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Ayla Pui-yi Leung (HK),
The Scene of the Signs: Hong Kong’s Shop Signs as Socio-Cultural Representations

Hong Kong

Ask anyone about the unforgettable things about Hong Kong’s urbanscape, and they will tell you the cinematic/cyberpunk aesthetic created by glamorous skyscrapers and ubiquitous shop signs in all scales and forms adhered to unassuming concrete buildings. The eclectic blend of graphic and verbal elements, and association between them and traditional or foreign culture in shop signs has created the alluring ambience and bears witness to local socio-cultural development and integration. With different regions having their main types of economic activities, shop signs of similar business nature which pop up among buildings have created a sense of place and become a vernacular wayfinding device. The loud colorful chaos was born out of necessity—because of the limited land supply, narrow streets, post-war homogeneous architecture, shop owners in Hong Kong struggled to get their business noticed. The lax rules of shop signs in the past enabled business owners to create different shop signs to promote and inform pedestrians about their business effectively.
Yet the scene of the signs is fading at an unprecedented rate. With rapid urban renewal and gentrification, e.g. renewal of Lee Tung Street (a street selling printed wedding cards), gentrified shopping malls built in Mong Kok and Tsim Sha Tsui (think high-end shopping malls along Victoria Harbour), and government regulations, old buildings are pulled down, so are shop signs. For instance in 2017, more than 1300 shop signs were taken down. The new landmark architecture becomes the ‹signage› itself, in the sense of a wayfinding device, and the significance of ‹conventional› shop signs somewhat lowers. What once was the defining feature of Hong Kong’s street view now fades. With the current context in mind, this article aims to offer a close look on how shop signs become the marks of local culture and life by deconstructing the visual, verbal and physical elements, and hopefully sheds light on the future possibilities for the unique urban visual element.

I. How Shop Signs Convey Messages


Visual conventions and medium of shop signs

Shop signs come in all forms and scales, but some have their distinct visual conventions and medium which won’t be mistaken as signs of other types of businesses. These are pawn shops, massage parlours, exchange shops, medical business, and hourly hotels. Their visual conventions, i.e. symbols and medium, are constructed organically with change of nature of business.

Pawn shops

Be it in canvas, plastic lightbox, or neon tubes, one can always recognize a pawn shop by finding the signage with a traditional symbol which consists of a stylized bat and a coin. The Chinese pronunciation of ‹bat› is the same as that of ‹happiness›, making it represent auspiciousness.

Medical businesses

Once being a humble white lightbox, pharmacy signs are now made of colorful LED lights with registered trademark (the symbol of letter ‹P› combined with letter ‹X› placed in a white square of a red cross). After the Individual Visit Scheme was introduced in 2003 to let mainlanders visit Hong Kong and Macau freely, tourism in Hong Kong gained another source of income. Tourists buy duty-free baby formula, medicine and whatnots, and pharmacies become popular among them, so these types of shops started to attract them with loud LED signs. As for small clinics, they present things in a much more subtle manner, using a humble lightbox and clean text layout because of restrictions on related signage.

Exchange shops

Small exchange shops are frequently found in tourist areas. Most of the shops show the existence by using yellow in the stall and LED lights. Whether in daylight or in the dark, people can always spot them. With the types of currency available shown, they can have a clearer idea which to go.

Hourly hotels

Though named as hotels, they are different from the usual ones. Hourly hotels have their signage in neon of warm colors and lilac, which enable people to see them far away in the dark. Frequently found in old buildings, they offer cheap accommodation for specific needs. Some hotels are labeled ‹just offering rooms›, which make their nature more obvious. The neon pink still glows when night falls, hinting a nostalgic sense of lurking desire.

Massage parlours

Body massages are popular in Hong Kong. While some run them in chain stores, a lot are operated on a small scale. Shops providing affordable massage are usually located on upper floors of old buildings. The shop owners may place a plastic lightbox near the staircase of the building to inform and attract customers. A small signage may also be hung from the building. A roll-up banner with photos of service may also be set up. It is said that if a foot massage shop provides erotic service, there will be a foot with a smiling face on the sign, but so far the statement is not supported with evidence.

II. Evoking Authenticity

Shop signs are here to promote businesses, so they need to be persuasive enough to make potential customers visit one shop instead of another. Authenticity is a useful way to attract people in terms of delivering trust and sparking curiosity. This section explores how different ways of applying traditional and foreign visual and verbal elements make businesses achieve the goal, and how these reflect the rich background of Hong Kong’s cultural exchange and integration since the colonial period, which defines the city’s vernacular aesthetic and cultural identity.

Sheer directness

When it comes to delivering traditional ambience of local business, direct use of Chinese calligraphy (typefaces or custom writing), historic paintings, and ancient symbols is found in shop signs. The tradition of calligraphic shop signs has a long history before the rise of digital typefaces. Different styles e.g. beiwei kaishu and lishu, are applied in different media, depending on the ambience a certain business would like to give. For instance, a Chinese clinic may have its signage in powerful calligraphic strokes to make itself appear trustworthy, while a bakery may choose calligraphy with a spontaneous touch to show friendliness. Lettering is also used in small businesses to display it to pedestrians. For businesses who would like to evoke a sense of foreignness, they do the similar things, opting for historical drawings, people in traditional clothing, flags, and place names, promoting the uniqueness among competitors. Related language and letterforms / scripts are also used, and they become graphic devices rather than verbal ones. It turns out the signs act as quick guides to foreign culture, with the directness and itself displayed on streets. Yet it could also reinforce the stereotype, since they have already adopted the typical expression, or things that people usually think of when describing a certain place.

Misuse and separation of cultural symbols and origins

Sometimes accidents just happen, e.g. the shop signs have the glyphs and names different from the cultural origin of the business. The ‹mismatch› shows an important aspect of vernacular shop signs, that gut feeling creates interesting encounters. Only symbols and names will be taken, leaving origins behind. From visual stereotypes to typefaces and phrases, as long as they make the business look ‹exotic› and ‹cool›, they will be taken, and shop owners and the audience won’t care too much about it, even if it has nothing to do with the business.

III. Know the Places: The Relationship Between Shop Signs and Architecture

Business owners utilize every single space of the buildings to place shop signs and promote the business. Among the chaos, the shop signs are divided into two parts, the ones with lower mobility, i.e. adhered to buildings and shopfront, and the movable ones. With advanced technology and extensive application, digital screens are also used for informing and promoting business.

A typology of shop signs

Signs with lower mobility: The shop signs can be adhered as extension of the buildings, (on the top of the building, projecting columnar, projecting irregular, and projecting banner), and be placed on the buildings (façade coverage (including billboard on building surface), building corner fascia, building fascia, building columnar, and digital advertising screen. These are viewed from far away. The ones on shopfronts (shopfront columnar, shopfront projecting, shopfront fascia, shop window, plaque inside shop) are to be viewed closely. Signs with higher mobility: These include advertising lightbox, shop signs behind glass windows, roll-up banner, awning, billboard/signage along pavement, and signage behind glass walls.

