WEEK 6:

For the first time in our San Francisco signage class, we travelled to the downtown area. This was a change of scenery from some of the other places we have travelled over the last few months. Downtown is filled with people, tourists and a different atmosphere from other places in San Francisco. As a class, we hopped on the MUNI, to Market Street/ Union Square area, continued down to an area of the Tenderloin, then over to the civic center, and public library. These destinations fall into a theme I have seen notably around the city. That is that the atmosphere, lifestyle, and people that inhabit that area can change within one or two blocks of another district. 

The first of a few destinations was Market Street, an area around Union Square. We entered Westfield Mall, through Bart Station to begin. The Bart Station is full of commuters and people traveling around the Bay Area. The signs are very informative to help direct people, for example there were signs leading to where to buy tickets, informational booths, and how to get to the certain tracks. We exited the station underground, into Westfield Mall where the atmosphere and audience changed instantly. A upscale mall such as this one, is targeted to the consumers of San Francisco. Interestingly enough, not only does the mall target a certain audience, but each individual shop targets its own audience. Stores such as Abercrombie & Fitch and American Eagle target young adults and teenagers, while stores such as J. Crew and Bloomingdales is targeted to adults mostly. Union Square is a area full of tourists, business people, and a completely different economic class. The signs are visually appealing, colorful, and detailed to these types of people. I always love visiting this area. 

As we continued our walk, the areas were transformed within a few short blocks. Signs we saw in Union Square, that were brightly lit up began to disappear.  Only a few blocks away the signs began to start falling apart, be hand written or painted onto the wall. Much of the signage looked as if it needed to be updated or completely demolished and rebuilt, however, this area lacks money so this is not an option. The atmosphere began to change, the area was full of people from a much lower economic class. Many people approached us asking for money and there was a lot of homeless people that found the streets as their home. These people were the audience of the signage in the area. The purpose of this signage is to inform people about things such as homeless shelters, where to get cheap food, how important clean drugs are and signs for liquor stores. I found interestingly, that there was signs for San Francisco State University at one point in this district, flying high on lamp posts. These signs typically don’t apply to the people in this area, so it was interesting to them on the streets. I figured because it was on lamp posts in the streets, it could be targeted to people driving through as it would be in their eye view. 

Finally we visited the public library, a massive beautiful white building. This was our final destination on our trip. We explored around the library, and found the photo archives highlighting the history of San Francisco. The library is a place for the whole community to visit, and use as a resource. I saw many signs advertising, not only the different sections of the library, but that it was a public space. For example, the restroom signs explained that they were public restrooms.

Through looking at historical photos from these districts I found some interesting pictures. Though it isn’t as historical as some of the other photos, the picture below depicts a sign in The Tenderloin. The sign says “Ask: Are you choking? This is the universal choking sign.” This sign gives us a picture into the environment around The Tenderloin. Something as well known as the choking symbol, isn’t known by the people of The Tenderloin. In addition, the sign includes a picture of the symbol, in case people looking at the sign cannot read. 

  In San Francisco, a matter of blocks can change everything from the people that reside in the area, the economic class, the atmosphere and the signage. The Tenderloin is not a district I can see myself revisiting for the fun of it. However, I very much enjoyed being downtown and in the Union Square area. I’m glad we got to see another side of San Francisco, such as The Tenderloin, and were able to make our first trip downtown.