Week 1: Complex Simplicity – History Revealed
Weekly learning objectives
By the end of this week you should be able to:
- Discover and analyse a selection of typefaces you think appraise the social, political and historical context of your location.
- Research a broad selection of typefaces in your area using appropriate research methodologies, such as photography, sketchbook entries and notes about location.
Analyse the typography collected from your area to evaluate your research findings into varying type classification, styles and identity. - Define and distil your selection of type observations to an edit of five contemporary and historical examples you think best inform your investigation into the identity of your location.
- Deliver a short written analysis to contextualise and communicate your research into the impact typography has on your location, so it is clearly understood by a non-specialist audience.
Lecture introduction
In the last module we looked at typographic language, constructs, ways of seeing and visual language. This lecture, called History Revealed, identifies the contemporary and historical significance, and the impact typography has had on a location.
In this lecture you will:
- Investigate the rich history of typography through its links to language, identity and literature;
- Identify how lettering and type have been used in different locales to define, communicate and signpost the infrastructure of a place;
- Explore how the collection and range of lettering and type are created through artisan and professional producers alike, and how this has impacted on history, industry and culture;
- Investigate the vernacular of a city through its typographic language;
- Examine how successful a city’s identity can be and what impact globalisation has had in celebrating, aiding, removing or deteriorating that identity. This will be done through the case study examples that have been collected by fellow students.
Lecture 1: History Revealed
- Professional and ‘artisan’, its impact on place and culture
- Rich host of type in area
- Different locals to signpost a place
PBS Arts:
Describe the type: grey flannel suit or Tom and Jerry…
Scher:
Design for the audience, pushing them to see something new
Public Theatre – aim to create a visual language as opposed to a logo
Type that talks to you
Theatre didn’t/doesn’t actually have a logo – it was all the identity
Everything is about identity; places organisations, people – ultimately to have as much uniqueness and understanding in every communication.
“Words have meaning, type has spirit – the combination is spectacular”
Eddie Opara:
Generating Texture
-Studio Museum, Harlem
Idea of being noticed and unnoticed
Used code (this is coming up more often) to manipulate the font into regular structures.
Too much text, not enough textural form, attention, dynamics.
See a poster that’s entirely different to others you’ll be attracted to it. Whether you hate it, or you like it, it’s doing its job.
Julia Vakser/Deroy Peraza
Infographics.
Wired Magazine: emphasis is on infographics
“Good” magazine.
Challenging part of an infographic: taking all of the available data and deciding what is the most important bit of information that needs to be communicated.
“Infographics are just about typography getting out of the way of the message”
Distill the info to the key points – be as expressive as you can be with the limitations you have.
Fun/friendly/absorbing
Matt Cohen – Winnipeg, Canada.
“Hiding in Plain Sight” – Uncovering history through ghost signs.
We’re hit by over 5000 marketing messages a day. Mostly fleeting glances; banner ad, digital billboards
‘”SKIP Ad” – eternity for the five seconds to pass’
150+ years ago your name was all you had – if people knew and trusted you then that’s all you needed to build a business (Now?)
Functional: let people know you were there.
James Ashdown – turn of the last century (1800’s/1900’s), hardware store in 1870. One of 1st publicity stunts in Canada. Name of hardware store on side of railway trucks transporting his goods: ‘Hardware from JH Ashdown and Co.’
How do you reach new markets and customers? Create a ‘surrogate or stand-in (?)’ – Brand Name.
1904, Ashdown introduced his logo – A in a Diamond.
A brand name doesn’t have to be a real person, signs then changed from a name on a wall to a message. Not just for promotion, they were for persuasion.
Add ‘call to action’ to make themselves different: drink… buy… use… etc.
Logos: simplified messages that offer what you do at a glance. (Not any more).
Brand consistency: songwriters going from town to town painting the logos.
1950’s – now TV and radio advertising – signs not the thing any more. Replaced by banners or billboards.
Type as communication
Type as communication developed around transport systems. First example; Metropolitan line, London Underground in 1863.
Two more lines opened, each run by a different company with different identities, this meant conflicting signage, duplicate stations and much confusion.
Paris created a unified identity. Launch a competition in 1899 to design the street architecture for their own Metro. Charles Garnier, French architect, recognised the need for signage and typography to represent the locations and avoid the same criticism as industrial looking buildings.
Hector Bouniarde designed to look of the Metro type, though never entered the competition, won it based on his Art Neuveux designs.
“…Paris must not be made into a factory, it must stay as a museum.”
Paris was an inspiration to “Underground Electric Railway Company” which came from the four underground networks operating in London at the time. The first unifying design was the “bullseye” red disk encircling the station names on a blue band.
In 1907 Frank Pick (?) became head of publicity who commissioned Edward Johnston, assisted by Eric Gill, to design the new typeface for all of London Underground’s communications. His approach was to create an identity which stood out from the busy street advertising covering all of the station entrances.
