Inspired by a great interactive site [http://www.typeisart.com/], a recent project I gave my students, and the ongoing search for typographic distractions from the work I should be doing, I recently embarked on the following explorations.
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We see them everywhere – simple pictographic signs that inform us of everything, from where the baggage claim or restroom is to whether a rest area has a picnic or dog-walk area. We take these instructional images for granted; it’s no simple task to create a symbol that transcends language and cultural barriers, that cuts through the visual noise of our surroundings, and that is legible from many yards away while cruising down the highway at 70 mph. They’ve existed for centuries – in pre-modern Europe, pictorial symbols were the main visual guides for strangers who came into town and needed to find the shops of the barber, the apothecary, or even the pawnbroker.
In the 1970s, the U.S. Department of Transportation commissioned the AIGA to create a master set of symbols for use in transportation facilities. After extensive research of symbols in use throughout the world, the final set was designed by Cook & Shanosky Associates:  Cook & Shanosky, 1974. No standard has emerged, in part, because designers can’t resist the draw (pun intended) to design new pictograms; just look at the collection created for each new Olympic games. Today, their beauty and ubiquity has lead many artists and designers, myself included, to extract pictorial and symbolic signs from their original context for new expressions. Here a just few examples…  IBPI logo and secondary graphic, 2007, Jen Bracy.  Two works by French artist Pippo Lionni  SIMPLE brand bag design competition, 2005, Jen Bracy.  manipulated digital images, 2006-08, Jen Bracy. I’m anticipating the opening of two art shows this month in which I have work exhibited. Both the Siren Nation ‘The Journey’ show in Portland and the Western Oregon University Art Faculty show feature work that was directly inspired by my travels. I was reminded of this article I published some years back… hope you enjoy it. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Travel as Divine [Design] Inspiration (reprint of an essay I published in 2003 Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies) Since 9/11, many Americans have cut back their traveling, opting to stay close to home. This is unfortunate for many reasons, and it’s especially regrettable for artists and designers, for whom travel has been a great source of inspiration. In our complex information age, surrounded by pictures and words, art and graphic design have become the universal language. What better way to understand the chaos of the world, in an effort to make order out of it, then to experience it firsthand? The awakening of the senses to new surroundings, the feelings of displacement when far from home, and the long quiet hours of travel between destinations have provided centuries of artists and designers with thoughts and images awaiting placement on the blank page.
 figures 1, 2, and 3 Other examples include the powerful airplane and railway images popularized by post-cubist (or ‘deco’) modernists like A.M. Cassandre (figure 1), and the vast array of posters that have for decades adorned the mosaic walls of the London Underground (figure 2). According to the French philosopher Montaigne’s 16th century travel journal, the main thing is not “to measure how many feet there are in Santa Rotunda, and how much the face of Nero on some old ruins is bigger than it is on some medallion; but what is important is to rub and polish your brains by contact with those of others.”2 Without firsthand experience in transportation difficulties, some of the most inspired information designs, such as Beck’s first stylized London Underground map, would not have proved so useful (figure 3).  figures 4, 5, and 6 From my first trip to Europe as a student of art and design, at age 20, to my most significant relocation from the U.S. east coast to the west ten years later, documentation of sight and sound and smell has been every bit a part of the journey as securing a roof over my head. Early sketch/scrapbooks warehouse the printed ephemera collected in cities, from museums, to bars, to tattoo parlors, and from islands and small rural towns (figures 4, 5, 6). Equipping oneself with a good camera, most seasoned travelers would agree, is as important as taking along aspirin. But, for artists and designers, colored pencils, x-acto knife, and glue-stick may be just as essential for capturing the wide range of visual stimulus. THE TRAVEL OBJECT The thrust of many journeys is typically cultural and artistic awareness. In my own travel journals, museum ticket stubs often outnumber all other items. However, one will also find sketches of architectural details, notes on word translations into English, and even ‘tacky’ bar promotions. Certainly I am not the only person who finds it all equally fascinating; and, of course, not only in ‘good’ design can one find inspiration. There is a charm in the vernacular design; the commonplace graphic forms, such as matchbook covers, and unskilled commercial illustration and printed matter tell a lot about a place. The cut-and-paste photocopies promoting youth hostels handed to backpackers as they step off the train may even have a captivating quality for some. It is so often in the tired, confusing moments of