Geotype Submission

The Geotype project charts the rich history of lettering and type forms that have established the identity of cities and towns around the world. Explore the map

How does this letter-form communicate its location?

I’ve chosen this example as a contemporary example of Derby’s urban typography, and in particular the way that it stands in stark contrast to the ghost sign above it. There are actually two of these signs, one of which sits on the shop front next to the shop’s sign ‘Bonds’. This sign reads as ‘Emma Dakin @ Bonds’ which uses the name of a (presumably) trusted hairdresser ‘Emma Dakin’ combined with the trusted brand name of ‘Bonds’. However, in this situation it makes little sense to have the ‘@’ symbol here. The modern material of acrylic in use here, an ‘engineered plastic’ also stands in stark difference to both the brick-painted sign above, and the cast iron sign below, telling the change in methods over the years. Also the type itself appears to be a computer generated ‘handwriting’ style font typical of logos today, showing how typography itself has changed since the days of the actual handwriting/painting used in the sign above it.

Location

Cheapside, Derby, UK