IV. Defining spaces

Shop signs define the architecture and act as wayfinding devices in different scales, forming a sense of place and make the streets suitable for wandering, but gentrification and urban renewal has changed the ways shop signs are presented and its impact on wayfinding.

From delightful chaos to sterile order

Urban development, renewal and gentrification affect the arrangement of shop signs in terms of layers, scale, and its relationship with architecture. In the past, numerous signs of different sizes were placed, as a part of buildings/shops and extensions of buildings. They form layers and layers of signage. For example, in the case of tong lau (tenement buildings built from the late 19th century to the 1960s in Hong Kong), with lower floors as shops and upper floors as flats, the shops utilize the shopfront and hang signage on the buildings to promote business. The homogenous post-war modernist composite buildings make business owners add shop signs on the surfaces of buildings and as extensions, which adds identity to the architecture and creates a backlash to modernism.
With ongoing urban development and changes, although shop signs can also be extensions of buildings and shops, they are now in a smaller size and scale. They are more likely to be found as shopfront projecting signs or fascia instead of extension of buildings; if they are found as building extension, they are likely to be adhered in an orderly manner instead of spontaneous layers. In addition, the half-emptiness near the buildings also acts as a wayfinding device, in terms of indicating the presence of a certain building. It is found in hotels and new shopping malls, which owns a reasonably big area, whether for entrance, driving area or simply rest / open space. When having the obvious emptiness in an area full of buildings and narrow pavements, it informs pedestrians of its presence.
With gentrification and urban renewal, shop signs tend to be placed indoors / inwards of the architecture instead of being adhered outside it. In gentrification, landmark architecture is built and glass is used extensively, forming large glass windows or walls of the architecture. This enables people to see inside of the buildings. To make the best use of the material, large advertising canvases indicating the business are used inside the buildings, and it can inform people about the business without actually putting a signage on the building wall. This creates flexibility of the signage, that the content can be changed whenever shops change. Some shops place signs of different shapes or advertising canvas behind the glass walls, and the landmark architecture amplified the visual impact. Moreover, landmark buildings act as a wayfinding device as they can be recognized far away. Being huge glass boxes of different shapes and displaying different kinds of business, they challenge the conventional placement and forms of shop signs.
As for commercial skyscrapers, they usually have their names at the entrance. The top of the building is reserved for the building name, or sometimes for the huge neon signs or lightboxes of global commercial and financial corporations, enabling people to see them from far away. 

The Role of shop signs in wayfinding

Shop signs serve as tools of anticipation in wayfinding by showing direction and indicating the business on their own, informing people of the nature of the place and upcoming shops, thus offering an effective way for searching and creating ambience of the street, They make the streets suitable for exploring and wandering as people can have a clearer impression of the place. When without shop signs, ways of walking become more searching-oriented. People need to deliberately find the place and more rely on maps (whether digital and paper), the wayfinding process will be more detail-oriented. The presence of signage changes the way of walking. The significance of conventional shop signs are certainly decreasing in terms of wayfinding and creating a sense of place, but with their properties that landmark architecture lacks, i.e. flexibility towards change in terms of content and form, and the spontaneity of evoking emotions, shop signs see the opportunity in terms of generating ambience, and making the best use of its versatility of medium, mobility and permanence of message. Moreover, they are one of the important artifacts that reflects the vernacular culture and socio-economic development. The urban landscape of Hong Kong is rapidly changing, but we hope the spirit of cultural exchange and integration in the city is still well alive. 

The stylized bat and coin symbol of pawn shops in different media, from neon, canvas, to wall painting.

The stylized bat and coin symbol of pawn shops in different media, from neon, canvas, to wall painting.

The stylized bat and coin symbol of pawn shops in different media, from neon, canvas, to wall painting.

LED lightboxes of duty-free pharmacies, with some stating what it offers, and that it’s government registered.

LED lightboxes of duty-free pharmacies, with some stating what it offers, and that it’s government registered.

LED lightboxes of duty-free pharmacies, with some stating what it offers, and that it’s government registered.

Signs of exchange shops, featuring symbols of different currencies.

Signs of exchange shops, featuring symbols of different currencies.

Neon signs of hourly hotels.

Neon signs of hourly hotels.

Different shop signs for massage parlours, from lightboxes to roll-up banners.

Different shop signs for massage parlours, from lightboxes to roll-up banners.

Different shop signs for massage parlours, from lightboxes to roll-up banners.

Different typefaces/calligraphic styles of shop signs of local business: Fig. 1: Chinese restaurants, fig. 2: pawn shops, fig. 3: unknown, fig. 4–6: Chinese herbal tea shop.

Different typefaces/calligraphic styles of shop signs of local business: Fig. 1: Chinese restaurants, fig. 2: pawn shops, fig. 3: unknown, fig. 4–6: Chinese herbal tea shop.

Different typefaces/calligraphic styles of shop signs of local business: Fig. 1: Chinese restaurants, fig. 2: pawn shops, fig. 3: unknown, fig. 4–6: Chinese herbal tea shop.

Different typefaces/calligraphic styles of shop signs of local business: Fig. 1: Chinese restaurants, fig. 2: pawn shops, fig. 3: unknown, fig. 4–6: Chinese herbal tea shop.

Different typefaces/calligraphic styles of shop signs of local business: Fig. 1: Chinese restaurants, fig. 2: pawn shops, fig. 3: unknown, fig. 4–6: Chinese herbal tea shop.

Different typefaces/calligraphic styles of shop signs of local business: Fig. 1: Chinese restaurants, fig. 2: pawn shops, fig. 3: unknown, fig. 4–6: Chinese herbal tea shop.

Different shop signs adopting foreign visual and verbal elements: Fig. 1: Thai restaurant, fig. 2: Eastern European restaurant, fig. 3: Indonesian restaurant, fig. 4: Thai massage parlour, fig. 5: Japanese restaurant, fig. 6: Egyptian restaurant.

Different shop signs adopting foreign visual and verbal elements: Fig. 1: Thai restaurant, fig. 2: Eastern European restaurant, fig. 3: Indonesian restaurant, fig. 4: Thai massage parlour, fig. 5: Japanese restaurant, fig. 6: Egyptian restaurant.

Different shop signs adopting foreign visual and verbal elements: Fig. 1: Thai restaurant, fig. 2: Eastern European restaurant, fig. 3: Indonesian restaurant, fig. 4: Thai massage parlour, fig. 5: Japanese restaurant, fig. 6: Egyptian restaurant.

Different shop signs adopting foreign visual and verbal elements: Fig. 1: Thai restaurant, fig. 2: Eastern European restaurant, fig. 3: Indonesian restaurant, fig. 4: Thai massage parlour, fig. 5: Japanese restaurant, fig. 6: Egyptian restaurant.

