Filed under: What is Design
based on the British classic, with a slight more modernistic twist. I like this alot;
Before 1960 the British road system played havoc with drivers directions, maybe some without them knowing it. Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert set about changning these confusing signs;
Their system was rooted in the concept of each sign taking the form of a map oriented towards the driver. Concluding that a combination of upper and lower case letters would be more legible than conventional upper case lettering, they developed a new typeface, a refinement of Aksidenz Grotesk, for use in the signs. Later named Transport, it is recognizably modern as a sans serif font, but it is softer and curvier than the blunt modernist lettering used on continental European road signs. Kinneir and Calvert felt that these qualities would make it seem friendlier and more appealing to British drivers.
Each letter within a sign was placed on a letter tile to determine the correct spacing – based on the width of the horizontal strokes in the Transport version of the capital letter I – between it and other letters. By treating each letter as a separate unit, the overall size of a sign was determined by the amount of information conveyed. The width of the capital I stroke was also used to specify the size of borders and the spaces between lines of text.
They tested the signs in an underground car park and mews on the Knightsbridge side of Hyde Park and then in the park itself, where the signs were propped up against trees to determine suitable background colours and reading distances. The official tests took place in 1958 on the new motorway-standard road – the Preston by-pass in Lancashire – and the system was approved. Despite the complaints of a handful of conservative commentators that the signs were too big and abrasive, they were deemed a success.
A truley sucessful wayfinding/typographic project. They ransformed the prehistoric (very English) signs into something more ledgible and less confusing.
One may become familiar with a typeface. One may use it frequently. What is behind a typeface? After looking into readable sans-serif’s i became engrossed with Gill Sans, the popular face used internationally from the BBC to roadsigns. I looked into the life and works of Eric Gill and was suprised to find out about his rather extrovert lifestyle so i made this poster on the typeface. Not quite finished, body text and title needs work,and the grids are rather messed up, but downloadable pdf link follows.
I plan to update this font soon for more modernistic applications.
Filed under: What is Design
We see it everyday, we hate it, we consume it, we buy into it. Why do we carry on making it? A small article for a magazine.
Filed under: What is Design
The sans-serif typeface “Helvetica” is widely used within the design community. Fonts such as Times New Roman, the factory setting font for Microsoft is often shunned, yet Helvetica, the factory font for Macintosh is glorified in a film. Is it a beautiful, clean, utilitarian font, or is it simply Macintosh/Windows rivalry? I enjoy Helvetica just as much as I enjoy a meal on an empty stomach, but this quote from Michael Marshall’s “The Straw Men” amused me somewhat:
“Every now and then you’ll see a tattered piece of 1950s signage, something exuberant that harks back to flash bulbs and frozen glamour. Most have been torn down now, replaced by brutal information boards stamped out in Helvetica, the official typeface of purgatory. Helvetica isn’t designed to make you feel anything good, to promise adventure or gladden the heart. Helvetica is for telling you that profits are down, that the photocopier needs servicing, and by the way, you’ve been fired.”
