Alphabet City Press

8 September 20138 September 2013

Baskerville

Baskerville is a transitional serif typeface, notable for its upper case Q. It was designed in the 1750s in Birmingham, England, by John Baskerville, in an attempt to make improvements to Caslon to achieve a typeface that reflected his ideals of perfection. In addition to increasing contrast between thick and thin strokes and making the serifs sharper and more tapered, Baskerville conducted experiments to improve legibility that included paper making and ink manufacturing. In 1758 he was appointed printer at Cambridge University Press, and it was there that he published his master work, a folio Bible, using his own typeface, ink and paper.

5 September 20135 September 2013

Chatsbury

Chatsbury is an art deco building notable for its partially castellated roofline, semi-circular balconies and distinctive entrance. These may well be noteworthy features, but they fade to insignificance compared to the chunky and quirky letters that make up the sign that announces it. My first reaction to the letters was that they had been carved out of a big block of vanilla icecream – and indeed, they are good enough to eat.

2 September 20132 September 2013

Ithaca

This is not the Ithaca of Tompkins County New York, nor is it the island of Ithaca in the Ionian Sea. It is the apartment block Ithaca, on Ithaca Road, Elizabeth Bay – an area that is dense with apartments and rich with unusual nameplates. I like the curly bits of the H and A and the backwards feet of the T and A, and how it manages to be blocky and geometric while fitting so well in a circle.

30 August 201330 August 2013

Boomerang

Boomerang was designed in 1926 by Neville Hampson for music publisher Frank Albert. Every Sydneysider has heard of Boomerang – whether for its distinctive Spanish mission-style architecture, its use as a backdrop for Hollywood movies, its heritage status, or its place as one of the most expensive pieces of real estate in Sydney. The Boomerang nameplate comes from the masthead of the Boomerang Songster booklets, which were produced by J Albert & Son in the early 1900s.

27 August 201327 August 2013

The lot

To me, this menu board is so Australian. Every sportsground and showground must have a shabby weatherboard kiosk with a roller-shuttered window and a signwritten bill of fare: a kiosk that looks abandoned and neglected most of the time but comes alive when a game is on and the shutter is opened. I see this sign and I can smell the hamburgers and hot dogs cooking on the grill, hear the roar of the crowd when a goal is scored. And what value! $6 for the lot!

24 August 201324 August 2013

The Mavericks

I saw The Mavericks last night. Like most touring bands these days the package comes complete with merch, and it should come as no surprise that I would be impressed with the big black-and-red-M that features on one of their t shirts. It’s not their logo but it could be! The circus-inspired font so well fits their tex-mex-country-garage style, the obvious enjoyment they have on stage and inspire in their audience, and their generous performance and big sound.

21 August 201321 August 2013

Ouch!

Ouch! was designed by Joachim Müller-Lance in 1995 and was inspired by his sprained ankle and time on crutches during a type conference. Müller-Lance is a Swiss-born, San Francisco-based designer who has researched and lectured on information and typeface design. His other typefaces include Shuriken Boy, Flood and Lance.

18 August 201317 August 2013

Birds birds

The days are getting longer, the nights are not so cold, and it’s that time of year when the bird sounds are changing with the season. There are currawongs, fig birds, magpies and swallows. I haven’t heard a koel yet, but it’s only a matter of time, and once the currawongs finish their nests we will hear the wicked witch sound of the channel-billed cuckoo. This awning is more likely referring to budgerigars and peach faces and their trade is perhaps less seasonal. The typeface is a weight of the Antique Olive family, which despite its name is not antique, but rather a humanist sans serif typeface. It was designed in the early 1960s by French typographer Roger Excoffon for Fonderie Olive. His other typefaces include Mistral, Banco, Choc and Calypso.

15 August 201315 August 2013

The letter B

B is the second letter and first consonant of our alphabet. Upper case B consists of two bowls, one on top of the other, adjoining a stem on the left. Lower case b has one bowl. Depending on the style, the bowls can be the same size, or the top bowl can be smaller. Historically it is thought that the capital letter B began as a pictogram of the floorplan of a house. B symbolises the voiced bilabial stop, a sound basic to human speech. But poor old B, always second best: B-rated, B-list, B-movie and Plan B, where B doesn’t stand for anything other than a shortfall of A. In the world of science and technology beta is second place. However B vitamins and the musical note B are certainly not second-rate, and when B is used for the abbreviation of bachelor, it comes before the A (of arts)!

12 August 201312 August 2013

The Roosevelt

I don’t know which I like more: the gold lettering (particularly how the ascender of the lower case h morphs into the ornate swirl of the upper case r); or the reflection of the apartment building opposite, distorted by the imperfections in the glass. Both are shown to advantage by the well-matched rich burgundy of the window frame and brickwork. But I wonder what the Roosevelts would think of their antipodean presence! Not far from this apartment block is the infamous Roosevelt Bar and Diner, opened in 1947, where Frank Sinatra performed, and the problem of prohibition of the sale of alcohol after 6pm was solved by having the patrons order their drinks before the deadline.