OUGD504 - SB1 - A-Z: Type in Context - Content & Photographs

Content was written to accompany the photos taken on the trip. Some photos were slightly tricky to analyse and will be later considered; however, the majority have been annotated.

A - The journey started at Heathrow Airport, where gates were clearly identified with large-scale individual letters. The typeface used appears to be Helvetica Bold, which has many effective communicative qualities; Helvetica remains legible when in motion, which is extremely important as people will be travelling in all directions throughout the airport. Furthermore, it has monotone stroke weights, making each individual letter consistently legible.

B - Upon arriving in Seattle it was clear that the city has a huge diversity of typefaces. One that struck me instantly was a local bowling alley’s neon signage. The use of neon for the lettering is actually very effective because it is visible, not only during the day, but at night too. It will be most busy in the evening, therefore the choice in neon is successful in making the bowling alley easily identifiable from a distance.

C - All across Seattle there are bright yellow crosswalk signs to aware drivers of pedestrians. Similar to the typeface at Heathrow, a font very much like Helvetica has been used for optimum clarity and legibility. A high contrast is achieved by using black lettering on yellow, which further improves legibility and driver awareness.






















D - This was graffitied on someone’s garage door to form the sentence ‘DO NOT BLOCK’. The harshness of the red spray paint against the white door is quite aggressive and gives a stern message to anyone passing.

E - The first serif typeface I came across was for an oyster house by the sea. Typefaces with fancy beaks and serifs are very typical of American harbour signage. It was instantly obvious that the building was related to the sea in some way, which highlights that the typeface is communicating the oyster house well.

F - The telephone poles in Seattle are all plastered with posters that advertise a variety of local activities. The F seen in this photograph was a torn remain of an old poster, that has now been covered completely. It is therefore difficult to judge the effectiveness of what it is trying to promote. Although, one aspect of the letterform that was so successful must have only been a few inches and size, yet it stood out over all the other posters.

H - HoneyHole was a bar in the centre of Seattle. Whilst the high contrast between the white lettering and black canopy provides clear legibility of the bar name, the style of the typeface does not really highlight that it is a bar. The curved style of the letterforms are very like those in the Art Nouveau period, which is not very relevant to the bar or the interior theme. Overall, the type used comes across as being effective in terms of legibility and readability, but unrepresentative of communicating what the building actually is.

I - The letterform used on this ice fridge provides all the information you need to immediately understand what it is. The subtle illustration of ice collecting on top of the letter ‘I’ is visually very strong and obvious in terms of the contents of the unit. The choice of red against the white unit is very striking too, making it very visible from a distance.

K - The Starbucks Roastery is located in the centre of Seattle, where you can buy a huge range of coffee beans. The overall branding of the store was far more luxurious than any of their ordinary stores. This ‘L’ was part of one of the hand-drawn labels that identied the type of coffee bean on sale. The hand-drawn aspect of the lettering immediately adds more of a personal feeling to the product, which is one selling deploy that can boost sales and prices.

L - Despite this being my least favourite display of type on the trip, the choice of Papyrus as a typeface actually works quite well when communicating sailing trips. Papyrus is often used where an antique look is desired; however, in this application the ‘L’ almost resembles a hull and mast of a sailing boat. This is mainly due to the tall ascenders and curved stems.

N - The majority of nail salon store signs in Seattle use a very plain, uppercase typeface. This allows the stores to be clearly identified from a distance, which is successful when trying to grab people’s attention; however, one would think that a more feminine, elegant typeface choice would be more suitable, as the customer base is primarily female.

O - The ‘O’ in this photo was used on the side of a donut store in South Seattle. Without seeing the ‘DONUTS’ text at the front of the store, the individual letter does not highlight that it is a donut store. Understandably, they have tried to keep the store modern and trendy, as opposed to a typical tacky donut store; however, other than the obvious shape of the ‘O’, there is no immediate link to what the building is selling. It therefore seems that this is an example of poor communication.

P - This theatre originally opened in 1928, at the height of the Art Deco period. The lettering seen in the photo is the same as in the original build - the luxury and glamour of the era has been kept until this very day. For this reason, the typeface is still successful in highlighting the building as a theatre, as the iconic use of art deco typefaces for theatre signage is instantly relatable.

Q - At first glance, I thought this was a chicken shop due to the name and typeface similarity with many ‘_FC’ shops. However, QFC is actually a range of supermarkets that stands for ‘Quality Food Centers’. For a supermarket that is trying to promote ‘quality’ food, you would expect the branding to be more luxurious and less tacky. The building and signage was run down too, which overall does not communicate a quality food store.

R - Red Robin is a burger joint located by Bainbridge Island. Whilst the lettering is easy to read against the darker red backdrop, the style of the typeface does not clearly suggest that it is a burger joint. Therefore, the branding is effective in its legibility, but not so clear in what it’s representing.

S - Local newspaper boxes were littered around the city, providing daily copies of The Seattle Times. Like most newspapers, a traditional gothic typeface has been used for the typography.

U - U-HAUL is one of the largest storage companies in America - there are hundreds of vans all around the Seattle area. As a storage company is fairly dull, there is no need for extravagant branding. A plain, bold, sans-serif typeface has been used to clearly and directly show the company name on vans and other vehicles. The contrast between blue and white is very strong too, which allows the logo to be read easily on-the-move.

V - This coffee shop had a very rustic interior that was matched by the exterior signage.

W - With a ranch being named ‘Wacky Nut Farm’, there is only really one typeface that can truly be chosen - Comic Sans. This farm was built by the creator of Adobe funnily enough, which makes the use of the typeface even more surprising. All ranches around Seattle have gate signage like seen in the photograph. From observing a few it is clear that each ranch uses a different typeface - there is no real consistency across them all. For this reason, the use of comic sans in this case does work, as it visibly clearly shows the ranch name. The contrast between black and brown is quite poor however; white may have been a better choice to make the text more legible.

X - Despite this not being an actual typeface, the ferry gates to Bainbridge Island used LED ‘x’’s to show closed lanes. A simple ‘x’ has been used as opposed to a fancy, serif option to keep the instruction as clear as possible.

Y - Similar to the crosswalk signage there are green and white road signs all across Seattle. The same typeface has been used to keep consistency when reading signage and to keep optimum clarity and legibility. The use of green provides a slightly lower contrast because it is not a warning like the crosswalk sign. The contrast is still strong enough to read the type with ease from a far distance.