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Typography is an art I can truly enjoy. A considerable part of my book collection has been bought just for its typography, cover design and paper quality. But some of the most interesting typography can be found in public places: street signs, shop names, even ads. You can call it urban or public typography or lettering, and it is basically everywhere: sometimes large and loud and obvious, sometimes small and hidden. Arial and Times New Roman horrors right next to Neutraface and Art Deco pleasures. I could show you a road which pubic lettering consists almost entirely of Arial. Anyone would recognise it as visual pollution of its worst kind. But just some minute away from that doomed place I could show you a road full of beautifully crafted handpainted signs. In a strange way, they make that place dull and boring, but if you think the cars away, you could feel teleported into the late 1950ies. If I lost interest in industrial photography, public lettering would be one of my subjects.

Public Lettering examples
NoRevelance Hand-painted and hand-crafted signs
Type and Lettering in Stockholm
Public Lettering - a walk in central London
Dirk Hesse (from Dortmund): Born in the Fifties
Watch the Signs - Vienna as captured during last year's blogtalk
Note: This list does not include the most comprehensive site on public lettering I've found so far. Created and constantly updated by an individual in the US, it has hundreds of photos arranged chronologically, starting back in 2001 or 2002. As I don't find the link anymore, pointers are appreciated. Thanks.

Related on the interweb
Local Projects: City of Memory
Local Projects: Memory Maps

Related on this blog
2004-05-09 Use of GSM transmitter coordinates for geotagging?