Logos tend to be an essential element in determining how successful a company or business is. While there are plenty of companies that operate behind the scenes successfully, most need that element of recognition to reach their customers. Logos and brands have become such a pervasive element in our lives that there are multiple quiz apps out there testing your ability to recognize the giants of consumerism. (Not that I'm judging people who take them, I definitely spent about month trying to get through one before my short attention span finally kicked in.) Although large companies can get away with simple and minimalist designs, smaller businesses typically need more unique ones to garner that same recognition and attention. Today's sticker is definitely a great example of the latter.
This local logo is one of the few that I easily recognize and actually know the location of the business. For those who don't know it, this is the logo for Row House Cinema over in Lawrenceville. It's a small theater that specializes in showing a collection of older films that share a common theme. Right now they are obviously celebrating Christmas, however with a collection of movies that aren't immediately recognized as holiday films. Granted they are showing The Muppet's Christmas Carol and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (which are seasonal musts) but there's also Die Hard and Gremlins, that I often forget are set at Christmas. I find this general concept to be a wonderful and unique way to add some variety to the area's entertainment community. Unfortunately I haven't had the chance to see anything here yet, despite my love and mild obsession for films. It's been on my list of Pittsburgh activities to do for a while, so seeing these stickers around the city are a nice reminder of something that I really need to get around to. I find this sticker to be a particularly intriguing one, it's not everyday you find a pigeon with a camera for a head. It certainly makes it a memorable image, so a great logo, although a seemingly odd choice. There are definitely a large amount of pigeons here in the city but they're not exactly something that's unique to Pittsburgh. I would think that a penguin would be a far more apt choice of bird to represent the city, although I'm sure that opens up a can of worms that isn't worth the headache. Rather than sit here and try to guess at what the reasoning behind the logo is, I decided to ask the theater directly. The general manager Theo Ackerson actually got back to me answering my question, fully admit super exciting moment to see that email. Here's what he had to say: "When we were doing construction on the building (it was not originally a theater), there were times when the inside of the building was open to the elements. A few families of pigeons decided to make the future Row House Cinema their home. After we finished construction, we migrated the pigeons out of there. When it came time for the logos and branding, we wanted something unique and recognizable. Our branding team gave us a few options, and the one with the pigeon was our favorite!" I find this to be such a fun little story. The fact that they decided to incorporate the pigeons that were living in the theater into their brand is a great little tidbit. It's certainly a very city thing to do. The addition of the camera as a head allows you to put the pieces together, that it's a city theater that deserves some looking into. I wanted to send Theo a quick thank you for answering my question and I hope that I've managed to do the logo justice. Since my next post won't be until the 26th, I'm wishing everyone a very early Merry Christmas and a Happy Holidays.
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Maggie Ondrey
An amateur photographer and writer capturing a small portion of the city. Archives
August 2017
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