Sharp letters, Sharper buildings

One thing that I've noticed, during my stay in London, and also during my tour in Hearst Castle, is the importance of architectural style. In my previous post, I talked about how the font used on signs change depending on the information that they want to deliver. Above is a picture of the Apothecaries Hall that I took as part of a 'History of print in London' tour. It is an official building, so they use an Oldstyle font to show that it should be taken seriously. This is something I've noticed with official buildings here too.

At least, those done in a Gothic style.

     For one, these buildings have a lot of angles. Sharp, hard, even the more rounded out sections like the pillars of the Parliament building above are just many lines joined at angles to somewhat resemble a circle. But that's not what I want to talk about. I want you to look at the roof. Do you notice anything unique? Anything shared in common with the lettering mentioned beforehand? Or should I get straight to the point? That's right, their spires and even some sections along the roof all taper off to a point like an Oldstyle font's letters. 

     

     I don't know about you, but when I think about a church, I often picture spires that end in points. I feel like if they're trying to send the message of, "I'm an important building, I do important things." The architects try to make it look ornate and sharp. Something that draws the eye. You may rebuke this statement with how office buildings look today. I mean, they're very sharp and angular. 

    Yes, but they are angular in the same way that Sans fonts are sharp. The edges are just there, they don't taper off into points like Times New Roman does. It's the style that the angle are potrayed in, not the angles themselves.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I am very tired, so I'm just going to end this.

Fonts and their messages

It is my understanding that we use text in the same way that we use the spoken word, to communicate information. For example "This is hot," "I am feeling a bit under the weather," "Yes that hurts so can you please stop jabbing it doctor!" Each sentence is relaying information from one person to another and that tradition is proudly continued though marketing today.

     One of the main differences between type and talk, however, is that, with type, your given a lot more creative freedom with how you want your information to look. This gives it a visual advantage that speech lacks and, therefore, communicates with the recipient both visually and audibly.

     There is one thing I've noticed with shops and signs here in London, It's that you can tell the type of information that the sign wants to convey through the font that the creator chose. In the image above I took of a tabletop game store, the colors are vibrant. The Yellow text with a red border contrast sharply, making the words pop from the black background. I feel it conveys the sense of excitement and joy about it and draws your attention immediately to the words. This style is continued with the picture(road sign by Kensington Palace) below as it too has a black background, forcing your attention to the white letters on it's surface. However. It is filled with sharp angles on all points. Reflective of an Oldstyle font such as the Times New Roman that I'm using for this post. Just looking at it and you know that it's trying to tell you important information. In this case, to be careful with traffic.

     It's an interesting feature that I've noticed with signs here in England and I'm sure I'll pick up more on it when I get back to the states. But it seems to be that; if you want to convey something of importance quickly, use a simpler, sharper text such as Oldstyle fonts. But if you want to convey something jovial, and make it look fun, try and use big letters, bold colors, and font that's a little softer around the edges. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to eat these fun and tasty Rolo Cookies!

Afterthought: Why don't we have these in America?

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