Google Map Alphabet from Rhett Dashwood

One of those I-wish-I’d-thought-of-this-ideas! Lot of work!  Over about 7 months (when he had free time between design projects) designer Rhett Dashwood searched miles and miles of aerial imagery from Google Maps (primarily over his home region of Victoria, Australia, in order to piece together a complete, aerial alphabet. Buildings, rock formations, hedge rows, roadways, anything…  nice one!

Airport runway graphics

I’ve always loved the entirely utilitarian, but accidentally beautiful, random graphic compositions that exist on airport runways and the asphalt roadways leading here and there. Lines and letters, numbers and lights, grays and whites, reds and yellows, shadows and skid marks. Isolated (and particularly in black and white) they become quite interesting, abstract typographic/graphic compositions. One day, I’d love to have free access to wander around an airport (not likely!) and take some carefully composed photos, or better yet, from a helicopter where the vantage point would allow even more interesting views of all the lines, numbers and lights.

I finally had my camera with me during a series of recent flights, and here are a few of my airport runway photographs.

Fiodor Sumkin – Vintage (redrawn)

I’ve always loved vintage typography (as this blog makes pretty clear), and have collected old, rare type specimen books (as well as the wonderful Dover Archive books) for years. I recently discovered the work of Amsterdam/Paris based Fiodor Sumkin who clearly shares this interest, but what makes his work far more interesting than simply using vintage letterforms in his work (as many of us like to try from time to time) is that he “samples and re-renders” these vintage letterforms, into new, eccentric, hand drawn compositions. They represent a kind of anti-technological statement in the face of digital perfection – a movement that has been swelling up for a few years now (see post on Rude from last year) – but also a kind of “remixed history”, taking the ‘old’ (and the personality and historical associations embedded in old type specimens) and making the ‘brand new’, with a decidedly cheeky, contemporary if not occasionally cynical edge. Combine that with child-like, 45° angle magic marker fill lines, and the occasional illustrative elements that wander in, and you’ve got something very interesting indeed.

Mumbai Taxis

I recently learned of the amazing design extravaganzas that are ‘Mumbai taxis’ (thanks CR). Seemingly arbitrary graphics, decoration, patterns, and typographic messages adorn primarily the rear end of these taxis, and one can only guess that there is some kind of informal competition going on here among cabbies, within a shared, cultural propensity for bright colour and symbols. One need only look at Bollywood movie posters to see another expression of this predisposition. See my previous post on vintage Bollywood posters. CR explains that these graphics are also intended as a “lure” for customers, and that the tradition started back in the 1970s, with much inspiration for the taxi graphics and type coming from such movie posters.

The medium of black automotive surface is a canvas for gods sitting along side words like “Speed”, next to typographic flourishes, logos, flowers and rainbows. Many of the mudflaps alone deserve gallery wall space!

I’ve never been to Mumbai (never been to India actually) but when I do get there to visit some friends we have there in the year(s) to come, I will definitely get myself to Mumbai to behold these mad, graphic vehicles with my own eyes.

Wow!

Thanks to all of the photographers whose images I have borrowed here to make this feature.

Top Images, first image: Coleman Higgins, second image: Elizawr, third image: Betta Design

Bottom Images: first image: fredcan, second image: sampo karjalainen, third image: ypdx, forth image: robyn w, fifth image: JF Vincent