1

1 21 Phil Baines & Andrew Haslam, Type & typography, Laurence King 2002, pp.7-9.

Lettering - as understood by calligraphers or stone carvers - is not part of most undergraduate graphic design or typography pro-grammes. This and the ability of computers and contemporary production methods to generate type at any size on virtually any substrate tends to blind us to the subtle but impor-tant differences between lettering and type and to the needs of permanent or semi-permanent display in an environmental context as distinct from the needs of print on paper or screen.

A definition of typogra-phy we use in our teaching is that ‘typography is the mechanical notation and arrangement of language’. 1 Implicit in this definition is the idea of duplication and automation. In order to work efficiently, the de-sign of typefaces has always

been concerned with far more than just the shape of the forms. It must in-clude the in-built spacing requirements for each char-acter (which includes the provision of kerned pairs as appropriate), and must address the production as-pects which today implies some form of rendering engine. (1 & 2) Another particular characteristic of typefaces is that they are commodities licensed to other users. Type designers are therefore designing for a wide range of circum-stances about which they may know little, still less, exercise control.

1. Typefaces, with a few notable ex-

ceptions, are identically duplicated

units with an in-built spacing system

(albeit one capable of refinements

and modification), their flexibility lies

in their capacity for unlimited use.

2. FF Beowolf by LettError (1990)

challenges notions of typefaces be-

ing identically duplicated units by

including a randomizing factor into

its outline printer data.

3, 4, 5. While typeforms remain constant, lettering allows for a conformity of spirit but variation in detailing. These

glazed platform names are from the 1905-7 Leslie Green stations for the ‘Underground Group’. The names on the

exterior of the stations used lettering in a similar vein.

6. The Victorians made frequent use of cast terracotta to

create architectural details and used the same manufac-

turing process to create relief letterforms - here the divid-

ing line between lettering and type is very thin. If the ter-

racotta was glazed as here, the Great Western Railway’s

Exeter station, the result could be particularly rich.

7.Glazed letter tiles, either flat or cast in relief, are often

used to create street names. These from Las Palmas,

Gran Canaria, have a warmth and humanity to them which

more than makes up for the limitations of standard tile

widths and the resultant spacing problems.

8. Stencil on skip. Stencilling is another grey area be-

tween lettering and type: there is a standard form but no

in-built spacing mechanism or rendering engine in mind.

The visual interest results from the form itself and in their

application. The design of French stencil letters has a

grace which transcends mere utility, even when used on

a builders’ skip.

9. Detail of the St Matthew door by the sculptor Subirachs

at Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia, Barcelona. The letters here,

some 8,500 of them, began life as standard plaster

casts which were then assembled like metal type and

worked on to create texture and depth before being cast

in bronze (part of this process is illustrated in Eye 37/00,

p.44).

contextExploiting

Phil Baines & Catherine Dixon

type design

modularity & manufacture

3 4

If type is regarded as an industrial product capable of widespread use, letter-ing can be regarded as its parent discipline. It encom-passes all the various hand techniques used to render the alphabetic symbols mankind has used for thou-sands of years to identify, to instruct and to present or promote.2 Lettering as a discipline is concerned with both the creation and utilisation of letterforms. The letterforms created demonstrate a capacity for

formal flexibility which differs from the flexibility inherent in most types: within a single example of lettering, individual let-terforms may be repeated or distinct, and their spa-tial relationships to other characters may vary accord-ing to context. It is this essential awareness of the context and the methods of production of a given piece of lettering which are exploited by the lettering artist.

10. Geometry has long provided a springboard for

type and letterform experiments. Ed Wright’s 1968

lettering for the Metropolitan Police New Scotland

Yard building in London shows considerably greater

verve than most. The letters on this three-sided spin-

ning sign are made from polished stainless steel and

sit proud of the background. This simple movement

adds life and (literally) sparkle to an otherwise dull

building. Since this photo was taken (April 1999)

the lettering has been removed from one face and

replaced with a Metropolitan Police crest: not an

improvement.

11. Looked at individually several of these ‘letters’ are

not letters at all, but context is everything and, taken

as a whole, Faraday House (Old Gloucester Street,

London WC1) is clearly legible. The letters are carved

in relief, they are part of the building, but four years

ago they were painted grey which greatly lessens the

effect.

12. A different approach to geometry is shown

here, Subirachs cast concrete sign at Sants Railway

Station, Barcelona. The word ‘barcelona’ is con-

structed from circles and vertical bars only, set

against a background of impressions of railway

carriage wheels. These elemental letterforms occur

in several other of his sculptures in the city (see Eye

37/00, p.44-9).

