Happy Birthday Johnston and the London Underground

This week London sees the 150th anniversary of the London Underground. To commemorate the occasion a stream locomotive used in the 19th century made a journey through the modern tunnels of the Metropolitan line. See more on the BBC

It is also 100 years since its iconic typeface Johnston Sans was released as the the ‘Underground’ typeface. Dan Rhatigan, type director at Monotype and forthcoming interviewee of 8 Faces talks about Edward Johnston and the typeface here.  

The structured, based on a calligraphic nib held at a 45 degree angle, is emphasised by Johnston’s diamond tittle shapes (the dots over the i and j), one of it’s most recognisable characteristics.

‘Lumen Type’

These beautifully ethereal letters have been created with water droplets and light.

Inspired by the reflections of car headlights on a road spattered with rain drops they are the experiments of Russian designer Ruslan Khasanov.  

Each letter was has been created from water droplets produced with a syringe that are then illuminated from different angles and viewed through a lens. 

Stunning light calligraphy 

These amazing images are not actually Arabic but highly stylized French calligraphy by Julien Breton.

Julien, from Nantes in Western France, first started visualising rap lyrics, producing these long-exposure photographs in 2006. Over time he developed an ‘alphabet’ containing French aesthetics and Arabic calligraphy in a desire to bridge Arabian and Western visual languages. While always anchored in lettering this almost abstract style aims to move beyond words to evoke a feeling. 

He attributes this passion to growing up in a multicultural environment. Although he does not write or speak Arabic his work has gained interest worldwide, including in Saudi Arabia and Dubai where he has won awards for his illustrations advertising Arabia Telecom Communication.

Another key influence is the gestural energy of Japanese and Chinese calligraphy which is similar to the physical movement required to construct these images in front of the camera. This was taken to its natural conclusion when his work was combined with the dance moves of a performing arts group, pictured above.

I love the compositions and the way the lettering is sympathetic to the landscapes. The process can take between 30 seconds to several minutes according to the luminosity of the chosen location. During the exposure Julien ‘builds’ his calligraphy in front of the camera and without any visual guides, using lamps of various shapes and colours. There is no use of Photoshop in their creation.

 “The ink becomes light, the paper becomes photography, the calligraphy becomes choreography.”

Generative Types II: Sound Type

Following on from my recent “Grow your own typeface” post, I spoke to Joscha Ilge who also studied at the University of Applied Sciences in Wiesbaden.

Joscha collaborated with Anita Hohensee to produce these gorgeous sound influenced typographic experiments. Each focused on a different principle.

In the top image, the Joscha’s type is altered by tones, much like a graphic equalizer. In Anita’s below, a typeface has been transformed by a whole song.

The course was lead by prof. Jörg Waldschütz, who invited Cedric Kiefer from the agency Onformative to help students with the early programming aspects until they were comfortable progressing on their own.

I love the way the line work seems to thrust from the epicentre of each character like an explosion.

The Neon Man (part II)

Here are some more examples of Chris Bracey’s fantastic neon artworks.

When he first started making neon signs commercially, Chris approached one of the seedy strip clubs that were once packed into London’s Soho area and offered to create something special that would improve their awful, cheap signage. He chose the name too and ‘The Pink Pussy Cat Club’ was born. From there he was commissioned to create almost every club sign in the area.

God’s own junkyard - The Neon Man

These photos feel wonderfully festive.
After making neon signs for 37 years, Chris Bracey has truly earned his nickname, The Neon Man. He learnt the process from his father, who used to make signs for amusement arcades, fairgrounds and circuses.

Working as a neon light artist, Chris’s work is very desirable and his reputation has been amplified by high-profile collectors and blockbuster films featuring his signs (among the movie list you can spot several fictional cities including Superman’s metropolis, Tim Burton’s Batman’s Gotham City, and Judge Dredd’s Mega-City).

These shots have been taken at his warehouse in East London, dubbed “God’s Own Junkyard”, where Chris has collected up to 1,000 neon signs, including many of his own works and film props.