I'm going to get right on this. As Neville Park points out, an exodus of intelligensia will surely follow, and precipitate ruin for our fair metropolis, if the writing on the wall is not corrected, and soon

While we're at it, please make the "U" thicker as well. It has some issues.

Please replace the six tiles with one large horizontal tile, kern properly and the vertical lines between letters won't distract from the natural letter spacing.

@Jamin: Augh! Now I can't unsee it.

@Dean Mellis: An interesting proposal, though it may be too late for Dufferin Station, which is undergoing a planned revitalization. Perhaps we should put this before the TTC board for consideration…

Let's get a grip. Does an upside-down tile affect ... transit safety? passenger securlity? reliability of service? We have a transit system that badly needs enhancing so more people can be served with regular, reliable transit. We have way bigger things to worry about! Take it off the list!

I was amused by it. I live in New York City and am a graphic artist. I can't help myself.

This needs to be solved ASAP.

That U is awful. Just rename the station and be done with the whole mess.

The letters are just black tape stuck on the wall.....

@Lakad: I believe Neville was being facetious, and doesn't "need" the tile fixed. He is merely noticing the person who repaired it wasn't taking adequate attention, and seized the comic potential.

Really though, such small oversights are an indication of attention to detail (or lack thereof) that is being put into projects in the city. The issue isn't a priority for a fix, but it's existence is an indication of poor workmanship.

Cool...I learned what kerning is.....

It also appears that the line of tiles two rows below the sign does not follow the same vertical line as the rest of the wall. Perhaps this section of wall should be removed and re-tiled or simply rendered, with a new sign. What an eyesore!

I see the Amazon reviewers have gotten bored.

This is going viral; be warned. :-)

This example of DUFFERIN is in the classic antique typeface of the TTC. Most old tiled station letters are still in this face, while much of the rest of newer signage in the system is a mish-mash of Helvetica and other seemingly random sans-serif faces. The old type gave graphics in the system some continuity and character that is being progressively destroyed. Hopefully these tiles can be correctly positioned without destroying their typographical history. (The typeface has been recreated and can be purchased here: http://www.quadrat.com/tsr.html )

https://www.dropbox.com/s/2x1dq9kyhyzletb/Dufferin_Kerning.png shows it fixed (in Photoshop)

Believe me when I say this tile is stuck as it is. They would have to demolish the entire wall to correct it.

50 years from now when a PhD student is trying to root out why Toronto became " a barren postapocalyptic dystopia " she will find that indeed it was not because of Rob Ford - rather it was due to an upside down "N". ( The skinny "U" may have something to do with it - and that will be noted in the last chapter outlining - future research

@Thomas Evers
Dude! You should have selected inside the tile, not outside. now it looks srsly wonky!
#PSn00b
:(

but on the plus side, thanks for the great insight into the font. I may just buy it...

Please destroy this wall and tear it down if necessary. This is lowering our property value, ability to keep and hire talent, and physically makes me ill.

MR. BYFORD, TEAR DOWN THIS WALL

Seriously. Why is that wall still standing?

It's clearly wrong and we'll get it fixed this week. With respect to using one long tile we've looked at it a number of times but it's very expensive to create a unique tile form for every station and it's not espescially in keeping with our tradition. With respect to tearing down this wall we can't move ahead on that option without a heaping dose of glastnost propping up the rest of the station. Postapocalyptic dystopia averted and Erich Fromm dissapointed (posthumously).

Kudos to Chris (Upfold?). That is the correct solution. (You can't just change these signs will-nilly. There are thousands of Spacing Magazine buttons on messenger bags and backpacks around the city that would become obsolete. http://www.canadiandesignresource.ca/officialgallery/wp-content/uploads/2006/04/small%20buttons.jpg )

It's the little things...

The lettering is the least of this station's concerns. What is with all the damn colours? Is this how we're spending money now?

adds character.

I hope they never change it.

The space between the D and U is also off. In general it's poorly done. I love the joke the author created here. "This is unacceptable!!!" ;)

Obviously this is a union worker issue..........contracting out is the only solution.......with lower wages comes more accountability.

Wow...what a bunch of whining over nothing.....let the apocalypse come, I’m ready, bring it CHUDS!! why not focus on the increase of fare's and the worsening of service? On how less than 3 years ago it would take me an hr. to get to work and around the same to get home, now I’m lucky if I get home in under two hours. Screw your upside down “N”…leave it….make service better or barring that cheaper.

Can't we just be happy it's still English?

Little sense-of-humour deficit, Grrrr?

turn the tile around. !

Very funny. I'll never get to see this wall because I cannot afford to take the TTC anymore since the fare increase.

