Over the summer we were assigned a typographical brief:
'Your task is to collect and organise photographic and copy content that will be used in a publication entitled “A-Z: Type in context”. Your publication will explore the typography specific to a particular place. Which place you look at is entirely your choice – it could be home, abroad or here in Leeds.
You must collect at least 26 photographs – at least one per letter. These can be from road signs, shop windows, newspapers, placards, etc. For each one that you collect you must write a short passage about the context in which it was taken – where is it used and for what purpose? Is it effective? Is it easy to read? Does it communicate well?'
During the holiday I was fortunate enough to visit Paris for a couple of days. While there I used the infamous Metro system, multiple times a day, which is where the source of inspiration for my typographical project comes from. Most of the main Metro stations within the city are themed - some reflect the monument they are situated near and some portray the famous artists of Paris. One such station was Concorde Metro Station, a station situation in the heart of the city. Concorde is historically themed, exhibiting the famous document entitled, The Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1798 - one the fundamental documents to come of the uprisings during the French Revolution. Each letter of this declaration is portrayed on an individual ceramic tile, and together the station comprises 49,000 tiles in total.
The station was designed by a Belgian artist named Françoise Shein in 1990. The majority of her works feature lengthy text pieces spelled out over vast areas of the major cities in the world.
I used these letters as the basis for my project, as well as small variety of numbers and punctuation. I identified the typeface as being Garamond BE Regular., which is a classic serif typeface dating back to the 16th century. It’s solid yet versatile letterforms portray unique characteristics, such as the un-connected bowl featured on the letter ‘P’, and the overhanging serifs featured on the letter ’S'.
Due to the limits of the French alphabet and the text featured, not all of the letters and numbers were present in the station (see last slide). The letter 'Q' in the original Garamond typeface also differs slightly from the letterform found within the Concorde station, which lead me to believe that this letter had been re-rendered for the purpose of the declaration.
As a typeface Garamond is actually highly legible but in this context the text is unreadable, although that can be attributed to the scale of the text and the nature of the design within the station.
