Sign O' The Times: Lake Anne Unveils New Old Brutalist Signs, With A Dash of Mondrain

Hey, remember the time that Lake Anne Plaza's branding, including a somewhat suggestive sign that looked like it would be more at home in a certain park in Brambleton, was put up for a refresh?  Yeah, that was awesome. Well, it turns out that refresh is back from the branding refresh factory, which took out the vaguely oogy liquids, added some cool blocky elements and a touch of Mondrain, and came up with magic!

BEHOLD:

Cool "colorway," as the design kids might have said, back in design school where people routinely use terms like "colorway." Give us some good Mad Men-esque design blockquote, BFFs at FFX Now:

A concept design unveiled by Streetsense at a virtual meeting swaps the current fountain-oriented logo for a simplified look with blockier font intended to evoke the neighborhood’s 1960s origins and defining Brutalist architecture.

“The logo design took inspiration from midcentury color palettes and forms, including some iconic signs at Lake Anne,” said Jodi Dubyoski, a senior urban designer at Streetsense.

Refined over months based on community feedback, the concept cements a consistent style, while also offering more flexibility through different color options, for example, that can be adapted “to different messaging needs,” she added.

It's getting rave reviews! 

“Functionally, it’s very legible, and it looks [Piet] Mondrian-esque,” said [a community member], referring to the Dutch abstract painter known for his line compositions. 

And, of course, the logo is a nice play on one of our favorite skull-crackin' concrete adornments:

Put it all together, and you get some really nifty signs:

But the proposed placement of the so-called "beacon" signs... confuses us. Check it, as the kids no longer say, whether in design school or not:

Now we're just simple country "web loggers," but we're not sure why these signs would be placed sideways in the medians like this, where they would 1) cause drivers to crane their heads to look at the pretty colors, muttering "very legible, and it looks [Piet] Mondrian-esque" to themselves, brackets and all, as they careen towards a red light at 55 mph and 2) inform the residents of the Fellowship Lake Anne House across the street, residents who presumably know where Lake Anne is, of the location of Lake Anne.

We'd humbly suggest a sign that could be viewed from every angle, and luckily you can find them outside a lot of small-town laundromats (IYKYK, as the kids also no longer say). All they'd need is a small typography fix (and a little bit of Windex):

You're welcome.