Different shop signs adopting foreign visual and verbal elements: Fig. 1: Thai restaurant, fig. 2: Eastern European restaurant, fig. 3: Indonesian restaurant, fig. 4: Thai massage parlour, fig. 5: Japanese restaurant, fig. 6: Egyptian restaurant.

Different shop signs adopting foreign visual and verbal elements: Fig. 1: Thai restaurant, fig. 2: Eastern European restaurant, fig. 3: Indonesian restaurant, fig. 4: Thai massage parlour, fig. 5: Japanese restaurant, fig. 6: Egyptian restaurant.

Different shop signs adopting foreign visual and verbal elements: Fig. 1: Thai restaurant, fig. 2: Eastern European restaurant, fig. 3: Indonesian restaurant, fig. 4: Thai massage parlour, fig. 5: Japanese restaurant, fig. 6: Egyptian restaurant.

Examples of misuse and separation of cultural symbols and origins: Fig. 1: an Italian restaurant shop sign adopting blackletter, fig. 2: an western restaurant using Italian phrases as shop name, fig. 3: a mobile gadget shop using Japanese character in shop sign, fig. 4: a lounge using buddha as the name and Celtic typeface, in which alcohol is forbidden in buddhist teaching and the typeface has nothing to do with the business, fig. 5: the name of the nightclub is ‹Venice›, which has nothing to do with the business.

Examples of misuse and separation of cultural symbols and origins: Fig. 1: an Italian restaurant shop sign adopting blackletter, fig. 2: an western restaurant using Italian phrases as shop name, fig. 3: a mobile gadget shop using Japanese character in shop sign, fig. 4: a lounge using buddha as the name and Celtic typeface, in which alcohol is forbidden in buddhist teaching and the typeface has nothing to do with the business, fig. 5: the name of the nightclub is ‹Venice›, which has nothing to do with the business.

Examples of misuse and separation of cultural symbols and origins: Fig. 1: an Italian restaurant shop sign adopting blackletter, fig. 2: an western restaurant using Italian phrases as shop name, fig. 3: a mobile gadget shop using Japanese character in shop sign, fig. 4: a lounge using buddha as the name and Celtic typeface, in which alcohol is forbidden in buddhist teaching and the typeface has nothing to do with the business, fig. 5: the name of the nightclub is ‹Venice›, which has nothing to do with the business.

Examples of misuse and separation of cultural symbols and origins: Fig. 1: an Italian restaurant shop sign adopting blackletter, fig. 2: an western restaurant using Italian phrases as shop name, fig. 3: a mobile gadget shop using Japanese character in shop sign, fig. 4: a lounge using buddha as the name and Celtic typeface, in which alcohol is forbidden in buddhist teaching and the typeface has nothing to do with the business, fig. 5: the name of the nightclub is ‹Venice›, which has nothing to do with the business.

Examples of misuse and separation of cultural symbols and origins: Fig. 1: an Italian restaurant shop sign adopting blackletter, fig. 2: an western restaurant using Italian phrases as shop name, fig. 3: a mobile gadget shop using Japanese character in shop sign, fig. 4: a lounge using buddha as the name and Celtic typeface, in which alcohol is forbidden in buddhist teaching and the typeface has nothing to do with the business, fig. 5: the name of the nightclub is ‹Venice›, which has nothing to do with the business.

Illustration 1.

Illustration 2.

Layers of glowing shop signs at night.

Layers of glowing shop signs at night.

Layers of glowing shop signs at night.

Shop signs displayed in a orderly manner, with the fixed frames adhered to the buildings.

Shop signs displayed in a orderly manner, with the fixed frames adhered to the buildings.

Fig. 1: open spaces of a shopping mall, fig. 2: parking space and entrance of a hotel.

Fig. 1: open spaces of a shopping mall, fig. 2: parking space and entrance of a hotel.

Gentrified shopping malls with their logo on the buildings.

Gentrified shopping malls with their logo on the buildings.

Signs of global corporations displayed on the top of the skyscrapers, which can be viewed from far away, even across the harbour.

Signs of global corporations displayed on the top of the skyscrapers, which can be viewed from far away, even across the harbour.

Shopfront projecting signs informing people of the upcoming shops in the street.

Shopfront projecting signs informing people of the upcoming shops in the street.

Notes

1 Pui-yi Leung, A. (2015), Hong Kong Signage. A study, proposal and reflection, School of Design, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, ↘︎ download.

2 Brian Kwok, Fading of Hong Kong neon lights – The archive of Hong Kong visual culture «霓虹黯色—香港街道視覺文化記錄».

3 Tam, Keith (2014), «The architecture of communication: the visual language of Hong Kong’s neon signs’», Mobile M+ neonsigns.hk: an interactive online exhibition celebrating Hong Kong’s neon signs, ↘︎ http://www.neonsigns.hk. Hong Kong: M+, West Kowloon Cultural District Authority.

4 Buildings Department, Guide on Erection & Maintenance of Advertising Signs, ↘︎ http://www.bd.gov.hk/.

5 Buildings Department, Guidelines for Identification of Abandoned or Dangerous Signboards, ↘︎ http://www.bd.gov.hk/.

6 Buildings Department, Projection and clearance of signs, ↘︎ http://www.bd.gov.hk/.

7 Shelton, B. (2011), «Ch. 7 Emerging volumetric, Ch. 8 Conclusion», The Making of Hong Kong: from vertical to volumetric (pp. 131–171).

8 Stroud, C.; Mpendukana, S. (2010), «Multilingual signage: a multimodal approach to discourses of consumption in a South African township», Social Semiotics, ↘︎ http://web.b.ebscohost.com.

9 Miller, S. R. (2010), «Historic Signs, Commercial Speech, and the Limits of Preservation», Journal of Land Use & Environmental Law, ↘︎ http://www.law.fsu.edu.

10 El-Yasin, M. K.; Mahadin, R .S. (1996), «On the Pragmatics of Shop Signs in Jordan», Journal of Pragmatics: An Interdisciplinary Monthly of Language Studies, ↘︎ http://www.sciencedirect.com.

11 NeonSigns.HK. (2014), Typography of Neon Signs 霓虹的字體, ↘︎ http://www.neonsigns.hk.

12 Planning Department, (2005), 行人環境規劃研究行政簡要, ↘︎ http://www.pland.gov.hk.

13 Planning Department, Urban design guidelines for Hong Kong, ↘︎ http://www.pland.gov.hk.

14 Venturi, R.; Brown, D. S.; Izenour, S (1977), Learning from Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural Form.

15 Smith, P. F. (1977), The Syntax of Cities.

16 Tam, K. (2000), Context: contemplating text in our environment.

17 Tam, K. (2000), Reading Precis No 4.

18 Tam, K. (2014), The Architecture of Communication: The Visual Language of Hong Kong's Neon Signs, ↘︎ http://www.neonsigns.hk.