travel that the most memorable events take place, and it is these trite momentos that help us recall it all once we’re home. One musn’t overlook the power of everyday objects to evoke memory and emotion. “My clenched hand inside my coat pocket discovers a smooth, rounded stone left there from my summer vacation o the shores of Eastern Lake Superior. The beaches of Lake Superior are rocky and cobbled with billions of wave-worn stones, which are so plentiful that they soon become unremarkable to the eye. But months later, walking over the flat and gray-green Indiana landscape with its applique of utility poles, highway signage, and concrete interstates; the stone seems different. I remember giving little thought to the billions of stones months ago, using them more for target practice against breaking waves than as a rosary prompting quiet reflections. Yet the stone from my coat pocket has become an unique object compelling examination.”3  figure 7 Travel-even just thinking about it stimulates our minds with ideas and images. The tangible, physical elements of a journey may not appear in design, but subconsciously forms and influences emerge. In a logotype design I created for Meridian, a women’s international travel network, the Oxford typeface was selected largely for its formal properties, specifically, the capital ‘M’ integrated well with linear elements denoting the globe (figure 7). When it was further researched to appear in Rob Carter’s Working with Computer Type 2 (RotoVision 1996), it was brought to our attention that the typeface, similar to Caroline miniscules, has a strong association with the medieval period and travel associated with the crusades. The prototype for three-dimensional signage also emerged as a weather-vane-like form, initially arising out of formal decisions and without conscious thought of it’s relation to direction and travel.  figure 8 One’s own experiences can lead to unique solutions to everyday design problems, such as travel guides. So many of my own journeys were full of foot-travel that I quickly learned the value of light, compact guides. In addition, idle time spent in train stations or airports was more amusing when spent playing games with others, rather than reading to oneself. These two observations fused into a concept for a proposed travel guide in the form of a deck of cards (figure 8). A pictogram in the place of the suit denotes the content found on the card. For example, an international money symbol leads the viewer to the card with currency exchange rates; a telephone symbol marks the cards that carry common conversational phrases in the diverse languages of the countries included in the guide; etc. The deck of cards itself acts as a symbol on one level, representing play, chance, and risk, and appealing in this way to spontaneous travelers. Personal travel experiences can lead us to consider many new issues. Visiting foreign lands without a working knowledge of the languages spoken is always challenging, and leads to a dependency on pictographic signs. My graduate thesis project, Toward the Universal, was focused on the question of universality in signs and symbols.  MFA thesis exhibition, 1997
This investigation certainly has value in the design of transportation symbols utilized in international airports or train stations.  moving announcement It wasn’t until my decision to relocate from one side of the United States to the other that travel itself surpassed the role of influence or inspiration and became the content itself of many personal design projects. Those who have a permanent place in my address book know that I never miss an opportunity to design a postcard (a travel-related artifact). It is a medium that has transcended banal vacation sentiments like ‘wish you were here’, and one that still excites its’ receiver. For me, it has been the best format to employ for moving announcements and other such long-distance correspondence. But it was for a 2000 exhibition that my most personal and conceptual piece arose from the need to express what this cross-country journey had meant to me.  figure 9 This both theoretical and practical project consisted of three parts (figure 9): The physical journey was represented by a map denoting the route driven, on which was montaged a collection of printed ephemera and objects from the places visited along the way (figure 10). The psychological journey was represented by objective documentation of distance traveled and weather, while subjective responses to terrain changes were translated into paint on miniature canvases (figure 11). From Virginia, through the Southwest, and into California in July, both the earth and sky colors changed in dramatic ways. The third, and most pragmatic, component was a series of typographic / photographic juxtapositions, labeled with appropriate Pantone colors, to show how this research could be applied to technological tools and processes for print production (figure 11). From a drink stirrer to mixing the right hue of blue for the sky, to the choice of typeface and color swatch, I attempted to address the question of how, in many different ways, a journey can be documented. Also, I examined how theoretical and personal research and experience can be integrated into applied visual problem-solving methodologies.  