The Giant Drop Refurbishment 2022

[REGIE]

Most likely the blue prints for the W were indeed put upside down in the manufacturing process.  

[Slick]

It's quite curious they've picked a font with such small counters and identical M's & W's. 🤷🏻‍♂️

1 hour ago, franky said:

Not to nitpick here, but it looks like a W in the proposal image, not an upside down M.

They're two completely different typefaces.

Edited May 1, 2023 by Slick

[Naazon]

On 25/03/2023 at 3:35 PM, themagician said:

You can see both M and W here. The crane connection spot things are clearly different for M and W also, so its not like they got 2 of the same and made do.

[Dean Barnett]

I'm convinced they got two M's.

On the left is the W flipped.

[REGIE]

I thought it was just a joke at first but no it literally is just 2 M’s. Haha. The way the rest of the font is the W should have the middle v part lower. Something roughly like this. 

Edited May 6, 2023 by REGIE

[Vidgamer]

I actually thought they had actually gotten 2 Ms as well but actually i think it's the font. In QLD the number plates actually have a very similar number plate where the M and W look almost identical, I think it is to do with the narrow nature of the letters.

[Gobbledok]

Seems to be clear that there is a fixed width for the letters

A W shrunk to fit that width would just look weird so it makes sense why it is the way it is

Its just unfortunate for Dreamworld that m and w and right next to each other in their name which makes it more noticeable 

Also a factor is that no one will actually care

[themagician]

Or maybe it was more cost effective. Generally if you’re getting something custom made, having multiple of the same reduces the cost. Ordering two Ms have having the mount points flipped would be an easier alteration, rather than fabricating a seperate W.

[Slick]

3 hours ago, themagician said:

Or maybe it was more cost effective. Generally if you’re getting something custom made, having multiple of the same reduces the cost. Ordering two Ms have having the mount points flipped would be an easier alteration, rather than fabricating a seperate W.

Pretty dumb to try and save a few grand on one of the Gold Coast's most visible and iconic attractions if you ask me. That brand doesn't need a 115m tall billboard that screams "we still cut corners".

Edited May 7, 2023 by Slick

[Gobbledok]

3 hours ago, themagician said:

Or maybe it was more cost effective. Generally if you’re getting something custom made, having multiple of the same reduces the cost. Ordering two Ms have having the mount points flipped would be an easier alteration, rather than fabricating a seperate W.

These arent something mass produced

Making 2 Ms wont be any cheaper than an M and a W

[Stevie]

2 hours ago, Gobbledok said:

These arent something mass produced

Making 2 Ms wont be any cheaper than an M and a W

W is a premium letter. It costs the same as a double U 

 

[Gazza]

Was there a max width for the letters so it wouldn't be too far off the surface of the tower?

[Dean Barnett]

The width doesn’t matter - they just had to make it look like a w

Edited May 7, 2023 by Dean Barnett

[mba2012]

The two bottom letters were lit up earlier tonight. They look pretty bright and legible from a distance; the full word will definitely look good once it's all lit up.

[Slick]

5 hours ago, Gazza said:

Was there a max width for the letters so it wouldn't be too far off the surface of the tower?

I’m sure there was, still doesn’t mean they should ignore pretty basic graphic design  and English language standards. W’s just don’t commonly have vertical strokes, which is why it looks weird.

It’s just basic and communicates a lack of detail. 

Edited May 7, 2023 by Slick

[Naazon]

Does it light up pretty and look like it says Dreamworld? Cool. Job done. better than Gold Coast street lights.

[Guest 239]

8 hours ago, Slick said:

I’m sure there was, still doesn’t mean they should ignore pretty basic graphic design  and English language standards. W’s just don’t commonly have vertical strokes, which is why it looks weird.

It’s just basic and communicates a lack of detail. 

You're confusing convention with standard. There is no absolute rule dictating the specific shape a 'W' must take. However, The design of the 'W' with angled or curved strokes has become the convention in typography. As readers are accustomed to this shape, designers tend to maintain the traditional design to ensure legibility and familiarity.

There are a multitude of reasons why they might have gone down this route such as context-specific use, typography diversity, readability, and artistic expression, but please don't suggest that it's wrong through communicating a lack of detail because it's not. 

 

[Slick]

44 minutes ago, Guest 239 said:

You're confusing convention with standard. There is no absolute rule dictating the specific shape a 'W' must take. However, The design of the 'W' with angled or curved strokes has become the convention in typography. As readers are accustomed to this shape, designers tend to maintain the traditional design to ensure legibility and familiarity.

There are a multitude of reasons why they might have gone down this route such as context-specific use, typography diversity, readability, and artistic expression, but please don't suggest that it's wrong through communicating a lack of detail because it's not. 

You don't need to form a bad-faith opinion because I said standards instead of semantics - it's so dreary because my opinion doesn't materially change either way.

