Friday, June 13, 2008

It's all in the details

I just have to share with you a tiny little design detail I happened upon some time ago.  Some sneaky engineer, no doubt commissioned by the city of Seattle, designed a rather fetching emblem of the city that goes largely unnoticed on a day-to-day basis.  In the most innocuous of locations, you can find the image of two fish, tails entwined and just below water, framed by a circle and the words, "City of Seattle 1989."  I deduced (with a little help from the webernets) that this image commemorates the city's official incorporation some seventy-seven years after it's initial exploration by the British captain, George Vancouver.  Where can you find it?



On many of the older-style light posts that flank the streets of the city.  Look for the trademark steel cuff above the base that's decorated with a vertical, overlapping leaf motif.  And try not to think to hard about the fact that most of those cuffs (like the one in the photo) are not screwed in at all.  Here's hoping they serve no structural purpose. 

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