19 Turner, T. (1996), City as Landscape. A Post Post-Modern View of Design and Planning.

20 Walker, S. (2001), Typography and Language in Everyday Life: Prescriptions and Practices.

21 Yixiang Long, P. K. (2012), Does Intelligibility Affect Place Legibility? Understanding the Relationship Between Objective and Subjective Evaluations of the Urban Environment.

22 Environment and Behavior, ↘︎ http://eab.sagepub.com.

23 呂大樂, 大橋健一編 (1992). 城市接觸 : 香港街頭文化觀察.

24 Zhang, W. P. (2012), Invisible Logic: Hong Kong as Asian Culture of Congestion.

25 李思名 (1987), 香港都市問題硏究.

26 梁智儀 (2009), 路牌字體形&義. 明報周刊, 30–33.

27 霓虹之城 光輝到此？明報周刊.

Images

1–48 Ayla Pui-yi Leung, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, 2021.

Info

The text was written by Ayla Pui-yi Leung, in association with Keith Tam (Assistant Professor and Discipline Leader of Communication Design of School of Design, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Project Tutor for the HK Shop Signs study, founder of Information Design Lab, School of design, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Vice Principal and Deputy Academic Director of Hong Kong Design Institute).

Links:
↘︎ Website, ↘︎ Instagram

Text

allcitiesarebeautiful.com

1

Ayla Pui-yi Leung (HK),
The Scene of the Signs: Hong Kong’s Shop Signs as Socio-Cultural Representations

Hong Kong

Ask anyone about the unforgettable things about Hong Kong’s urbanscape, and they will tell you the cinematic/cyberpunk aesthetic created by glamorous skyscrapers and ubiquitous shop signs in all scales and forms adhered to unassuming concrete buildings. The eclectic blend of graphic and verbal elements, and association between them and traditional or foreign culture in shop signs has created the alluring ambience and bears witness to local socio-cultural development and integration. With different regions having their main types of economic activities, shop signs of similar business nature which pop up among buildings have created a sense of place and become a vernacular wayfinding device. The loud colorful chaos was born out of necessity—because of the limited land supply, narrow streets, post-war homogeneous architecture, shop owners in Hong Kong struggled to get their business noticed. The lax rules of shop signs in the past enabled business owners to create different shop signs to promote and inform pedestrians about their business effectively.
Yet the scene of the signs is fading at an unprecedented rate. With rapid urban renewal and gentrification, e.g. renewal of Lee Tung Street (a street selling printed wedding cards), gentrified shopping malls built in Mong Kok and Tsim Sha Tsui (think high-end shopping malls along Victoria Harbour), and government regulations, old buildings are pulled down, so are shop signs. For instance in 2017, more than 1300 shop signs were taken down. The new landmark architecture becomes the ‹signage› itself, in the sense of a wayfinding device, and the significance of ‹conventional› shop signs somewhat lowers. What once was the defining feature of Hong Kong’s street view now fades. With the current context in mind, this article aims to offer a close look on how shop signs become the marks of local culture and life by deconstructing the visual, verbal and physical elements, and hopefully sheds light on the future possibilities for the unique urban visual element.

I. How Shop Signs Convey Messages


Visual conventions and medium of shop signs

Shop signs come in all forms and scales, but some have their distinct visual conventions and medium which won’t be mistaken as signs of other types of businesses. These are pawn shops, massage parlours, exchange shops, medical business, and hourly hotels. Their visual conventions, i.e. symbols and medium, are constructed organically with change of nature of business.

Pawn shops

Be it in canvas, plastic lightbox, or neon tubes, one can always recognize a pawn shop by finding the signage with a traditional symbol which consists of a stylized bat and a coin. The Chinese pronunciation of ‹bat› is the same as that of ‹happiness›, making it represent auspiciousness.

Medical businesses

Once being a humble white lightbox, pharmacy signs are now made of colorful LED lights with registered trademark (the symbol of letter ‹P› combined with letter ‹X› placed in a white square of a red cross). After the Individual Visit Scheme was introduced in 2003 to let mainlanders visit Hong Kong and Macau freely, tourism in Hong Kong gained another source of income. Tourists buy duty-free baby formula, medicine and whatnots, and pharmacies become popular among them, so these types of shops started to attract them with loud LED signs. As for small clinics, they present things in a much more subtle manner, using a humble lightbox and clean text layout because of restrictions on related signage.

Exchange shops

Small exchange shops are frequently found in tourist areas. Most of the shops show the existence by using yellow in the stall and LED lights. Whether in daylight or in the dark, people can always spot them. With the types of currency available shown, they can have a clearer idea which to go.

Hourly hotels

Though named as hotels, they are different from the usual ones. Hourly hotels have their signage in neon of warm colors and lilac, which enable people to see them far away in the dark. Frequently found in old buildings, they offer cheap accommodation for specific needs. Some hotels are labeled ‹just offering rooms›, which make their nature more obvious. The neon pink still glows when night falls, hinting a nostalgic sense of lurking desire.

Massage parlours

Body massages are popular in Hong Kong. While some run them in chain stores, a lot are operated on a small scale. Shops providing affordable massage are usually located on upper floors of old buildings. The shop owners may place a plastic lightbox near the staircase of the building to inform and attract customers. A small signage may also be hung from the building. A roll-up banner with photos of service may also be set up. It is said that if a foot massage shop provides erotic service, there will be a foot with a smiling face on the sign, but so far the statement is not supported with evidence.

II. Evoking Authenticity

Shop signs are here to promote businesses, so they need to be persuasive enough to make potential customers visit one shop instead of another. Authenticity is a useful way to attract people in terms of delivering trust and sparking curiosity. This section explores how different ways of applying traditional and foreign visual and verbal elements make businesses achieve the goal, and how these reflect the rich background of Hong Kong’s cultural exchange and integration since the colonial period, which defines the city’s vernacular aesthetic and cultural identity.

Sheer directness

When it comes to delivering traditional ambience of local business, direct use of Chinese calligraphy (typefaces or custom writing), historic paintings, and ancient symbols is found in shop signs. The tradition of calligraphic shop signs has a long history before the rise of digital typefaces. Different styles e.g. beiwei kaishu and lishu, are applied in different media, depending on the ambience a certain business would like to give. For instance, a Chinese clinic may have its signage in powerful calligraphic strokes to make itself appear trustworthy, while a bakery may choose calligraphy with a spontaneous touch to show friendliness. Lettering is also used in small businesses to display it to pedestrians. For businesses who would like to evoke a sense of foreignness, they do the similar things, opting for historical drawings, people in traditional clothing, flags, and place names, promoting the uniqueness among competitors. Related language and letterforms / scripts are also used, and they become graphic devices rather than verbal ones. It turns out the signs act as quick guides to foreign culture, with the directness and itself displayed on streets. Yet it could also reinforce the stereotype, since they have already adopted the typical expression, or things that people usually think of when describing a certain place.

