Design in a small town part 3

Sometimes good design has a lot to do with restraint. The coffee shop above is a popular hangout and one of about 200 of the same franchise in our meager little town. The interior has beautiful walls of exposed brick that, during renovation, revealed 80 year old (or so) painted signage and, I guess, graffiti.

I assume the shop owners were worried that the facade wasn't fitting the feeling of the rest of the place. So, they took it upon themselves to add trompe l'oeil faux brick, windows and a handpainted sign. Although hard to see unless you are walking on the other side of the street, all of this is really overkill that does more to destroy the coherent design dialogue between the shop's established identity system and interior design.

Sometimes good design means whispering instead of yelling or, more to the point, knowing when to stop designing!