figure 10  figure 11 THE LANGUAGE OF TRAVEL Design educators everywhere are sure to understand the value in discussing design in analogous terms from other disciplines. Music, for example, has long served well in the discourse of art (composition, rhythm, harmony, dissonance, etc.). Travel, too, shares some of the vocabulary of design, and thus can serve as a learning tool. In addition to their symbolic, communicative lives, forms have an optical life. All forms, whether photographic or typographic, contain energy, and the way in which they’re arranged on a page creates energy. The center of a form is located where the horizontal and vertical axes intersect, and it’s implied direction or the motion implied by its positioning, causes a viewers eye to travel over the page. Forms and their distinguishing properties are the landmarks, while empty space is the restful park area, just as in an urban setting. For design educator and author Kenneth Hiebert, drawing from the built environment proves to be a valuable tool for students. “The street is a rhythm of signs-visual street language. It is a rhythm of people in motion, of vehicles, signs, buildings, lighting, and sounds. Staccato-legato, loud-soft, formal-casual. Contrasting features make the hot and cold of the street.”5 When we find our way through the built environment, we speak of navigation and orientation, subjects of much discourse by urban planners and environmental graphic designers alike. And when one experiences a work of graphic design, the same visual cues are necessary: how one arrives at, enters, and moves around within a piece dictates what information they gather from the experience. Of course, when learning interactive design for websites or cd-roms, the language of way-finding becomes even more literal. TRAVEL AS METAPHOR “When one thinks of travel, one most often thinks of the interest and excitement that comes from seeing exotic places and cultures. Likewise, the application of the metaphor of travel to thought conjures up the image of an innovative mind that explores new ways of looking at things or which opens up new horizons.”6 While I don’t pretend to have the complete explanation for the hold travel has on my imagination, I will continue to search for it as long as I continue to travel. I satisfy my need for thinking about travel by integrating it into course projects. My graphic design students have responded to a number of design problems with refreshing and sometimes surprising solutions when ‘journey’ or travel is the context.  figure 12  figure 13 While some students document recent trips, one student responded to a postcard series project by visually translating entries in her dream journal. She tested the limits of her software knowledge in this introductory technical course, by recreating the journeys through surreal landscapes of her imagination (figure 12). Another student chose a micro approach, focusing on the journey of an inanimate object as it is acted upon by others. A dislodged VW hubcap, when hit by another vehicle, rolls to the beach, where a dog and dog owner experiment with substituting it for their frisbee , sending the hubcap into the ocean, where it sinks to the depths with sharks (figure 13). The obvious application of such a sequence of events to time-based media, such as animation or video, is yet another justification for students exploring journeys in the classroom. At a conference in San Francisco, I was delighted by California College of Arts and Crafts’ Professor Lucille Tenazas’ presentation. One of her successful student projects involved assigning a finite time or distance for the student to travel from home, purposefully heading a direction rarely traveled. The students documentation-verbal, typographic, photographic, etc.-expressed their fear of the unknown, their unease with displacement from the familiar, and most importantly, the awakening of their senses and powers of observation. G.K. Chesterton wrote “What effects men sharply about a foreign nation is not so much finding or not finding familiar things; it is rather not finding them in the familiar place.”7 Whether it’s the rarely visited neighboring town, or the opposite side of globe, exposure to new stimuli is at the root of everyday growth and inspiration, especially for artists and designers. In short, we need to get out there and see the world-we never know where our next great idea is lurking! _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 1 Maginnis, Tara, “The Costumer’s Manifesto: Travel for the Soul,” http://www.costumes.org/pages/travel.htm. (retrieved July 2, 2002). 2 Van Den Abbeele, Travel as Metaphor. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1992). 3 Repp, Philip C., “Reflecting on a Stone,” Looking Closer 2: Critical Writings on Graphic Design (New York: Allworth Press, 1997). 4 Bracy, Jennifer, Toward the Univeral, (Richmond: Virginia Commonwealth University, 1997). 5 Kenneth Hiebert, Graphic Design Sources (New Haven, Conneticut: Yale University Press, 1998). 6 Van Den Abbeele. 7 G.K. Chesterton, “On Flags,” Generally Speaking (Manchester, New Hampshire: Ayer Company Publishers, 1968/c1929). We’ve all seen them… license plates different from our own standard, ‘default’ design. Don’t get me wrong, moving here after a long detour in Southern California I craved to be among those tall evergreen trees like the one pictured on the standard Oregon plate. But I had no idea what other design options we have here, so I figured I look it up and share them with you. - – - – - – - – - – - – - - Here’s what the Oregon plate looked like in the late 50s/early 60s.