Misuse and separation of cultural symbols and origins

Sometimes accidents just happen, e.g. the shop signs have the glyphs and names different from the cultural origin of the business. The ‹mismatch› shows an important aspect of vernacular shop signs, that gut feeling creates interesting encounters. Only symbols and names will be taken, leaving origins behind. From visual stereotypes to typefaces and phrases, as long as they make the business look ‹exotic› and ‹cool›, they will be taken, and shop owners and the audience won’t care too much about it, even if it has nothing to do with the business.

III. Know the Places: The Relationship Between Shop Signs and Architecture

Business owners utilize every single space of the buildings to place shop signs and promote the business. Among the chaos, the shop signs are divided into two parts, the ones with lower mobility, i.e. adhered to buildings and shopfront, and the movable ones. With advanced technology and extensive application, digital screens are also used for informing and promoting business.

A typology of shop signs

Signs with lower mobility: The shop signs can be adhered as extension of the buildings, (on the top of the building, projecting columnar, projecting irregular, and projecting banner), and be placed on the buildings (façade coverage (including billboard on building surface), building corner fascia, building fascia, building columnar, and digital advertising screen. These are viewed from far away. The ones on shopfronts (shopfront columnar, shopfront projecting, shopfront fascia, shop window, plaque inside shop) are to be viewed closely. Signs with higher mobility: These include advertising lightbox, shop signs behind glass windows, roll-up banner, awning, billboard/signage along pavement, and signage behind glass walls.

IV. Defining spaces

Shop signs define the architecture and act as wayfinding devices in different scales, forming a sense of place and make the streets suitable for wandering, but gentrification and urban renewal has changed the ways shop signs are presented and its impact on wayfinding.

From delightful chaos to sterile order

Urban development, renewal and gentrification affect the arrangement of shop signs in terms of layers, scale, and its relationship with architecture. In the past, numerous signs of different sizes were placed, as a part of buildings/shops and extensions of buildings. They form layers and layers of signage. For example, in the case of tong lau (tenement buildings built from the late 19th century to the 1960s in Hong Kong), with lower floors as shops and upper floors as flats, the shops utilize the shopfront and hang signage on the buildings to promote business. The homogenous post-war modernist composite buildings make business owners add shop signs on the surfaces of buildings and as extensions, which adds identity to the architecture and creates a backlash to modernism.
With ongoing urban development and changes, although shop signs can also be extensions of buildings and shops, they are now in a smaller size and scale. They are more likely to be found as shopfront projecting signs or fascia instead of extension of buildings; if they are found as building extension, they are likely to be adhered in an orderly manner instead of spontaneous layers. In addition, the half-emptiness near the buildings also acts as a wayfinding device, in terms of indicating the presence of a certain building. It is found in hotels and new shopping malls, which owns a reasonably big area, whether for entrance, driving area or simply rest / open space. When having the obvious emptiness in an area full of buildings and narrow pavements, it informs pedestrians of its presence.
With gentrification and urban renewal, shop signs tend to be placed indoors / inwards of the architecture instead of being adhered outside it. In gentrification, landmark architecture is built and glass is used extensively, forming large glass windows or walls of the architecture. This enables people to see inside of the buildings. To make the best use of the material, large advertising canvases indicating the business are used inside the buildings, and it can inform people about the business without actually putting a signage on the building wall. This creates flexibility of the signage, that the content can be changed whenever shops change. Some shops place signs of different shapes or advertising canvas behind the glass walls, and the landmark architecture amplified the visual impact. Moreover, landmark buildings act as a wayfinding device as they can be recognized far away. Being huge glass boxes of different shapes and displaying different kinds of business, they challenge the conventional placement and forms of shop signs.
As for commercial skyscrapers, they usually have their names at the entrance. The top of the building is reserved for the building name, or sometimes for the huge neon signs or lightboxes of global commercial and financial corporations, enabling people to see them from far away. 

The Role of shop signs in wayfinding

Shop signs serve as tools of anticipation in wayfinding by showing direction and indicating the business on their own, informing people of the nature of the place and upcoming shops, thus offering an effective way for searching and creating ambience of the street, They make the streets suitable for exploring and wandering as people can have a clearer impression of the place. When without shop signs, ways of walking become more searching-oriented. People need to deliberately find the place and more rely on maps (whether digital and paper), the wayfinding process will be more detail-oriented. The presence of signage changes the way of walking. The significance of conventional shop signs are certainly decreasing in terms of wayfinding and creating a sense of place, but with their properties that landmark architecture lacks, i.e. flexibility towards change in terms of content and form, and the spontaneity of evoking emotions, shop signs see the opportunity in terms of generating ambience, and making the best use of its versatility of medium, mobility and permanence of message. Moreover, they are one of the important artifacts that reflects the vernacular culture and socio-economic development. The urban landscape of Hong Kong is rapidly changing, but we hope the spirit of cultural exchange and integration in the city is still well alive. 

The stylized bat and coin symbol of pawn shops in different media, from neon, canvas, to wall painting.

The stylized bat and coin symbol of pawn shops in different media, from neon, canvas, to wall painting.

The stylized bat and coin symbol of pawn shops in different media, from neon, canvas, to wall painting.

LED lightboxes of duty-free pharmacies, with some stating what it offers, and that it’s government registered.

LED lightboxes of duty-free pharmacies, with some stating what it offers, and that it’s government registered.

LED lightboxes of duty-free pharmacies, with some stating what it offers, and that it’s government registered.

Signs of exchange shops, featuring symbols of different currencies.

Signs of exchange shops, featuring symbols of different currencies.

Neon signs of hourly hotels.

Neon signs of hourly hotels.

Different shop signs for massage parlours, from lightboxes to roll-up banners.

Different shop signs for massage parlours, from lightboxes to roll-up banners.

Different shop signs for massage parlours, from lightboxes to roll-up banners.

Different typefaces/calligraphic styles of shop signs of local business: Fig. 1: Chinese restaurants, fig. 2: pawn shops, fig. 3: unknown, fig. 4–6: Chinese herbal tea shop.

Different typefaces/calligraphic styles of shop signs of local business: Fig. 1: Chinese restaurants, fig. 2: pawn shops, fig. 3: unknown, fig. 4–6: Chinese herbal tea shop.

Different typefaces/calligraphic styles of shop signs of local business: Fig. 1: Chinese restaurants, fig. 2: pawn shops, fig. 3: unknown, fig. 4–6: Chinese herbal tea shop.

Different typefaces/calligraphic styles of shop signs of local business: Fig. 1: Chinese restaurants, fig. 2: pawn shops, fig. 3: unknown, fig. 4–6: Chinese herbal tea shop.

Different typefaces/calligraphic styles of shop signs of local business: Fig. 1: Chinese restaurants, fig. 2: pawn shops, fig. 3: unknown, fig. 4–6: Chinese herbal tea shop.

Different typefaces/calligraphic styles of shop signs of local business: Fig. 1: Chinese restaurants, fig. 2: pawn shops, fig. 3: unknown, fig. 4–6: Chinese herbal tea shop.

