When advertisers began needing speedy overturns of diverse fonts, designers had to come up with a quick solution. They would use old letterforms and amplify their appearance to make them look new. This solved the problem of getting the typefaces to the advertisers, but it did not result in creating well-made type. Most of the typefaces that were created were bastardized faces that eschewed classical typographical standards. Type must be legible and not simply used as background or gray matter, but as an instrument for conveying clear meaning.
Three considerations have governed type design since the industry's beginning. Utility (how a face functions) and aesthetics, (how it looks on a printed page) both govern qualities of readability and legibility, while style affects what cultural code a typeface evokes. In the end, type is meant to attract and please.
Nothing against Madigans, but any sign that cannot easily be read, fails in its overall purpose. Type is meant to be legible and accurately display the style and feel of the time and place, this sign does neither.
The slanted and squished lettering makes the sign both illegible and unclear. If you can't read the sign, then there's no way of knowing what buisness is being advertised. The kerning is uneven and unpleasant to look at, and the only clearly decipherable letter is the "g" in the very middle of the word. This sign's lettering is uneasy on the eyes, forcing them to squint in and out of focus to try and make out what is written.
Perhaps they should have tried to be less sleek looking and stuck with a more classic, unbasterized typeface.
