design – Page 3 – Alphabet City Press

1 March 20154 January 2015

Goldenia

There is a swag of books documenting the faded glory of painted advertising, and you can understand why. Hand-painted words on a brick wall have a quality (especially as they change with time) that can’t be attained with today’s digital renderings. Goldenia Tea contained ‘nothing but the tender young leaf’, according to an advertisement in The Sydney Morning Herald in 1931. The lettering portrays a feeling of solidity and reassurance—which, given the era in which the tea was produced, I’m sure was the intention—and the swishes on the G and a transform it into something special.

13 December 201414 December 2014

Glass M

I know almost nothing about stained glass, whether it be coloured glass as a material, or the art and craft created from it. Working with glass seems to me inordinately difficult, and although I once learnt how to make glass beads, I am much more at home with a sharp blade, a bonefolder and a few sheets of paper. Somewhere in the back of my mind, in that receptacle that stores trivia, is a snippet of information about beer bottles: that brown glass protects beer from going off by filtering light absorption, but green glass is fine for beer with a lower hops content. None of which has much to do with this stained glass window, which caught my eye for the mix of design styles and glass textures, not least the M on an opaque white oval.

7 December 20147 December 2014

Ice works

Today is shaping up to be another scorcher, but unfortunately all that’s left of this ice works is the name on the front of the building, so no relief from the heat will be found there. I doubt the words were always painted icy white, and while I would like to think that whoever chose the colour did so by design, the cynic in me suspects that the signage was painted over to make it disappear, the easier to lease the premises for other purposes. Meanwhile, the ice works might not be able to help me keep cool today, but I’m going out for lunch, and the pub serves a mighty fine cold beer.

1 December 20141 December 2014

Red no

I doubt the painters planned it so the NO would be neatly contained within the lines, and I know for certain that they hadn’t planned for me to come along and comment on it. My guess is that the ‘no’—of ‘no parking’, in the supermarket carpark—was painted at the appropriate height on the brick wall, and it was happenstance that the rails of the trolley return bay matched so well. Either way, this co-incidence of placement, combined with the steely grey piping and the white concrete-block wall, result in a picture of graphic texture and colour which I found most pleasing.

14 October 201414 October 2014

One dollar

United States banknotes are so different to Australian ones! Ours are plastic and brightly coloured—pink, blue, red, yellow and green—and the smallest denomination is $5. You end up with a load of shrapnel in your purse, and think you don’t have any cash because you don’t have any notes left. But all the $1 and $2 coins can add up! In the US, I find the opposite is true. I end up with a wad of banknotes that make me think I’ve got enough ready cash, only to find that every one of them is a single, I’ve got less that 10 bucks on me, and I have to resort to the credit card. The US Federal Reserve estimates that the average lifespan of a dollar bill is 5.9 years. I would say that this one is near the end of its life. It’s creased and worn and thin, and has extra character because it comes complete with its own handwritten message from Nic to Beth.

8 September 20148 September 2014

Bottles

I admit it: I’m swayed by packaging. As much as I like to think I am capable of independent thought when it comes to food and drink purchases, I like to see my kitchen stocked with items that I prefer the look of. Fortunately, this often coincides with quality produce: for example, the Italian tinned tomatoes I like have the best label, and the smoked paprika comes in a tin you would buy for its own sake. When it comes to wine, the choice can get tough. While I am no expert, I have grape preferences that at least narrow the field, and when it came to this trio of Spanish blends the labels were too good to pass up.

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.

18 July 201417 July 2014

Importers of hardware

I really wanted this to still be a hardware store, because it would be the kind of place where I would just love to have a mooch around and stumble across some hard-to-find piece of equipment to add to my bookbinding toolbox: a thumb square, or a pin vice, or the perfect heavy duty knife for slicing through that browny grey boxboard—one that’s not too big, so it fits in my hand just so. But more predictably, it’s a cafe. I am impressed that they have maintained the hardware theme, and so cleverly used the screw clamp in the logo to thematically bring hardware and coffee together.

22 May 201422 May 2014

Carrots

I used to think that carrots were orange, but it seems that orange carrots are a relative newcomer to the vegetable scene. The first cultivated carrots were purple and yellow, followed by white and red varieties. The orange carrot became popular in the Netherlands several hundred years later—according to one story, it was a mutant, bred to honour the Dutch House of Orange. I was thrilled to discover that there is an online carrot museum, which, as well as the history and recipes you might expect, features carrot collectibles, carrot artwork and—my favourite—musical instruments made from carrots. When my friends and I drove through Bannockburn, Victoria, a couple of weeks ago, we stopped at a farmers market and saw this colourful array, and bought some for dinner.

19 May 201419 May 2014

Very far

It was a drizzly grey Sunday. We weren’t the only ones who thought pizza and beer sounded like a good idea, and although the car park wasn’t completely full, we did have to park in the ‘very far’ area. Helvetica can be badly used and overused, but it can also be a well-chosen and appropriate typeface. Here, Helvetica Bold Condensed is condensed more, letter-spaced, and treated to complement the timber boards on which it is painted. The letter shapes retain excellent legibility even when manipulated, and needless to say, we had no trouble finding the car when it was time to go home.