Alphabet City Press

5 September 20145 September 2014

Sunshine biscuits

I wouldn’t mind some Sunshine biscuits, especially because they Are Better! I am not particularly nostalgic, nor do believe that old typography design is better than new typography design, but there is no doubt that advertising like this has a quality that current advertising (for me, at least) lacks. I wonder if, in years to come, we will look back at advertising in the convenience store windows of today in the same favourable light that we view old signage like this. Seems improbable, but if I’m still around in another fifty years or so, I’ll let you know.

2 September 20142 September 2014

Sewing machines

Here is an excellent example of using an available setting to advantage! The stepped side of this building could have been made-to-measure for this sewing machine shop and haberdashery: either that or the sewing machine brands custom-named to fit so conveniently. I like the way this block of type has been designed to work in the space, and although it is fading and far from recently painted, it is still striking and legible.

30 August 201430 August 2014

Bloomsbury

I am currently reading a library book published by Bloomsbury, and there are two things I know about Bloomsbury from first-hand experience. One is that they publish some excellent fiction—the calibre of writing is of a consistently high standard—and the other is that the last page of the book, after the acknowledgements and any other endmatter, is ‘A Note on the Type’. I wish all books would have this! My current book is set in Adobe Caslon, and I am given a brief but exceedingly interesting history of the typeface.

27 August 201427 August 2014

Supreme

I’m attempting to tidy my office, and while it’s relatively easy to vacuum the floor and straighten my desk, the digital filing is not always so easy. In theory there’s nothing to it: my problem lies in the quantity. I have used the ‘oh it’s not in the way I’ll do it later’ excuse a little longer than I’d like to admit. But in the process of cleaning up I found this. The art deco Supreme building, built around 1930, is in the main street of the NSW town of Glen Innes.

24 August 201424 August 2014

1936

This 1936 is a little out of the ordinary. I like its hand-drawn qualities—the variation in the thickness of the strokes, the way the tapering 1 works with the stylised 9 so that together they have a design aesthetic while still being legible.

21 August 201421 August 2014

Miniatures

Recently, in response to encouragement from my book group to enter work into a local miniatures show, I turned my hand to making a miniature book. Although I don’t work on a particularly big scale, it certainly proved challenging to work so small. The result was Spark, a concertina book in a matchbox-sized box, inspired by Dante’s quote: ‘A mighty flame followeth a tiny spark.’ You can find details here.

18 August 201418 August 2014

Caged M

I don’t know what this m doing here, trapped inside and looking out, but I feel a little like it today. Sydney is doing its all-or-nothing weather thing, and today it’s bucketing down. The sensible course of action would be to stay indoors and keep dry: but I have things to do which involve going outside and braving the elements. From a typographic and design standpoint, I like this scripty m, and would like to know what it’s story is. I saw nothing around it to give any clue, although the building did have a security camera and alarm—perhaps to make sure the m doesn’t make a break for it.

15 August 201415 August 2014

Barbed wire

Here’s another detail of the Catherine Hill Bay jetty barrier. It’s pretty intimidating for anyone trying to climb over it, but I love the sculptural aesthetic: the shapes formed by the strands of wound barbed wire, the shadows of those vicious teeth along the top of the gate, the dramatic blue and tones of steely grey, the stark brutality of it all.

12 August 201412 August 2014

Jetty

Catherine Hill Bay is a coastal village south of Newcastle, on the southern peninsula that forms the opening to Lake Macquarie, and is significant for the coal and rutile mining that was carried out in the area. The large jetty, used to ship the coal, is now abandoned and closed—very seriously closed judging by the amount of barbed wire and corrugated iron used to deter trespassers. It hasn’t stopped the graffiti however, which is a dramatic sight.

9 August 20148 August 2014

Kembla

Frederick Thomas Wimble was best known as an ink maker and printers’ furnisher, supplying the printing trades throughout Australia and New Zealand through his company FT Wimble & Co. He also produced fonts, identical to American and British ones, but with Australian names. Examples of these are Canberra Old Style (Century), Jenolan Old Style (Goudy), Wimbles Scholastic (Century Schoolbook) and Oceanic Shaded (Antique Shaded). Kembla Open Face, his re-naming of Caslon Open Face, is my favourite—if only because it makes me wonder what it was about the steel town that inspired the naming choice!