Typographic detail from The Journey, a short film about sex traffiking by Richard Jobson

One of the many benefits of the donated design projects we undertake is the opportunity to become aware of and get involved in campaigns and causes that might otherwise slip under our radar.

The last quarter of 2009 saw us immersed in one such project, producing supporting typography for a harrowing sex-trafficking campaign film for The Journey, in which the audience follows one girl’s sad plight.

Written and directed by Richard Jobson, produced by Quiet Storm Films, and starring Emma Thompson, this shocking 15 minute short provocatively reveals the ugly reality behind this vile trade.

On this occasion, Zerofee were asked to assist with the typographic treatment of ten key phrases which described the impact of sex trafficking on its victims. We referenced the style and qualities of shipping container markings and information, as these containers are often used by traffickers as a form of transport to smuggle many of these young women across Europe. These graphics were then, sensitively, integrated and mapped into their environments by editor, David Owen, and compositor, Nick Barnes.

The film can now be viewed on The Guardian website with our main contribution seen around the 11:20 mark. The film is harrowing, graphic and not safe for work or children, so please be careful when and where you watch it. The typographic treatment also found its way into Richard Ashcroft’s video for his supporting song from the film’s soundtrack, seen around the 3:36 mark.

London 7/7 bombings memorial detail. Hyde Park. Photo by Phil Baines, used with kind permission.

Four years on from the July 7th suicide bombings in central London, a permanent memorial will be unveiled today in Hyde Park. Personally, I feel it’s a beautiful outcome – quiet, dignified, appropriately positioned and rendered. Having travelled by bus through Kings Cross, then oblivious, at the time of the bombings, it’s especially poignant in a selfish way, since the entire event feels more tangible than other similar terrible incidents and accidents the country and capital have experienced during my time.

The unveiling has obviously courted the attention of the news during today’s fourth anniversary, and attracted mine thanks to the design treatment and the typographic work of Phil Baines. Creative Review has posted a detailed look at the thinking and processes behind the memorial typography and the BBC News site covers the story behind the project; the involvement of the families, architects and manufacturers.

What strikes me in the BBC piece is the almost complete absence of the typographic work from the story, with a single reference which largely gives credit to the architectural team:

The architects’ near-obsessive approach led them to have a new typeface created for the inscriptions, described as an evolution of a centuries-old London font which inspired the Underground lettering.

Not incidentally, Creative Review’s interview with Baines reveals a little more detail about this decision:

(T)he Project Board had already suggested the serif typefaces Garamond and Perpetua – the latter was in the planning application – but when I saw the sample which used standard pattern letters I knew that neither would work, far too fussy.

Compounding the absence of Baines in the BBC News coverage is a collection of sidebar links which refer to the 7th July Assistance organisation, architects (memorial and landscape) and even the manufacturers of the stainless steel ‘stelae’, but no link to Phil Baines (hardly surprising, I guess, given his absence from the article). Phil Baines has a relevant page within the Central St Martins website, which details his background, work and current activities as a professor and practitioner. Given the significance of the project and the central importance of Baines’ work to the project it seems, to me, to be indicative of the media’s lack of interest and/or understanding of graphic design, unless its been commissioned in a seemingly profligate manner by a public department or organisation.

Perhaps it has something to do with the intangibility of our profession’s work although, in this case, Baines’ typography is particularly physical and absolutely vital to the meaning and long-term commemorative value of the outcome.

It’s a disappointing oversight that the role of graphic design in such a well-executed, newsworthy and, it would appear, moving public project hasn’t garnered better attention in this instance, particularly given the extent of the BBC News coverage and references to other design and craft participants in its success.

Thanks to Phil Baines for permission to use his photography in this post and for additional insight into the media’s general disinterest in the typographic aspect of the memorial project. Phil points out that the architects have always been keen to emphasise and describe the role of the lettering in the design process and outcome, but this is routinely overlooked in any resulting coverage. Phil will be posting more imagery of the process and result in his Flickr photostream in due course.

Carters’ Steam Fair — a traveling typographic museum

Well, the fair really, not circus. And not town, but postcode, since we’re in London, UK and there’s no town for it to leave.

Carters’ Steam Fair is effectively a traveling collection of machines and visual material from a bygone era – vintage dive bombers, carousels, dodgems, candy floss and arcade machines all of which are restored and lovingly-maintained so they can continue to be appreciated as they roam London and the South East for seven months of the year, chancing the changeable British weather. It’s been the turn of Stoke Newington, N16 this weekend. One centimeter diameter hailstones pounded the site in the late afternoon, following a deceptively sunny and warm start.