Different shop signs adopting foreign visual and verbal elements: Fig. 1: Thai restaurant, fig. 2: Eastern European restaurant, fig. 3: Indonesian restaurant, fig. 4: Thai massage parlour, fig. 5: Japanese restaurant, fig. 6: Egyptian restaurant.

Different shop signs adopting foreign visual and verbal elements: Fig. 1: Thai restaurant, fig. 2: Eastern European restaurant, fig. 3: Indonesian restaurant, fig. 4: Thai massage parlour, fig. 5: Japanese restaurant, fig. 6: Egyptian restaurant.

Different shop signs adopting foreign visual and verbal elements: Fig. 1: Thai restaurant, fig. 2: Eastern European restaurant, fig. 3: Indonesian restaurant, fig. 4: Thai massage parlour, fig. 5: Japanese restaurant, fig. 6: Egyptian restaurant.

Different shop signs adopting foreign visual and verbal elements: Fig. 1: Thai restaurant, fig. 2: Eastern European restaurant, fig. 3: Indonesian restaurant, fig. 4: Thai massage parlour, fig. 5: Japanese restaurant, fig. 6: Egyptian restaurant.

Different shop signs adopting foreign visual and verbal elements: Fig. 1: Thai restaurant, fig. 2: Eastern European restaurant, fig. 3: Indonesian restaurant, fig. 4: Thai massage parlour, fig. 5: Japanese restaurant, fig. 6: Egyptian restaurant.

Different shop signs adopting foreign visual and verbal elements: Fig. 1: Thai restaurant, fig. 2: Eastern European restaurant, fig. 3: Indonesian restaurant, fig. 4: Thai massage parlour, fig. 5: Japanese restaurant, fig. 6: Egyptian restaurant.

Different shop signs adopting foreign visual and verbal elements: Fig. 1: Thai restaurant, fig. 2: Eastern European restaurant, fig. 3: Indonesian restaurant, fig. 4: Thai massage parlour, fig. 5: Japanese restaurant, fig. 6: Egyptian restaurant.

Examples of misuse and separation of cultural symbols and origins: Fig. 1: an Italian restaurant shop sign adopting blackletter, fig. 2: an western restaurant using Italian phrases as shop name, fig. 3: a mobile gadget shop using Japanese character in shop sign, fig. 4: a lounge using buddha as the name and Celtic typeface, in which alcohol is forbidden in buddhist teaching and the typeface has nothing to do with the business, fig. 5: the name of the nightclub is ‹Venice›, which has nothing to do with the business.

Examples of misuse and separation of cultural symbols and origins: Fig. 1: an Italian restaurant shop sign adopting blackletter, fig. 2: an western restaurant using Italian phrases as shop name, fig. 3: a mobile gadget shop using Japanese character in shop sign, fig. 4: a lounge using buddha as the name and Celtic typeface, in which alcohol is forbidden in buddhist teaching and the typeface has nothing to do with the business, fig. 5: the name of the nightclub is ‹Venice›, which has nothing to do with the business.

Examples of misuse and separation of cultural symbols and origins: Fig. 1: an Italian restaurant shop sign adopting blackletter, fig. 2: an western restaurant using Italian phrases as shop name, fig. 3: a mobile gadget shop using Japanese character in shop sign, fig. 4: a lounge using buddha as the name and Celtic typeface, in which alcohol is forbidden in buddhist teaching and the typeface has nothing to do with the business, fig. 5: the name of the nightclub is ‹Venice›, which has nothing to do with the business.

Examples of misuse and separation of cultural symbols and origins: Fig. 1: an Italian restaurant shop sign adopting blackletter, fig. 2: an western restaurant using Italian phrases as shop name, fig. 3: a mobile gadget shop using Japanese character in shop sign, fig. 4: a lounge using buddha as the name and Celtic typeface, in which alcohol is forbidden in buddhist teaching and the typeface has nothing to do with the business, fig. 5: the name of the nightclub is ‹Venice›, which has nothing to do with the business.

Examples of misuse and separation of cultural symbols and origins: Fig. 1: an Italian restaurant shop sign adopting blackletter, fig. 2: an western restaurant using Italian phrases as shop name, fig. 3: a mobile gadget shop using Japanese character in shop sign, fig. 4: a lounge using buddha as the name and Celtic typeface, in which alcohol is forbidden in buddhist teaching and the typeface has nothing to do with the business, fig. 5: the name of the nightclub is ‹Venice›, which has nothing to do with the business.

Illustration 1.

Illustration 2.

Layers of glowing shop signs at night.

Layers of glowing shop signs at night.

Layers of glowing shop signs at night.

Shop signs displayed in a orderly manner, with the fixed frames adhered to the buildings.

Shop signs displayed in a orderly manner, with the fixed frames adhered to the buildings.

Fig. 1: open spaces of a shopping mall, fig. 2: parking space and entrance of a hotel.

Fig. 1: open spaces of a shopping mall, fig. 2: parking space and entrance of a hotel.

Gentrified shopping malls with their logo on the buildings.

Gentrified shopping malls with their logo on the buildings.

Signs of global corporations displayed on the top of the skyscrapers, which can be viewed from far away, even across the harbour.

Signs of global corporations displayed on the top of the skyscrapers, which can be viewed from far away, even across the harbour.

Shopfront projecting signs informing people of the upcoming shops in the street.

Shopfront projecting signs informing people of the upcoming shops in the street.

Notes

1 Pui-yi Leung, A. (2015), Hong Kong Signage. A study, proposal and reflection, School of Design, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, ↘︎ download.

2 Brian Kwok, Fading of Hong Kong neon lights – The archive of Hong Kong visual culture «霓虹黯色—香港街道視覺文化記錄».

3 Tam, Keith (2014), «The architecture of communication: the visual language of Hong Kong’s neon signs’», Mobile M+ neonsigns.hk: an interactive online exhibition celebrating Hong Kong’s neon signs, ↘︎ http://www.neonsigns.hk. Hong Kong: M+, West Kowloon Cultural District Authority.

4 Buildings Department, Guide on Erection & Maintenance of Advertising Signs, ↘︎ http://www.bd.gov.hk/.

5 Buildings Department, Guidelines for Identification of Abandoned or Dangerous Signboards, ↘︎ http://www.bd.gov.hk/.

6 Buildings Department, Projection and clearance of signs, ↘︎ http://www.bd.gov.hk/.

7 Shelton, B. (2011), «Ch. 7 Emerging volumetric, Ch. 8 Conclusion», The Making of Hong Kong: from vertical to volumetric (pp. 131–171).

8 Stroud, C.; Mpendukana, S. (2010), «Multilingual signage: a multimodal approach to discourses of consumption in a South African township», Social Semiotics, ↘︎ http://web.b.ebscohost.com.

