January 27, 2016
The D Word: Vernacular Signage
That type should always be a “crystal goblet” is an ideal perpetuated by typeface expert Beatrice Warde in a 1955. “Type well used,” she said, “is invisible as type, just as the perfect talking voice is the unnoticed vehicle for the transmission of words, ideas.” But tell that to sign makers. They don’t know the meaning of invisible; their job is to make words scream—very loudly!
Back then, graphic or environmental designers rarely lifted a hand in the design of these quotidian signs. Although signmaking was a specialty, artists, carpenters, metallurgists and engineers were involved. This accounts for why the families of letters were referred to simply as “Lead Coated Sheet Steel” or “Recessed for Neon Lighting.” Letters were not part of a font nor were they exactly copies of the printed version. The only direction was to make them as eye-catching from a distance as possible—and customers were advised to keep them maintained lest they loose their brilliance.
Observed
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Observed
By Steven Heller
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