Many, many years ago, before most of you were born, there was a legendary treasure of riches that flowed forth from Queen Park. With this treasure the people of Trannalot did build vast caverns of great subway tunnels. But alas, the evil emperor Harass seized power. And being from the same tribe as the long forgotten Diefenbreaker, he believed that fiscal prudence over rode works of greatness. He recalled that Diefenbreaker not only halted the forging of the Swords of the Arrow, he ordered all existing Swords destroyed so that the people would never again aspire to such greatness. And so he too, Harass, ordered all of the great tunnels filled back in. But lo, some Trannalonians remembered how a Sword of Arrow was kept from Diefenbreaker and sequestered in a barn in Saskatchewan. And so even as they diligently filled the Eglinton tunnel back in, they quietly drywalled over the Dufferin tunnel to save it for posterity. It is believed that this hidden cavern can be revealed by rotating a secret tile ninety degrees. If found, the legend goes, the walls will slowly open with a great sound of grinding, and behold, there will be a complete finished subway, with cars ready to roll. Although perhaps by now the entombed staff will be cobwebby and skeletized. Does anyone dare to rotate the tile?

Well this one is a great big who cares. There are worse things to report on than an upsidedown N.

sister1 your missing the point, it's not about an upside N, it's bad design and kerning, and reflects laughably on the city.
I'm sure if any bank out there found themselves in the same predicament they would fix it immediately.
You never notice good design or kerning because you expect it. But many people work hours to get that stuff right and well-designed.
That tile could be taken out in a second and put the right way.

Larry. You mean 180 degrees.

@ grafikmilkdesign and @ sister1
You BOTH mis the point. Sister1: It was a humorous hipster-y dig at design,m but not really, because, @ grafikmilkdesign, the real problem has nothing to do with design AT ALL, but on instructing the tiler properly, and not putting a "this way up" sign on he back of the tile. So it has absolutely nothing to do with design (unless you bring that discussion about the "U" on board), and everything to do with a little too much time on their hands to bait the people with reduced humour cells. :-)

@wheelyweb.

Of course it has to do with design and kerning. and yah of course it was a DIG. i get that. But I'm choosing to answer about the design. Everything does not have to get reduced to humour. Which i have plenty of. Sure it's so funnnnnny. there was no 'THIS SIDE UP' on back of tile. Or maybe there was, and the person did it on purpose. Or chose to ignore it, or was too thoughtless to read or care. I do not expect that the 'tiler' knew about kerning. The error was that no one was aware that the placement of the 'N' on the tile, would require instructions like the 'O' 'H' "I' 'M?' 'S' 'U?' 'W?' and 'X' -- but typography took the fall.

Poor design and terrible typography is everywhere, and rarely do designers get a chance to comment. For the record. The 'F's are too bold, an the "U" too thin, but who is commenting about that? The font is old and not a mishmash as one commenter said. It's an old deco font, that has become degraded over time. Maybe photocopier machines are still being used somewhere in the process. Or the templates/letters are very old.

What's humourous is the humourous people can't be serious now and then. There ARE millions of things far more important in the world than kerning. But that does not mean that correct kerning is unimportant or should not matter. Would people get on a white plane with absolutely no graphics or logo's. I'd bet, some, if not many, would not - they would wait for the logo-ed aircraft. But does that affect affect the safety aspect? I digress.... good design is a message -- that details matter. And a corporation like the TTC should get that. In London or New York that tile would be flipped 180 degrees in a week.

@ grafikmilkdesign
it's logos, BTW, as punctuation matters as much as kerning. I for one have always extolled the value of design, and how it can positively improve many people's experiences of a product or service.
There are lots of great arguments for good design but I'll take a few of your points.
First off, people would avoid a white-label plane because it isn't "owned" by an airline, not because it hasn't an attractive logo. I can't imagine people stopping the boarding of their plane because of a dislike for the branding on the tail-fin, do you? If So I'd be jumping off a few dozen badly attired planes a year!

As for London amending that tile in a week, I had to catch my breath after ROTFL. Having just returned from there, where the lift at a popular station remained unrepaired for over 3 weeks, forcing people with heavy shopping and large baggage (over the xmas-New Year holiday period when many have more than average to carry) to climb two long flights of stairs. I would consider that good service of keeping the station in good repair much more important than kerning of a sign, and it appears from the comments that people here also value for money a big issue, over design.

But for sure, let the TTC know they need to feed that U a bit more and take the Fs for a bit of a jog to the next station so that they revisit their typography for any new signage plans.
:-)
happy kerning!

@wheelyweb
I'm from the UK, you may have a point. but if it were near the design museum they might fix it quickly...
As far as the plane goes. I'm suggesting a test case. Best Airline in the world. Singapore Airlines maybe. One plane stripped bare, one plane with logos. My suggestion is that even though passengers know its as safe. The design, logo, great kerning makes them feels that more care will also be given to the flight. Im just saying'... if you gave people the option. White plane or logo-ed plane they still would venture toward the decaled one. Just a thought?
Happy kerning indeed! That said, the purposeful badly kerned word has merit too. But it's all about intention, isnt it?
p.s. i would avoid bad kerning...

Never mind that, but the sections of the upper bar of the second F that spans two tiles aren't aligned! I think I may be having trouble with numerical agreement, but who can focus on such trivia a time like this? Also, I went went Rockwell typeface for its eye-grabbing impact.