9 Miller, S. R. (2010), «Historic Signs, Commercial Speech, and the Limits of Preservation», Journal of Land Use & Environmental Law, ↘︎ http://www.law.fsu.edu.

10 El-Yasin, M. K.; Mahadin, R .S. (1996), «On the Pragmatics of Shop Signs in Jordan», Journal of Pragmatics: An Interdisciplinary Monthly of Language Studies, ↘︎ http://www.sciencedirect.com.

11 NeonSigns.HK. (2014), Typography of Neon Signs 霓虹的字體, ↘︎ http://www.neonsigns.hk.

12 Planning Department, (2005), 行人環境規劃研究行政簡要, ↘︎ http://www.pland.gov.hk.

13 Planning Department, Urban design guidelines for Hong Kong, ↘︎ http://www.pland.gov.hk.

14 Venturi, R.; Brown, D. S.; Izenour, S (1977), Learning from Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural Form.

15 Smith, P. F. (1977), The Syntax of Cities.

16 Tam, K. (2000), Context: contemplating text in our environment.

17 Tam, K. (2000), Reading Precis No 4.

18 Tam, K. (2014), The Architecture of Communication: The Visual Language of Hong Kong's Neon Signs, ↘︎ http://www.neonsigns.hk.

19 Turner, T. (1996), City as Landscape. A Post Post-Modern View of Design and Planning.

20 Walker, S. (2001), Typography and Language in Everyday Life: Prescriptions and Practices.

21 Yixiang Long, P. K. (2012), Does Intelligibility Affect Place Legibility? Understanding the Relationship Between Objective and Subjective Evaluations of the Urban Environment.

22 Environment and Behavior, ↘︎ http://eab.sagepub.com.

23 呂大樂, 大橋健一編 (1992). 城市接觸 : 香港街頭文化觀察.

24 Zhang, W. P. (2012), Invisible Logic: Hong Kong as Asian Culture of Congestion.

25 李思名 (1987), 香港都市問題硏究.

26 梁智儀 (2009), 路牌字體形&義. 明報周刊, 30–33.

27 霓虹之城 光輝到此？明報周刊.

Images

1–48 Ayla Pui-yi Leung, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, 2021.

Info

The text was written by Ayla Pui-yi Leung, in association with Keith Tam (Assistant Professor and Discipline Leader of Communication Design of School of Design, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Project Tutor for the HK Shop Signs study, founder of Information Design Lab, School of design, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Vice Principal and Deputy Academic Director of Hong Kong Design Institute).

Links:
↘︎ Website, ↘︎ Instagram

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In accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR), the responsibility for processing personal data in connection with this platform lies with Alexandre Kurek (contact above). This includes the collection, storage, and use of personal data as described in this policy. Inquiries or concerns related to data protection or the exercise of data subject rights under the GDPR can be submitted via email.

Hosting

The website is hosted by STRATO AG (Germany). As part of the hosting service, STRATO AG automatically collects and processes access data (such as IP address, time of access, and browser information) in order to ensure the technical functionality, stability, and security of the website. This processing is carried out on the basis of a legally binding Data Processing Agreement in accordance with Article 28 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) between the platform operator and the hosting provider. STRATO AG acts strictly on instruction and does not process any personal data for its own purposes. Further information on data protection can be found ↘︎ here.

Data

• When visiting the platform, technical data for security and error detection [Art. 6, 1 (f) GDPR] may be automatically processed, including: anonymized IP address, date and time of the request, visited pages or files, referrer URL, browser type and version, operating system.
• If contact is made via email or form, personal data (e.g. name, email address, message content) is processed to respond to the inquiry. [Art. 6(1)(b) or (f) GDPR] No data is transferred to third parties unless legally required or explicitly consented to.
• When submitting content, additional data may be collected, such as name, email address, biographical notes, and technical metadata. This data is used for editorial purposes and communication. [Art. 6(1)(a) or (f) GDPR]
• If a newsletter is subscribed to, personal data (email address and optionally name) will be processed by a third-party provider based in the EU or operating under a valid EU-US Data Privacy Framework. The subscription includes consent to store and process the data for the purpose of sending email updates. Subscription can be withdrawn at any time by using the unsubscribe link or contacting the address listed above. [Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR]


Statistics

This website uses the analytics tool WP Statistics to evaluate visitor access for statistical purposes. The provider is Veronalabs, Tatari 64, 10134 Tallinn, Estonia (https://veronalabs.com). WP Statistics allows the website provider to analyze the use of the website. In doing so, WP Statistics collects log data (such as IP address, referrer, browser used, user’s origin, and search engine used) and user interactions on the website (e.g., clicks and page views). The data collected with WP Statistics is stored exclusively on the STRATO server. The use of this analytics tool is based on Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR. The website provider has a legitimate interest in the anonymized analysis of user behavior in order to optimize the website. If consent has been requested, processing is carried out solely on the basis of Article 6(1)(a) of the GDPR and § 25(1) of the TDDDG, insofar as the consent includes the storage of cookies or access to information on the user’s device (e.g., device fingerprinting) as defined by the TDDDG. Consent can be revoked at any time.


Analytics

This website uses Google Analytics, a service provided by Google Ireland Ltd., Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland. Google Analytics uses cookies to analyze website usage. The information generated by the cookie (including IP address, truncated within the EU) is transmitted to a Google server and processed there. The data is used to evaluate user behavior and compile statistical reports. IP anonymization is active on this website. Data is processed based on consent [Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR] and may be withdrawn at any time via the cookie preferences. Users may also prevent data collection by disabling cookies in their browser or installing the following opt-out plugin: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. Further details: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245.

Rights

According to Articles 15–21 GDPR, data subjects have the right to: request access to their data, request correction or deletion, restrict processing, object to processing, request data portability, lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority.


Storage

Personal data is stored only for as long as necessary to fulfill its intended purpose or in accordance with statutory retention obligations. Data is deleted once the applicable period has expired.

Cookies

This website uses technically necessary cookies for its operation (e.g. session control, language preferences). Optional cookies—including those for statistical purposes (e.g. Google Analytics)—are used only with prior user consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR). Cookie preferences can be managed via the cookie banner or browser settings. Disabling cookies may affect some website functions. Information about cookie types and purposes is available in the privacy policy above.