In 1916 Johnston’s typeface was revealed. Until then, printed script was used to echo the decorative script of victorian handwriting with its curls and flourishes. This new typeface deliberately left out any ornamentation. The typeface was a success, becoming the start of the identity which still stands today.
Monotype digitisation created New Johnston.
The identity stands out from everything around it, only the typeface, the blue and the red is ‘calling out to you’.
‘The identity is seen as a silent member of staff’. There are rarely any complaints about the signage. Bringing back the joy of taking the tube.
We still enjoy riding the tube but maybe that’s because it’s not day in day out?
The underground map became a diagram, an infographic.
1933 by Harry Beck, a 29 year old draftsman boring for London Transport.
Uncluttered and functional, to convey information efficiently. Uncommissioned and turned down by the board as being “too strange and revolutionary”.
Designed in his own time whilst payed-off during an economy drive.
Presented twice by Ken Garland, the second time the response was:
“Oh, alright. We’ll give it a go…”
My favourite ID, the roundel is the symbol of London. I love the history and the stories, the typical british not-impressed attitude of the management at the time.
Monotype’s Nadine Chowhain describes it as:
“Like having someone with you, holding your hand”
New York Subway 1966
Heavily influenced by the London Underground ‘map’.
Along with three partners form Unimark, in 1965. The first international design consultancy with offices in Chicago, New York, Milan, Detroit, Johannesburg, Cleaveland, Denver, San Francisco, London, Melbourne, Copenhagen, aspen and Paulo Alto (Check).
Unimark were hired to create a new approach to the signage of the ‘the most squalid public environment the the US’ in 1967.
The chaotic signage system was one of the biggest problems and Unimark created proposals for a new approach. A sense of calm and legibility was created by a unified and consistent approach.
The project is a story of inadequate budgets, mismanagement and disorganisation, added to by the frustration of the designers up against the sign writers who produced the graphics. To counter all the confusion, Unimark devised the ‘Graphic Standards Manual’ in 1970; a detailed guide outlining the use of all signage and lettering.
“New York’s a complicated place, figure it out”
It took four years to do so.
Week 1: Workshop Challenge
The Challenge
This week we want you to explore and collect examples of typographic language used in your locality, which can be your town, city or surrounding area. We expect you to take photographs; please also remember to log your exact location.
Step 1: Explore, collect
The town centre uses these blue and white street signs, the earliest examples are made from cast iron from the Davies Foundry which used to be based in an area of the town called Frankwell. You can also see their name on drains and manhole covers around town.
The next ‘wave’ of signs are pressed and enamelled metal (tin or steel?), the newest signs are a pressed and painted lighter metal.
These blue signs are only used within the loop of the river Severn, outside of this loop the street signs are all black and white.
Sign obscured by security fence
Different colours flake at different times
TV repairs before we just threw them away
Painted -vs- made
Revival of traditional signwriting more and more in town
Unclear -vs- clear instructions
Bridge number
Beneath bridge 77
Wonky sign
Stickers
St. John’s Ambulance building
Sign by the children’s play area in the town park – looks fun…
Lots of new bars and restaurants in Shrewsbury are using stencils or signwriters for their signage
Instructions on the Welsh side of town
The wood is doing what it was supposed to do, the logo isn’t
The Council’s knee-jerk reaction to a small sign on their theatre
Old warehouses on Frankwell Quay waiting to be developed
Grease Merchants – Frankwell Quay
Bill’s Cafe – Frankwell Quay
The Chapel Bar, part of Theatre Severn
Istanbul
Factory gate owned by one of the town’s richest companies
Railway bridge numbers
Hand-painted sign
More no parking
Hidden layer
Serial number scratched onto storage unit
Serial number stencilled onto storage unit
Hardware store. Closed recently, their goods used to hang on nails outside. Lovely shaped ‘&’
Recently sold – interested to see how it changes
New building
We used a traditional signwriter on part of a recent branding project
Chalk lettering on cafe sign
LED timer
Worn doorbell
LSD covered over
Hand painted pub sign – nice shading under letters
Busy shop front
Insurance plaque
Hidden sign
Closed written in Windowlene
Illuminated sign
Archway to Alms Houses
Invisible repair
…make him a new sign
‘Stick no Bills’ notice on the English Bridge
Curved No Cycling sign
Covered notice
Sign, tag and sticker
Much better now that the graffiti is gone
Whoever stuck the letters onto the alarm box has put some thought into their positions
Layers of gloss paint
Painted over vinyl lettering
Faint rectangle of fresh paint before the signwriter got going
Alarm bell: obsolete 29/08/1919
Courtyard sign
Doorbell sign
Number 65
Old notice
1960s apartments entrance
Blue enamelled sign
Timber frame 4
Empty shop door
Someone has taken real care to paint around the number but brush must have been too big to get to the inside
Again, great care around the number, brush too big for the counter
Two fives
County Savings Bank
Girls club graffiti on park bench
Moss growing in the carved lettering on a grave
‘The Crescent 1793’, a curved terrace of grand Georgian houses in the Town Walls area
Contact phone number on telegraph pole
Carved into house brickwork in 1878
Plastic sign
Town Walls bin
Owl stencil
Quarry Park gates
Thick gloss paint
Queen’s Jubilee plaque. Wondering if the blue is original of has someone taken the time to colour it in
Carving on St. Chad’s wall
Stencilled onto telecoms junction box
The Albion pub. Had quite a bad fire last year but still open for business…
There’s a well underneath
Codes on a telegraph pole
Faded lamp post shows where the number 59 label used to be
Ebeneezer Scrooge’s grave. A version of Christmas Carol was filmed in Shrewsbury in 1984, this stone is laid in St. Chad’s churchyard
Signage on boating warehouse
Crown House, 1960’s apartments
Target
Photo route
Route taken around town taking the photos. The images shown with the map were taken with my phone instead of the camera (the battery went…).
