes into the designs of both the store and the interior makes me want to go in them but what really helps me make that decision is how appealing the logo and color of the sign are.