13. The three previous examples have all used ge-

ometry in a relatively straightforward manner, the

approach here, a boulangerie in the Marais district of

Paris, can only be described as ‘bonkers’.

14. This shopfront in Kensal Rise, London was obvi-

ously painted by someone who didn’t consider con-

sistency of form important; or plan the whole before

starting, but the result is somehow still masterly, and

must have been more so before the shadow faded.

It was painted by a friend of the tailor.

15.An inventive, if untutored, example of images

used to create letterforms in Wood Green, London

N22.

2 See Richard Hollis’s discussion about the functions of graphic de-sign in Graphic design: a concise history, Thames & Hudson 1994, p.10.

exploration of form

5 6

16, 17. Mosaic has been a popular material for decorative purposes since Roman times. While it is possible to use

broken or specially cut pieces in order to create any desired pattern, perhaps it is more interesting when used ‘as

bought’. In both of these examples from California, the inflexibility of the material creates unexpected letterforms.

The ‘E’ is at the entrance to a shopping mall. The name, ‘Valencia Town Center’, is spaced around a large circle

with no single character square to the grid. Although starting life as characters from a standard typeface, the col-

our, material, and effect of the grid on each letter’s form makes them far more interesting.

In the shop doorway ‘Olive’ from Los Angeles, the mosaic is constructed from more unusual hexagonal tiles.

Their shape has made a succession of upright letterforms difficult and this has been fully exploited.

The degree to which this is exploited varies: at one extreme may be a concern for utility while at the other is expression.3 Variations in the relative balance of these essential elements of util-ity and creativity are here explored using examples from two particular aspects of architectural/environ-mental lettering practice: lettering which relies upon a manufacturing process and in which the medium and surface generate the visual interest (3-9), and lettering which is hand-produced and in which both the medium and the letterforms them-selves generate the visual interest (10-15).

3 These two poles are identified and extensively explored within the writings of

Nicolete Gray who pioneered the study of the ‘art’ of lettering: see especially Lettering

on buildings, Architectural Press 1960 and A history of lettering, Phaidon 1986.

18, 19. The quality of letterform alone is no guarantee of success if factors such as scale and colour are not tak-

en into account. On Gloucester House (London EC: Little Britain) fine letters following the Trajan Roman model

are incised into Portland stone and painted blue. They cannot compete however with the monumental bland-

ness of the wall and are barely visible, left and above the bike.

20. Local vernacular traditions of lettering exist in many countries.

In Britain, a form which can be called ‘the English letter’ was used

from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries before being

ousted by the officially sanctioned revival of the Trajan Roman in

the early twentieth century. The middle line of this example (St

Martin’s Schools, London WC2) shows the form at its best: even

letter widths, strong contrast of thick and thin and muscular serifs.

Perfect. It is as though the lines above and below exist only to show

how good it is.

(For a fuller description of the English letter see James Mosley,

‘English vernacular’ in Motif 11, 1963/4, pp.3-55 and Alan Bartram,

Lettering in architecture, Lund Humphries 1975, p.5.)

form dictated by material integration on form, material and position I

7 8

22. For all intents and purposes the lettering on

Parsons’ Library (London WC1: Guilford Street) follows

the forms of the typeface Gill Sans but is carved in

relief from the same brick as the rest of the building.

The straightforward letterforms suit the material well

and provide a fully-integrated and decorative, if subtle,

architectural frieze.

23. Reproducing standard typefaces in another me-

dium can often give them an unexpected interest such

as those used on this German packing crate. (Vorsicht

= with care.).

21. The sheer scale of these steel letters

spelling ‘Badalona’ on a radio mast along-

side a dual carriageway on the outskirts

of Barcelona more than compensates for

their standard form. They were based on a

visual poem by Juan Brossa (see Eye 37/00,

p.44-9).

What becomes clear when looking at these architec-tural/environmental exam-ples is that the criteria for assessing lettering cannot be limited to a consideration of the letterforms alone. It is a relationship of four main factors - letterform, place-ment or situation, scale and material - with the domi-nant influence varying from one example to the next. Situation, scale and material can all dictate the forms of the letters themselves (16 & 17) giving them an unex-pected beauty.

integration on form, material and position II

24. The play of light, material (glass, brass and marble),

letterform and architecture at florence Railway Station

are exemplars of a holistic approach from an age be-

fore signing and corporate identity became shorthand

for ‘a dog marking its territory’.

26. While German sans serif types such as Futura were

informed by a rigid geometry a looser and distinctive

- sexy perhaps? - style is apparent in many examples

throughout France, Spain and Portugal. With a typical

‘siesta S’ this example is from Barcelona.