Compare with all the new design options today… >> Regular Issue & Special Plates: Standard – “Tree”
“Salmon”
“Crater Lake”
“Cultural Trust” (can anyone tell me what it’s supposed to be? perhaps just a work of abstract art) There’s also one for “Amateur (HAM) Radio Operator”, “Antique Vehicle”, and “Special Vehicle”, but there’s not much to them. >> Higher Education Plates: You can choose Eastern Oregon University, Oregon State University, Portland State University, University of Oregon, University of Portland, and Willamette University. Um, excuse me, but why is there one for every Oregon state university except for Western Oregon University? (which happens to be where I’m teaching now). >> Non-Profit Plates:
Other organizations / causes include: But by far the most interesting of these is the “Share the Road” plate:
>> Veteran & Service-Related Plates:
The choices are: Congressional Medal of Honor, Disabled Veteran, Ex-POW, First Marine Division FMF, Gold Star Family, Non-Commission Officers Assoc, Purple Heart, Veterans Recognition, Vietnam Veterans of America and the last (but not least) category is >> Custom (Personalized) Plates aka Vanity Plates
Those are the DMV samples; here are a few real ones, not all Oregon. You can find more following the links below…
(This is pretty cool – it belongs to a woman who created a site about women’s travel called ‘Wanderlust and Lipstick’ – http://wanderlustandlipstick.com/ ) Find more examples here http://www.pl8s.org/category/usa-oregon/ and an entire blog devoted to vanity plates here: http://horriblelicenseplates.blogspot.com/ You can see the Oregon DMV site for more practical info if you so desire (http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/DMV/vehicle/plates.shtml#Available_Plates) - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - I’ve always had a fondness for stuff made out recycled plates, and even made a box for myself one time. Here are some other ideas:
(You can buy these from http://www.stevenshaver.com/products_license_plate_car_part_clocks_plaques.htm) From using cars as a medium of expression to using them as the tools of expression, we just can’t help but connect these two pastimes. After escaping Southern California, I don’t miss the prevailing attitude that newer and more expensive is better when it comes to our cars. I have to admit, I was thrilled when I started seeing “art cars” all over Portland, many of them older–but still running–extensions of the owners resourcefulness rather than status. Whether it’s duct tape, post-it notes, legos, or just good ol’ paint, I get a kick out of art cars. Here are just a few.
If you want more, a great resource can be found at: http://www.artcar.blogspot.com/2008/01/post-it-car.html - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - - It seems the art and car connection is not lost on contemporary advertisers, either. The iQ font from Toyota showcases Pierre Smeets and Damien Aresta’s unique process of translating driving into writing. http://www.pleaseletmedesign.com/projects/iq-font/ - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - - BMW explores the “Art of Driving” in its promotions for the new BMW Z4 Roadster, using it as a paintbrush on a canvas the size of a football field…
The style of car we choose says a lot about us. But I’ve often wondered how related (or unrelated) the style and status afforded by our choice of vehicle is to the design of the mark. I’ve put them into three categories. - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - - Heraldry: The Porsche logo is derived from the coat of arms of the city where Porsche began – Stuttgart. Alfa Romeo’s heraldic from also references the history of it’s city of Milan. The head of the fantastical ‘griffin’ found in the SAAB logo comes from a coat of arms from the county of Scania in Sweden(1). Though BMW’s logo has pictorial roots (see Symbol category below), it nonetheless evokes an air of importance that could be said to derive from the cross-like structure found on many shields and historic insignias. - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - - Pure Type:
Though the origin of the Volkswagen logo cannot be determined accurately, there is little disagreement that the simple and timeless mark has been quite effective. Though there are numerous different Honda logos, the one featured on cars these days is straightforward enough: a big H with a low center of gravity and increasing size from bottom up; it could be said to represent strength and reliability.
