Surprisingly enough even in the capital of Finland you can still find hand-painted signs of small local businesses.
This is a hairdresser’s sign that has been meticulously painted by a skilful hand. Even the corners of the board
are rounded to go with the letter shapes.
click to enlarge
Some examples of deteriorating container type from Helsinki’s industrial shores. Both containers have been
repainted but with different intentions. In one the type was to be covered in the other - preserved.
I always wanted to go to Laos and as a little kid I was proudly boasting to my friends that my father did.
After all these years I still haven’t gone there but Will managed and he shot this photo too!
I only had a tiny digi camera with me and on top of than one that’s rapidly ageing. The photos show
clear signs of matrix deterioration so you better go and see this one yourself,
it’s right here: N 60° 11.631 E 024° 57.188
Some of these letters are obviously hung the wrong way but after a careful look I still can’t seem to figure out
which ones and which way. Should all the shadows point to the lower right? Or maybe to the upper left?
Or perhaps these are two altogether different sets of letters mixed together…
Children’s Day deserves a special treat and here at TypoTrip we will celebrate it with a playful, customised sign
that reminds us not only to look down at our shoes all the time but to lift our head up from time to time
and forget about mundane worries. Photo by Ailatan.
You don’t need canvases, screens or billboards - any flat surface is suitable to provide a medium for
expressing yourself. Grab a marker pen and send out your message to the world. Before you start you only
have to decide whether it’s a message of love or hate.
This tells us a bit about the nature of the medium in alphabetic communication. Even though the letters themselves
are gone their image prevails on the wall, so now it’s the image that carries the shapes of the letters.
To continue the subject of graveyard typography here are a couple of numbers on a post marking administrative borders
on one of Helsinki’s cemeteries. I particularly like how the two lines of the “2″ have blended forming a quite new shape
but still maintaining legibility to a certain degree.
