Colon cancer

Jonar Nader — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:57:42 +0000

Why do people feel compelled to pollute a sign with colons and dashes, especially when listing a phone number? If you walk past Beresford Hair studio, and you notice their sign, would you find it confusing to work out their phone number? They are one of the rare establishments who do not use a colon after the ‘ph’. If the simple method works perfectly well, why do people use dots and dashes when publicising their phone number? I just cannot understand what could be going through someone’s mind when they are at a keyboard, preparing the artwork for a sign or a brochure, and they consciously place all those punctuation marks. If they did it on purpose, what was their purpose? Below, you will fund a multitude of examples of unthinkers in action. If designers, managers, and business-owner do not stop to think about every aspect of the business, and do not learn to question things, they stand to live a life of mediocrity.

The following include innovations via the use of the dashes and full stops to replace the colon. Some designers felt that it would be better to use a space before and after the colon. The first image uses a full stop for the phone, yet a colon for the fax. The second is on a van for a house-design company. It makes me wonder how they design houses if all those dots and dashes appeals to them. The third one is for a restaurant whose owners are worried that if they write ‘Mon – Thur’ with instead of ‘Mon. – Thur.’ people would not know when the fruit salads are served. The fourth one is a laugh: what do they mean by inviting people to park, but then saying that their car will be towed away. By the way, have you read the fine print at your local parking station? At Secure Parking in Sydney, the terms of entry state, ‘We reserve the right to enter the Vehicle and move it. You agree that we have no liability for any loss of damage caused as a result of entering and moving the Vehicle.’ More about the practices of Secure Parking can be found here.

And the first prize goes to this company in Paris. The designers were so concerned about clarity, that they used both the full stop and the colon at the same time, while ignoring the fact that a scrunched-up number without any spaces makes numbers harder to read or remember. It was the French who announce phone number is two-digit bursts.

Observations by Jonar Nader » Language

Colon cancer