The original Ford type, Heavy Script No. 9, was enclosed in an oval in in 1912, and since 1928 there has been virtually no change to their wordmark(1).
The slab serif VOLVO logo we encounter most today is a simple typographic mark created in 1959, however another version is discussed in Symbol section below. - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - - Symbol:
While the abstract Toyota logo resembles a T, it is actually three elipses depicting the heart of the customer, the heart of the product, and the ever-expanding technological advancements and boundless opportunities(2).
I’ve always thought, and I know I’m not alone in this, that it’s an abstracted bull. Subaru is the Japanese name for the Pleides star cluster it was named after; Suburu means “to gather together,” as their seven categories of automobiles and the seven stars in the logo do(3). Chevrolet has one of the most distinctive marks, however abstract and arbitrary (legend has it that designer Durant copied the bowtie design from the wallpaper in a Paris Hotel.) Mercedes uses a three-pointed star supposed to represent the company’s ambition of universal motorization: “on land, on water and in the air”. (Check out a recent parody at the end of this post… I wonder what they’re trying to say?) Saturn is one of my personal favorites (though I’m a dedicated VW girl); it sets itself ‘a world apart’ with this mark. The Citroen name began as a successful factory known for its’ ‘herring bone’ gear; the trademark took the herring bone form long before the company began to manufacture cars. It’s been recently updated but still retains the original form.
Chrysler reissued an old seal within wings (designed in the 90s) to accompany their ever-present logotype, usually seen with the “pentastar”, which is supposed to convey the pride, passion and commitment they have for building great vehicles.
Bavarian Motor Works (BMW) originally produced aircraft motors; the symbol (shown up above in heraldry section) is derived from a rotating propeller. The old VOLVO logo still found on some transportation products employs a diagonal arrow like that of the symbol for Mars or Man. Audi’s ‘Four Rings’ represent an almost century-old merger of four companies. I can’t help but think of “excellence”. Is that because of its’ resemblance to the Olympic rings perhaps? Jaguar seems to hope to represent its’ cars as exotic, fast, and powerful. Take flight in a Bentley, if you can afford to. (I can’t say I’ve ever seen one of these on the I-5 around Portland). - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - Spoofs/Parodies
- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - I see a lot of freight trucks on the 45-mile stretch of I-5 that constitutes roughly three quarters of my commute. It seems there are far more poorly designed freight identities than well-designed ones. Or perhaps it’s just that I have a hazy recollection (from my many years of researching/teaching graphic design history) of transit identities that set the bar higher than what I see out there today. My obvious first choice to critique is Oak Harbor.
Some of the oak leaves are colored with distinct color zones outlined in black, some use a subtle gradient; the symbol is often accompanied by the name in a heavy, semi-slab serif face with the first letters called out in red, and sometimes it sits above a sans serif… rule #1 in successful branding: consistency establishes identity. But what I’m really confused about is the color palette – is the company in any way associated with Jamaica or the Rastafari movement?
Another frequent sighting is the Swift Company. The dynamic swoosh says ‘S’ and speed all at once, which certainly isn’t a bad idea. Let’s just say it could stand to be updated.
There are certainly examples of identities created in the 50s, 60s, or 70s that still remain viable today. Hebert Matter’s 1954 New Haven Railroad design program used only typographic forms and harmonious proportions to establish a recognizable and memorable look.
Some other railroad freight companies have followed suit.
For a beautiful rail freight design scheme check out the British company Railfreight’s family of symbols and identification marks.
Yellow Freight has employed a simple but effective strategy to their fleet. (Okay, there’s trucks and graphics are actually orange, but who cares?) Hey, if you really like it you can even get yourself the Yellow collector’s model truck.
What of interest have YOU seen on the road lately? |
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Copyright © 2010 Driven by Design - All Rights Reserved |
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(Those are drawing pens!)
