The logos of Cincinnati’s Chili (If you want to call it that) Part 1 Skyline Chili
by Mitchell Eismont
If you ever want to piss off a person from Cincinnati just start talking about how miserable their chili is. I am originally from Pittsburgh and still frequent their often, our food is anything with slaw and fries. For instance if you order a salad in Pittsburgh, more than likely it will come with french fries on top. If you order a Pittsburgh style sandwich, it will come with fries and slaw. (Maybe next week I will right about the logos of Pittsburgh). Anyway today I am not here to piss anyone off. I want to talk about a few chili logos here in Cincinnati.
Skyline
Since I am an out of towner maybe I will have a different prospective on these logos. Let me give you an idea of what Skyline Chili is: It is a pile of spaghetti noodles, with a watery chili sauce on top, and on top of that is a pile of sharp cheddar cheese. This meal comes with a side of oyster crackers, which I am told you can eat for a snack or put into your chili.
Skyline chili is a pretty easy logo to understand. We have a visual cliche which is the Cincinnati city skyline. The actually script typeface reminds me of neon lights. Chili is set in a san serif typeface below this in an oval box. You can see an established date below this which is 1949. The reason companies put established dates on their logos and signs, is because they want to make it feel like they are part of Cincinnati. The colors of the logo, yellow and blue, will appear in all the branding for this company. Rarely will you see the red in the chili oval. What I am told is that their cheese conies are their big draw, if you look at the chili oval, it reminds me of a hot dog. The Skyline scripty typeface could be identifying either: spaghetti noodles or the cheese that they put on everything.
Do any other Cincinnati Graphic Designer or dwellers have any thoughts on wether the logo showcases the food in the restaurant.
written by mitchell eismont
Cincinnati’s Best Graphic Designer and Freelance Graphic Designer.