The joy of communications/advertising/design is that it dabbles in the grey of manipulating consumer mindsets on thousands of tiny things, however imperceptible or subconscious which is the point I'm getting at. It doesn't matter what their justified position was for using an upside-down M, it's still odd. Plain and simple. Ultimately it all adds up to form a conscious consensus about an organisation and this is one of those indicators. TLDR; people who aren't knee deep in typefaces may not understand what they see, but they'll know something's off.

To drive the point home, here's some memes. This is what most people think:

But here's the reality. It's an old graphic designer joke I've recreated just for you:

And in real-world corporate environments, here's the reality of why you use the right typefaces the right way:

20 hours ago, Gobbledok said:

A W shrunk to fit that width would just look weird so it makes sense why it is the way it is

Vertical strokes are the reason why it looks strange not the size. If legibility was an issue, they'd be using a font with larger counters to increase long-distance visibility.

20 hours ago, Gobbledok said:

Also a factor is that no one will actually care

This is a forum where folks enjoy talking about details in an industry that prides itself on adding in little details to maximise the experience and immersion. If that's how you feel then you're in the wrong place. 🤷🏻‍♂️

49 minutes ago, Naazon said:

Does it light up pretty and look like it says Dreamworld? Cool. Job done. better than Gold Coast street lights.

This. It's totally okay, folks like me just expect more than just okay because once upon a time the bar was actually set quite high.

Edited May 7, 2023 by Slick

[Guest 239]

2 minutes ago, Slick said:

You don't need to form a bad-faith opinion because I said standards instead of semantics - it's so dreary because my opinion doesn't materially change either way.

Ease up for a second champ and actually consider what I wrote. I neither care nor am interested in your opinion. You argued above that Graphic Design and English Language 'standards' were broken with this signage. That's frankly not true, and that's what my comment was about. I would certainly hope that somebody with such a deep understanding of the English language that they use it in the formation of their arguments would understand that standards and conventions are not interchangeable.

People are entitled to their own opinions. If you don't like this then that's fine, but using falsities to back an argument only spreads misinformation through the community for lesser educated individuals and frankly makes you look like an amateur. 

[Naazon]

21 minutes ago, Slick said:

This is a forum where folks enjoy talking about details in an industry that prides itself on adding in little details to maximise the experience and immersion. If that's how you feel then you're in the wrong place. 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

This. It's totally okay, folks like me just expect more than just okay because once upon a time the bar was actually set quite high.

Honestly, this forum moved from talking about the details, to bashing the details. No one on here is ever satisfied and say "cool, nice work". We just recently had a number of YouTubers come through and yes they called out some negatives but honestly every review of our parks had heaps of positives. For some reason, as a forum the audience here seems to only focus on the negatives.

When a positive is brought up, the thread quickly derails into a bashing of the opposite park.

 

About the font? Honestly it achieves its goals. A quick scroll through the dreamworld website shows that they don't stick to 1 font, so adding another to the list isn't going to kill them as a company. The sign is striking, visible, and an effective use of their space. No one is going to mistake the name of that theme park now.

[Gobbledok]

Its clear the letters have a fixed width to accommodate the ride track

Please demonstrate how a conventional W would not look strange squished that narrow

It will be clear to anyone and their mate blind freddy that the world is DREAMWORLD 

I stand by my original point that no one will care. We should be more worried about ugly ass shipping containers in the park - no Sea World they are not theming

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

19 minutes ago, Gobbledok said:

no Sea World they are not theming

Must be a water themed thing - Ocean Parade has shipping container skill games too - I suppose there's plenty of shipping containers in the ocean!

[Dean Barnett]

27 minutes ago, Gobbledok said:

Its clear the letters have a fixed width to accommodate the ride track

I don't even think that's true.. this is an enhanced version of @Smol bean's photo posted earlier.. it's clearly between the main structure and the track.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

the width of those letters (not the thickness) are still comparable. the outside edge of the A is about the same distance outside the track as the outside edge of the M. 

If the width is restricted - say, perhaps because the gondola or catchcar has a clearance requirement, then all the letters have to be squished within that requirement. 

In fonts that do not have a fixed with, the capital letter W is the widest letter by far and is approximately 42% wider that the next widest letter - the capital M.

So, regardless of what you think the reason or problem with this is, the suggestion that it may be width related at least has merit. They did a thing. They didn't have to do a thing. It's gonna look awesome lit up at night and really highlight the park's presence on the MWY. 

And only pedants, typographers and enthusiasts are going to notice anything wrong with it. For one of those, it's their expertise, and for the other two - because they both need something to pick about. 

[Slick]

2 hours ago, Guest 239 said:

I neither care nor am interested in your opinion.

Proceeds to write a condescending lecture based off thoughts on my opinion. Can't have it both ways.

2 hours ago, Gobbledok said:

We should be more worried about ugly ass shipping containers in the park - no Sea World they are not theming

They really are average aren't they? Again, death by a thousand cuts. Little bit here, little bit there, and then suddenly Dreamworld doesn't have the same charm for some reason.  It's almost as if getting the details right actually matters for immersion, and it's why they're so important in a themed experience. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Edited May 8, 2023 by Slick