The images above were taken along this route over a three day period, there are more…
Chosen five…
1. English Bridge, Shrewsbury
Lat: 52.7065259
Long: -2.7476992
This bronze plaque on the bridge tells of the history of the English Bridge. Originally completed in 1774, it was ‘taken down and completely rebvilt’ flatter and wider in 1925-7 with ‘every sovnd stone in the original strvcture revsed’. What I like about it is that the first ‘U’ letter, shaped as a ‘V’ in ‘BUILD’ is worn to a sheen and has none of the other patination because of people touching it as they point out as the ‘wrong’ letter.
2. Velocette Ghost Sign, Wyle Cop, Shrewsbury
Lat: 52.706252
Long: -2.7486391
This is by far the best Ghost Sign in the town. It looks like two sets of information for the same cycle shop, the second being painted over the first. The top layer has faded to reveal parts of the original. Two brand names are visible: Velocette and Lington Cyclecars.
This one of the main entrances to the town and so would have been a good location for billboards and hoardings to advertise. 100 yards from the sign is a run-down shop ‘FW Thornton & Son’, founded in 1922 and opened it’s premises here in 1939 selling engine parts, perhaps a supplier to the motorcycle builders on the ghost sign. It closed in 2012.
3. Side Door, Shrewsbury Abbey
Lat: 52.7078304
Long: -2.7440989
Heavy wooden side door to Shrewsbury Abbey showing the date 1640. The Abbey was founded in 1083, so in those terms it’s quite a modern addition. This part of the Abbey was demolished in 1540 and further damaged during town fortifications for the English Civil War. Repairs where carried out by the Parliamentarians in the 1640’s – there’s the new door – the style of the carved type is contemporary for the 16th & 17th centuries.
4. Brass Plaque, Tanners Wine Merchant, Wyle Cop, Shrewsbury
Lat: 52.7061659
Long: -2.7503946
Tanners Wine Merchants was founded in 1842 and moved to these current premises during WWII. Their brass plaque by the entrance shows lettering all but worn away from years of polishing, I had to wait for someone to pass before taking the image so that more of the detail would show when the reflection distorted as there is hardly any detail left. The shapes change as you move past and the light catches a different ridge or curve.
The fact that the type is so worn shows the pride in the company, making sure they look the best they can, polishing the plaque over and over again.
5. The Private Shop, 40 Wyle Cop, Shrewsbury
Lat: 52.7061953
Long: -2.7484171
One of a kind in Shrewsbury, the elephant in the room; NOBODY talks about it.
The thing I like about this shopfront is its dilemma: should it stand out or should it step back? It feels like it’s trying to do both at the same time and its run-down state makes it more so: give it a refresh and it might draw too much attention to itself.
Someone at sometime has tried to give the frontage a degree of sophistication by using the ‘gold’ lettering… and there’s still a trace of the previous sign’s weathered edges.
Feedback and Reflection
There’s a lot to photograph in Shrewsbury and the selection above shows that. Even that has been edited down from a larger-still selection and that’s without visiting two more sites around which I know would give more excellent examples, the Flaxmill Maltings building in particular.
I’ve found there to be a key point in the town’s history in terms of its architecture, most of the details photographed where architectural features or faults. There was a good and gradual mix of styles from Mediaeval timber frames, Tudor mansions, Georgian townhouses and Victorian warehouses right until the 1960’s when these old, dilapidated piles started to get torn down. There was two sides to the town council; those for progress and those for heritage. Luckily, as we see it now, the ones for heritage came out slightly on top and a lot of important buildings have been saved.
A lot of those saved buildings didn’t get restored to immaculate condition which leaves us with nice genuine detail of wear and tear from everyday use, knackered signs, scratched panelling and crumbling detail.
Now, as the town centre grows slowly outwards the run down buildings on the outskirts are being fixed up sympathetically, trying to keep as much of the old detail as can be, there are a lot of details both old and new to try and find. Along with dozens of Extinction Rebellion stickers.
The comments from our Critical Feedback Session:
Fantastic range of recording. Some really beautiful photographs in themselves.
The weathering is nice. The permanence of this kind of type is charming.
