Điên Tử – Home electronics repair sign
January 10th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
This hidden sign is at the intersection of a busy alley and a main artery in Hanoi, Hoàng Hoa Thám. It is a repair shop for various home electronics like air conditioners, clothes washers, and refrigerators.
On the left in green, it reads “buy, repair, sell.” If you look in the right hand corner, you’ll a seven digit number which is their landline and then below it, like for all shop signs, is their address. Unfortunately, you can’t quite make it out here because of the accumulated dust and (more likely) poor photography.
I’ve always admired this sign for the mix of international orange, marigold, and blue. What a wacky color combination! What shade of blue is this? Columbia blue? And the weirdly skinny letters at the beginning of “điều hòa” and “máy giật.” The red fonts though I think are really striking. I especially like : the way that the pac-man E looks like he is wearing a yamakah and about to eat the ghost U; or the way the other U looks like a mug of steaming tea. The use of the circles as diacritics is a really unique feature…I could easily see making a font type with this motif…albeit the strikethrough is a bit awkward, but in rather beautiful way. However, given the limited space, I think they’ve actually misspelled this sign. Isn’t it supposed to be “điện” rather than “điên” — i.e. “electricity” rather than “crazy?”
