Anywhere, TM

June 14, 2010 8:23 PM

A new project called CitID is attempting to collect logos and/or typefaces representing every city in the world. So far, they have over 150 submissions, including Berlin, Kiev, Portland, Bogota, Tokyo, and Cape Town.

See also:
Neighborhood flags
Typographic Japanese town logos using Kanji

posted by emilyd22222 (25 comments total)

And of course I left out the main page link: it's here.
posted by emilyd22222 at 8:24 PM on June 14, 2010

I like this one for Tokyo better.
posted by zardoz at 8:40 PM on June 14, 2010

The typeface representing New York City should be fuck you I don't have time for this I'm running late!
posted by fuq at 8:50 PM on June 14, 2010

Ummm.. it's I (heart)NY for NYC, isn't it?
posted by swooz at 8:53 PM on June 14, 2010

I wish there were a voting system. Many of them are great, but some don't seem to fit the city at all, and a couple don't even have words. It would be nice to have a way to separate the truly cool ones from the pack.
posted by phunniemee at 9:01 PM on June 14, 2010 [1 favorite]

New York City? Gotham. Duh.
posted by Quietgal at 9:03 PM on June 14, 2010

This is kind of strange. Who gets to decide that Tokyo's 'representation' should have a giant hand flipping the bird? I have no way of knowing whether that's accurate to the tone of the city or not, but still...
posted by Hargrimm at 9:23 PM on June 14, 2010

I really like the neighborhood flags.
posted by roll truck roll at 9:24 PM on June 14, 2010

To me, the official flag of Amsterdam, which isn't included, reminds me more of... um, Amsterdam somehow.
posted by twoleftfeet at 10:02 PM on June 14, 2010

fuq: "The typeface representing New York City should be fuck you I don't have time for this I'm running late!"

For NYC just take a few pictures of subway signs. No?
posted by Splunge at 10:19 PM on June 14, 2010

On a shirt please.
posted by scrowdid at 11:00 PM on June 14, 2010

Who gets to decide that Tokyo's 'representation' should have a giant hand flipping the bird? I have no way of knowing whether that's accurate to the tone of the city or not, but still...

A "fuck you" attitude is not an accurate tone of Tokyo in my experience. But I seem to remember thinking a lot of people there use their middle fingers instead of their index fingers to point at stuff. But I could be wrong and really a whole lot of people were covertly telling me to fuck off that year.
posted by Kirk Grim at 11:08 PM on June 14, 2010

Didn't we do this already?
posted by inoculatedcities at 11:09 PM on June 14, 2010

It's not raining Manchester?
posted by gallagho at 11:29 PM on June 14, 2010

Holy shit that Berlin logo is perfect.
posted by creasy boy at 11:46 PM on June 14, 2010 [1 favorite]

The one for Manchester is sorted except for the '#1 club' bit.
posted by shinybaum at 12:03 AM on June 15, 2010

Why are there 2 for Chicago?

Also, Wellington isn't that much of a badass...well maybe like the theater major doing West Side story lines to try to get out of fights in real life. Yeah...thats Wellington.
posted by hal_c_on at 1:59 AM on June 15, 2010

The Manchester one is too collagey and too Madchester - wot no Pankhursts? - the Berlin one is unexpectedly gorgeous.
posted by runincircles at 2:08 AM on June 15, 2010

There is not necessarily only one for each city; if you click on the city name in the caption text, you'll go to a page that will show all the entries for that location. Here's the page for Tokyo, for example.
posted by taz at 3:32 AM on June 15, 2010

I thought this would be more along the lines of typefaces representing a city because the typeface was found in abundance in that city. I can whip out some cool typefaces and type a city name, too.
posted by emelenjr at 4:28 AM on June 15, 2010

The Chapel Hill one is captures the bleached-out feel of Carolina summer, beyond just using light blue as the UNC color. Just needs a strip of pale red clay.
posted by bendybendy at 6:56 AM on June 15, 2010

Actually, I'd go with something Art Deco-y for NYC.

London should have been a humanist sans serif (as should every city in Switzerland)

The DC typeface is kind of cool, but doesn't exactly scream "Washington!"
Personally, I'd reuse Courier New as the tongue-in-cheek choice for DC,
preferably IN ALL CAPS.

A cool idea, but a bit WTF on some of them.
posted by schmod at 7:23 AM on June 15, 2010

Yeah, these are just random bits of art with the city name in strange type. Cities have distinctive typefaces; typically the lettering used in the public transit, the signage, or maybe some big event like the Olympics.
posted by Nelson at 7:35 AM on June 15, 2010 [1 favorite]

Milwaukee: Beer, cheese, hot dogs and thick women. Things Mike likes.
posted by MikeMc at 2:43 PM on June 15, 2010

For all the people who seem to be wondering, this is the one for New York City.
posted by koeselitz at 7:50 PM on June 15, 2010