Imprint

Publisher

Alexandre Kurek
Martin-Luther-Straße 76
10825 Berlin, Germany

Email:
hello [at] allcitiesarebeautiful.com

Press

Press related requests:
hello [at] allcitiesarebeautiful.com


Newsletter:
↘︎ View (Dec. 2023)

Credits

Identity, logo design:
↘︎ Anja Rausch

Design, web design:
↘︎ Alexandre Kurek


Typeface:
ABC Diatype, Dinamo Typefaces


Website built with:
↘︎ Lay Theme

Legal disclosure

(in accordance with § 5 TMG and § 18 (2) MStV)

Responsible:
Alexandre Kurek
Martin-Luther-Straße 76
10825 Berlin, Germany

Email:
hello [at] allcitiesarebeautiful.com


Hosting provider:
STRATO AG
Otto-Ostrowski-Straße 7
10249 Berlin, Germany
↘︎ www.strato.de

Terms of Use

By accessing and using the website allcitiesarebeautiful.com (the platform), users accept the following terms and conditions. These terms are subject to change without prior notice. Continued use of the platform after changes have been published constitutes acceptance of the updated version. The platform is provided for non-commercial, cultural and informational purposes. Unless explicitly stated, no content may be copied, reproduced, modified, published, transmitted, publicly displayed, or distributed in any form without prior written permission from the rights holder. Users may view, print, or download content for personal, non-commercial use, provided that the source and the name of the author or creator are clearly identified. Any use of the platform or its content that infringes upon the rights of others or violates applicable law is prohibited. Access to the platform does not imply the granting of any rights beyond those expressly stated here.

Copyright Notice

The platform curates and publishes visual and textual works provided by independent photographers, writers, artists and other contributors. Unless otherwise noted, all rights remain with the respective authors and copyright holders. The platform does not claim authorship or ownership of such third-party content and acts solely as the publisher. Content may be published based on permission, license, or submission by its creator. All contributions are attributed to the original authors wherever possible. The platform refrains from using any contributed content for purposes beyond publication unless further consent is obtained. Any use, duplication, distribution, or adaptation of such content beyond personal and non-commercial use is not permitted without the explicit approval of the respective rights holder.

Submissions


Users may submit content (e.g. photographs, texts, visual media) to the platform voluntarily. By submitting, contributors confirm that:

• the content is their own original work or they possess the necessary rights and permissions to submit it;

• the content does not violate any applicable law or infringe any third-party rights (including copyright, trademark, personality, or privacy rights);

• the submission does not contain unlawful, defamatory, discriminatory, or otherwise inappropriate material.


By submitting content, contributors grant the platform a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to publish, display, and archive the submitted material on allcitiesarebeautiful.com, in associated newsletters, and on related social media channels. This license is granted for the purposes of editorial use, communication, and platform documentation. It does not include resale, commercial distribution, or modification of the work without separate permission. Contributors retain full copyright in their work. Any additional use of the submitted content outside of the above-mentioned scope will require further agreement. Contributors agree to indemnify and hold the platform harmless against any claims, damages or legal expenses that may arise as a result of unlawful submissions or third-party rights violations.

Privacy Policy

In accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR), the responsibility for processing personal data in connection with this platform lies with Alexandre Kurek (contact above). This includes the collection, storage, and use of personal data as described in this policy. Inquiries or concerns related to data protection or the exercise of data subject rights under the GDPR can be submitted via email.

Hosting

The website is hosted by STRATO AG (Germany). As part of the hosting service, STRATO AG automatically collects and processes access data (such as IP address, time of access, and browser information) in order to ensure the technical functionality, stability, and security of the website. This processing is carried out on the basis of a legally binding Data Processing Agreement in accordance with Article 28 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) between the platform operator and the hosting provider. STRATO AG acts strictly on instruction and does not process any personal data for its own purposes. Further information on data protection can be found ↘︎ here.

Data

• When visiting the platform, technical data for security and error detection [Art. 6, 1 (f) GDPR] may be automatically processed, including: anonymized IP address, date and time of the request, visited pages or files, referrer URL, browser type and version, operating system.
• If contact is made via email or form, personal data (e.g. name, email address, message content) is processed to respond to the inquiry. [Art. 6(1)(b) or (f) GDPR] No data is transferred to third parties unless legally required or explicitly consented to.
• When submitting content, additional data may be collected, such as name, email address, biographical notes, and technical metadata. This data is used for editorial purposes and communication. [Art. 6(1)(a) or (f) GDPR]
• If a newsletter is subscribed to, personal data (email address and optionally name) will be processed by a third-party provider based in the EU or operating under a valid EU-US Data Privacy Framework. The subscription includes consent to store and process the data for the purpose of sending email updates. Subscription can be withdrawn at any time by using the unsubscribe link or contacting the address listed above. [Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR]


Statistics

This website uses the analytics tool WP Statistics to evaluate visitor access for statistical purposes. The provider is Veronalabs, Tatari 64, 10134 Tallinn, Estonia (https://veronalabs.com). WP Statistics allows the website provider to analyze the use of the website. In doing so, WP Statistics collects log data (such as IP address, referrer, browser used, user’s origin, and search engine used) and user interactions on the website (e.g., clicks and page views). The data collected with WP Statistics is stored exclusively on the STRATO server. The use of this analytics tool is based on Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR. The website provider has a legitimate interest in the anonymized analysis of user behavior in order to optimize the website. If consent has been requested, processing is carried out solely on the basis of Article 6(1)(a) of the GDPR and § 25(1) of the TDDDG, insofar as the consent includes the storage of cookies or access to information on the user’s device (e.g., device fingerprinting) as defined by the TDDDG. Consent can be revoked at any time.


Analytics

This website uses Google Analytics, a service provided by Google Ireland Ltd., Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland. Google Analytics uses cookies to analyze website usage. The information generated by the cookie (including IP address, truncated within the EU) is transmitted to a Google server and processed there. The data is used to evaluate user behavior and compile statistical reports. IP anonymization is active on this website. Data is processed based on consent [Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR] and may be withdrawn at any time via the cookie preferences. Users may also prevent data collection by disabling cookies in their browser or installing the following opt-out plugin: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. Further details: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245.

Rights

According to Articles 15–21 GDPR, data subjects have the right to: request access to their data, request correction or deletion, restrict processing, object to processing, request data portability, lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority.


Storage

Personal data is stored only for as long as necessary to fulfill its intended purpose or in accordance with statutory retention obligations. Data is deleted once the applicable period has expired.

Cookies

This website uses technically necessary cookies for its operation (e.g. session control, language preferences). Optional cookies—including those for statistical purposes (e.g. Google Analytics)—are used only with prior user consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR). Cookie preferences can be managed via the cookie banner or browser settings. Disabling cookies may affect some website functions. Information about cookie types and purposes is available in the privacy policy above.

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Newsletter

The allcitiesarebeautiful.com newsletter offers a curated monthly overview of new projects, texts, and publications featured on the platform, along with occasional recommendations and selected news from the wider community. On special occasions, you will also receive information about upcoming events, publications, and related initiatives. No automated mailings, no unnecessary messages—only relevant updates. You can unsubscribe at any time via the link provided in the email footer.

Info:
Fields marked with an * are required

Newsletter

The allcitiesarebeautiful.com newsletter offers a curated monthly overview of new projects, texts, and publications featured on the platform, along with occasional recommendations and selected news from the wider community. On special occasions, you will also receive information about upcoming events, publications, and related initiatives. No automated mailings, no unnecessary messages—only relevant updates. You can unsubscribe at any time via the link provided in the email footer.

Info:
Fields marked with an * are required

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