27. This shop fascia in Paris uses letterforms which

make the most of pattern and are enlivened by the

use of polished stainless steel and the simple use of

depth.

29. The Waterloo Bridge at Betws-y-Coed in North

Wales demonstrates one of the most famous and cer-

tainly dramatic uses of the clarendon letterform. The

essential robustness of the form is entirely appropriate

for reproduction in cast iron especially since the letter-

ing, which proclaims, ‘this arch was constructed in the

same year as the battle of Waterloo was fought’, is not

so much applied to the bridge, as physically part of the

structure.

25.Although this book-

shop door in Old Elvet,

Durham is not helpfully

painted, the idea is ad-

mirable. The need for a

security grill has been

used as an opportu-

nity to advertise and the

shaped steel strip has

contributed to the form

of the letters.

28. Running vertically

down each side of the

main entrance to the

old Daily Express head-

quarters on Fleet Street

(London EC4) these

geometric sans serif

letterforms constructed

in relief metal serve to

name the building at

entry level and are fully

integrated features of its

Art Deco façade.

form redeemed by material

9 10

31. Here, the forms of the typeface Platelet (Conor

Mangat, 1992) have simply been reproduced as

carved letters in stone for the purposes of naming a

hotel in Glasgow, Scotland. As much as anything it

shows a lack of knowledge and respect on the part of

the designers for the skills of the craftsman employed.

32. Size alone cannot always redeem a lack of im-

agination. Unlike Badalona (see 21) where the letters

exploit a central three dimensional object and the

steel allows for reflections and surface interest, at

Cité Europe - the shopping city on the outskirts of

Calais - the huge concrete letters (approximately 2m

high) which greet visitors are bland and ill-considered.

Although slightly let down by being seen against a

plethora of lampstands, standard road signing and

planting, the biggest disappointment is with the design

of the letters themselves. Or rather, the lack of design:

instead of responding to the site, the material, or the

distinctive French style of sans serif often used for

shop fascias and the like, the typeface Futura is used.

integration on form, material and position III

33. While the neighbouring railway stations of Euston,

St Pancras and Kings Cross use their architecture

to announce themselves, the British Library (Euston

Road, London NW1) sits back from the road to be ap-

proached through a dramatic set of gates and across

an enclosed garden. The gates themselves, from David

Kindersley’s workshop, do not contain lettering, they

are lettering. British Library is repeated and progresses

from ‘light’ to ‘ultra black’. It is only a pity that the suc-

cess of the gates is diluted by the ineffectual lettering

above (not shown) where the relief carved forms on

red sandstone are both ill-composed and entirely

superfluous.

34. Lettering does not have to fulfil a utilitarian rôle.

It can also exist as art and contribute to the quality of

a space. In the recently refurbished Edward Square

in North London, a specially comissioned poem by

Andrew Motion has been ‘carved’ by Gary Breeze on

two low concrete walls alongside a grassed play area.

The exposed aggregate of the no-nonsense letter-

forms contrasts with the smooth surround, they vary in

size with the height of the wall and the rythmn of the

words themselves.

Conversely, if ill-consid-ered, these factors will di-minish any value the letter-forms may have in isolation (18 & 19). What is also true, is that there is certainly no single style of letter which works for all occasions (20). Poor - or simply quite ordinary - letterforms can also be transformed by scale or colour or situation (21-23). The considerable and hugely under-valued skill of the lettering artist lies in this ability to balance the impact of each of these factors in relation to the whole for each individual commission. Ironically, it is often the success of commissions sensibly and sensitively managed that renders such skill invisible (24-30). Unaware of the

need for informed applica-tion and adjustment, the uninitiated wrongly assume that typeforms, as letters, can simply be transferred from one field into another (31 & 32).

There is so much that is uninspiring and unsuccess-ful in lettering terms that it is all to easy to become used to bad practice and simply accept it. And yet, recent examples which serve to visually enrich our experience of letterforms and the environment in which they are located (33 & 34), also serve to remind us that there is significant value in recognising - and teaching - the difference between lettering and type.

In addition to being freelance designers, Phil Baines & Catherine Dixon

teach typography on the BA(Hons) Graphic Design course at Central Saint

Martins College of Art & Design in London. Part of their teaching responsi-

bility is to curate the Central Lettering Record, an archive set up in 1963 by

Nicholas Biddulph, joined later by Nicolete Gray. Among their writings on

the subject matter described here are the website publiclettering.org.uk and

the book Signs, lettering in the environment (Laurence King 2008).

Acknowledgments

All images by the

authors except: 1,

Jeremy Tankard; 11,

Central Lettering

Record at Central

Saint Martins

College of Art &

Design; and 31,

Graven Images.

type enlarged

the authors