signs « Candy Chang

urban planning, signs, public space, design, Helsinki, print, NYC, public installation, Africa, music, law & order, Asia, India, New Orleans, signs
The Trucks of the Sidewalk Riffing off the ground signage dividing bikes and pedestrians in Helsinki… a more nuanced edit by anonymous on my block on Uudenmaankatu…	Knowing What People Did By What They Shouldn’t Anymore Grenoble Bangalore Genoa Johannesburg Singapore. No durian fruit, a.k.a. the stinkbomb.	Immigration Graffiti The tables tell the story in Finland’s immigration office in Malmi: Chechnya 09, Espana, Israel, Be cool, Kosova, Moskova, 30.9.2008 Today, Kurdistan PKK, Kill Bill, Estonia, Turkey, Ahmad 2010-1-13, Iran, Unite, Somali, Vive la France, Hello Everybody!	Expat for Beginners I’m watching Google Translate re-calibrate in real time as I enter Finnish into the text box, and it’s making government mail kind of exciting: “In order… In order to fall… In order to continue to be on Social Security… In order to include the Social Security system you must submit a new oleskelulupanne…” By the end it falls [...]

Please Honk Driving etiquette turned around – trucks and autorickshaws in India actually ask drivers to honk at them with some pretty elaborate bumper signs. It’s the lazy man’s driving strategy – “Ima keep driving like this. If you have a problem with it then toot.” You can imagine what kind of ruckus this causes in traffic [...]	Public Shame Some storefront windows in Johor Bahru, Malaysia feature surveillance video shots of shoplifters as a warning to others and a form of public shame. Makes me wonder about the upshots of surveillance and if Helsinki can do the same for all the drunk people who pee on the streets…	Wonderland Turku, Finland If it’s going to be winter, then let it be WINTER. The Big Ship by Brian Eno on repeat while gliding on a train through soft Finnish snow forests.	Navigating Your Wine Fun and classy signage in Helsinki’s Alkos that includes over 20 icons to help customers feel out potential food pairings. The duck with the holes? Game birds ha.

Writer’s Block Get excited for unique developments in Johannesburg like Another Urban Renewal Project! Buy this Ethnic Coaster in Cape Town! It’s from Ethnic. Visit Bangalore’s many landmarks like The Oterra and Something Else! Be sure to take Stuff and make sure you don’t do That Thing.	Tenants’ Rights Flash Cards Renters' rights made fun Boxed set of 30 fun and friendly flash cards on New York state’s tenant rights	Post-it Notes for Neighbors Real estate revealed Public installation transforming a storefront window into a neighborhood resource	Community Chalkboards Flexible local platforms Public chalkboards to improve information-sharing between residents in a Johannesburg township

Hello Neighbors Local information-sharing A study about neighborhood communication in public space through flyers and online forums	Local History by SMS Local history on the go 200+ stickers in public space with codes to SMS for instant local history on your mobile phone	Pedestrian Timeline Local history on the streets Stenciled timeline on the sidewalk to bring the history of Governors Island to the streets	Restroom Map Notepad To find relief for us all A notepad of public restroom maps posted in NYC subway stations

Barack Obama T-shirt Wear your political crush Show how much you crush on Barry too!	Brooklyn Bridge Signage A study and proposal for wayfinding on the Brooklyn Bridge pedestrian walkway	Project Moustache Stick it to outdoor ads Sticker campaign subverting outdoor advertising with the distilled mark of the people	Race relations via candybars Some choice findings at the local Finnish supermarket.

5 Ways to Redesign a City Rachel Abrams, Creative Director of Turnstone Consulting, wrote a cool article “Five Ways to Redesign a City” for the UK Design Council magazine about ways interaction designers can tackle urban issues in various cities around the world. She includes good ol’ Helsinki and its public transportation-tracking tools with a little Atari reference from me. Watch the [...]	A Food Made For Radio Behold mammi, a traditional Finnish Easter pudding made from rye flour and malt that tastes like the dregs of your cereal bowl and is better served in mood lighting. How does the color of food affect the way taste is perceived? Food coloring is a common ingredient in chicken mcnuggets, salad dressings, sandwich buns and [...]	Things I Didn’t Think About No free streaming tv here! Hello bit torrents… U.S. magazines cost as much as books! Now eating while reading Time is for fancy days… There’s no peanut butter and people think PBJ sandwiches are grody! Gots to tell people what time it is…	North by Northwest How do you feel comfortable in a city? For me, part of it is knowing what direction I’m facing. This was an easy thing to do in NYC where I was always aware I was walking north on Mott or west on Spring. As one of the first planned cities, Helsinki actually has a grid [...]

