Digital Printing

A Boom in Brazil

This resource-rich country is poised to reinvent itself.

Published

15 years ago

April 15, 2008

Jeff Russ Signs of the Times March 2009 Issue

Brazil’s economy is booming, and more Brazilians than ever possess cellphones, automobiles and disposable cash. This prosperity necessitates signs.

Brazil’s mega-city, São Paulo, with an estimated population of more than 18 million, is literally bursting with traffic, commerce and commercial signage of all types. Electric signs, such as cabinet signs and channel-letters, abound, but electronic digital signage and spectaculars are practically nonexistent.

I searched high and low for São Paulo’s “Times Square,” but it doesn’t exist. I did find a complex mixture of cutting-edge, large-format graphics and low-tech, old-world wayfinding graphics. The modern flair and typographic precision of the city’s handpainted signs could compete with those of any country.

The images in this gallery represent what I think is the beginning of a social transformation that could revolutionize the signage industry in this sub-equatorial, awakening powerhouse.

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