Mapping Our Crashes Crashstat.org combines Google maps with DMV stats on pedestrian and biking accidents so you can see which NYC intersections are danger zones. Since 1995, there have been 35 injuries and 2 fatalities just two blocks from my old apartment. And that doesn’t count tramplings-by-fellow-pedestrians on Canal Street… Made by Transportation Alternatives.	California Dreamin’ Etherea record store, NYC When played enough times, songs will become forever bonded to a particular place and time in your life. Bel Biv Devoe’s Poison reminds me of my parents’ home (it was the radio, not them ha). Giorgio Moroder’s The Chase reminds me of my first NYC apartment. Nico’s These Days takes me back [...]	I’m on the Urban Omnibus! NYC’s Architectural League recently launched an inspiring online project called the Urban Omnibus that showcases design and activism in the City. They were kind enough to feature my thoughts behind my Post-it Notes for Neighbors public art project. Check it out here! Big thanks to Cassim Shepard and the Omnibus family!	Snow Graffiti Snow tagging in the UK (hat tip to Melinda). Usually street art leads to the branded version, but not this time, as far as I know. Neat idea, especially in Helsinki, hmmm… Image from Springwise.com

Fun Finnish Apt Customs II No lobby mailboxes here – Finnish postal workers deliver your snail mail directly to your door (through a door slot that makes receiving your mail semi-frightening as it drops to a crashing heap). So tenants’ names are posted on their doors in official plaques that make everyone look like upper office management.	Signs of Use Who enjoys retrying a door knob or peering below a stall to awkwardly check if a public bathroom is being used? Always courteous when “occupied” signs are designed into a system that revolves around temporary privacy in a public space. In Helsinki’s Kamppi mall a red light turns on when you lock the door. But [...]	Pictures of You in Other Places In the Shembe village in Durban there’s this big ’80s photo of two white people rafting in North America. For 20 rand ($1.95) you can get a picture taken of yourself in front of this granola scene. I asked the photographer why he chose this backdrop – a demand for fake visits to the US? [...]	Data Walk I’ve got a bag of proposals that may never see the light of day, but they can live on here for funzies and future inspiration. One of these is Data Walk: Bringing Demographics to the People. According to data from the 2000 Census, a particular block east of Allen Street is 50 percent more Asian [...]

Snapshots of Chatsworth This is Girly. She’s 97 and lives in Chatsworth in Durban where she and her neighbors got their righteousness on and fought eviction through community mobilization. “The landlord shut our water off and we said no sir!” You go girl. She showed me her apartment – entrance room, bedroom, and kitchen – which she shares [...]	Cell Numbers on Storefronts Near the huge informal market hoopla at Warwick Junction in Durban, South Africa. More important than addresses or sometimes even store names… I hear 0828339060 sells hot vests!	Big Lady Pants Big lady pants in Durban, South Africa. Time for shoppin’ gurl!	Street Writer’s Block Seeing a road called Street in Bucks County, Pennsylvania made me feel a little bad for this road. Ah to be a road namer! Give me the job! The names of the planets! Who wouldn’t feel a little more wordly on Neptune Avenue? The names of colors! It would be like driving through a box [...]

When They’re Out of Plastic Flamingos In a yard in Calexico, California.	Pain in Progress Or that’s what I thought it said, on a 14-hour non-stop flight from NYC to Tokyo.	Four Easy Ways to Improve the Bus Spitball fights with first-graders, drug-addled road trips, and the local crazies on the way nowhere: these are the unfortunate images that come to mind when I think of the bus. Although I’m a New Yorker who hasn’t driven a car in seven years, I still think it’s icky to ride the bus and so does [...]	Street Signs on Existing Stuff Nice, France Johannesburg, South Africa (paired with standalone signs) Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Helsinki, Finland Different ways street signs are integrated into existing infrastructure – buildings, sidewalk curbs, telephone/electric poles…

Minutes To Go until next tram lines arrive. Signs in Helsinki’s tram stops – and totally accurate!	AnAmericanInFinland I’m in Helsinki right now blinking hard at the signs and learning that Finnish people don’tbelieveinspaces. The words are real smack-downs that go on and on and my brain needs to take breaths before finishing them. Now I’m realizing that your native language makes you think in certain ways and rhythms. As I’m ready to [...]	Condom Condom Condom! Sign in Diepsloot in Johannesburg PSAs just got a little more media savvy. Recognizing the extent and accessibility of cell phone use in India, the BBC World Service Trust launched an HIV prevention campaign via humorous cell phone ring tones. Now your phone can belt out an acapella chorus of “condom condom condom!” Which contacts would [...]	An Unexpected Model A baggy-eyed, cracked-out lookingTommy Lee Jones as the face for Boss coffee in Japan. Drink Boss and you’ll look just as refreshed!

The Yoda of Window Companies Truck in NYC.	Shembe Says… The Shembe tribe’s pilgrimage site in Durban culminates in a temple lined with daily affirmations… and pictures of flowers getting gross and sensual…	There’s a Larry Flynt in Every Town Section in the Diepsloot News, Johannesburg (separate from the Diepsloot Community News).	Have Sticker, Will Eat A simple but effective way to ensure you can get your jet-set snooze on and your food on, thanks to Emirates Airline. Just slap the sticker on the top of your seat and you’re good to go. Hmm so many other possibilities for ‘Wake me up for food’ stickers…

Cheers to Two Empowering Projects Sign in Kyoto, Japan. I’m honored to be a part of two very cool projects. I won a $20,000 grant from paper company Sappi’s Ideas That Matter program which funds righteous print projects that graphic designers want to produce for non-profit organizations. I’ll be developing my flashcards on renters’ rights for tenant rights organization Tenants & [...]	Yay for Community Chalkboards! During the past month in Global Studio in Johannesburg, I’ve been working with the non-profit Diepsloot Community News to help improve ways residents can communicate within the township of Diepsloot. Inspired by a community chalkboard model in Liberia, we installed a local community chalkboard so residents can have an accessible platform, share info on a [...]