The arrival of the fair presents us with a visiting typographic museum, the highlight of which is the vintage arcade – old penny operated machines (pachinko style, one-armed bandits and other attractions, all operated now by penny-style tokens) which are genuinely antique unlike, we suspect, some of the fairground ride signage – modern, understandably – but vintage in style.

We took a stroll around to capture some of the typographic highlights, wanting to test a few things in the process… With the exception of the lead image above, all the shots are untouched – straight out of iPhone cameras and into Flickr via email, so no sharpening, level-tweaking or other improvements:

The typographic survey was the main draw, but it was an interesting test of:

• iPhone 3GS camera performance
• Geotagging
• Uploading images directly to Flickr, complete with geotags, while ‘on the road’
• Automating the process of bringing that content to this blog in the form of images distributed across a specific map area, with additional thumbnails for direct access to full-size images

Some observations; the camera in the 3GS is generally improved, with nice macro and adjustable focus (also affecting light meter reading) – overall faster operation allowing more rapid access to and around the camera and photo functions. The interior shots taken in the vintage amusement arcade were impressive given the available light, and we only had to discard a few. The GPS geotagging is variable in its accuracy – the images indicated by the markers north of the majority in the map above were not taken there, others are all pretty accurate. Using an XML Google Maps plugin and geoRSS to place the Flickr images onto a Google Map is pretty straightforward and the result interesting, but not very effective for images that are closely located to one another – the markers with the darker dropshadows in the map above are actually multiple images, stacked on top of one another, with only the most recent being accessible. We added a Flickr thumbnail gallery below the map to make sure all the photos could be viewed.

The Angola 3 – Robert King, Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace – were all imprisoned on different charges in Louisiana’s Angola prison in the late 1960s. In 1972, Albert and Herman were convicted of the murder of a prison guard; Robert was linked to the case by the authorities, but not charged. As a result, all three were removed to solitary confinement and suffered inhumane and unjust treatment lasting, in the case of Robert King (released after pleading a lesser charge), almost 30 years. Albert and Herman spent 36 years in such conditions, only being removed to maximum security when lawyers and activists took up their cases and brought the details of their charges and trials into question. They remain behind bars. Robert King has, since his release, worked to bring attention to the plight of the Angola 3 and the charges against Albert were dropped in March 2008. Despite this, he and Herman remain incarcerated.

Zerofee had an opportunity in the summer of 2008 to contribute to the ongoing appeal for justice for the Angola 3 by donating awareness-raising, broadsheet format literature designed in conjunction with Bondage for Freedom, Coco de Mer’s campaigning organisation lead by Sam Roddick. We worked closely with Sam to design and produce the broadsheet in the space of a single weekend and the outcome is a 12 page narrative by Robert King, accompanied by facts about the Angola 3, their case and the situations faced by others like them in the US prison system.

The broadsheet is a good example of how creative freedom, focussed with time and budgetary pressure, coupled with a great client can result in powerful, donated design work that helped bring a cause to the attention of many people who would not, perhaps, have shown interest. Initially distributed at protests, but since reprinted in a smaller tabloid format for various other situations, it has been an extremely positive project for us and the visual/tactile result is one we’re particularly proud of. The typographic treatment (featuring Rian Hughes’ Hawksmoor and Zuzana Licko’s Mrs Eaves) resonated with those involved in the ongoing campaign and was later applied to a very quick title sequence (read: briefed and completed in a matter of hours) for a music video made by Quiet Storm Films called ‘Bars’:

For more information about the Angola 3, please visit www.angola3.org

If you have a real interest in typography, you’ll have heard of Alan Kitching, the renowned letterpress designer. Alan’s work has been featured in numerous design publications, commissioned by top advertising agencies and has helped to keep interest in the craft alive. You may not have heard of Celia Stothart but, alongside Alan, her passion for design, typography and letterpress is equally evident.

Alan and Celia gave a talk back in March at the London College of Communication (LCC), as part of their ‘Changing Face of Letterpress’ events and exhibition. A while back now but, for those of us that missed it, Alex Cooper and Rose Gridneff (who run the letterpress workshop and teach at the LCC, as well as operating their own practise/studio, The Experimental Letterpress Workshop) have made the talk available as a video podcast. The imagery above is screen-grabbed from the podcast, just to give you a flavour.

The talk is highly recommended and delivers insights into Alan’s early career, facilities, his and Celia’s love of letterpress and a year-long effort to recover an enormous cache of unloved woodtype from a barn in Somerset. For anyone who’s only experience of typography has been digital, seeing how woodtype’s printed appearance can be inadvertently ‘filtered’ by woodworm – resulting in an tactile, distressed look usually just simulated onscreen – should be required viewing.

You can download the Alan Kitching and Celia Stothart lecture as a video podcast from iTunes. Clicking the link (should) open iTunes and take you to the correct page.

You can follow the LCC and Rose Gridneff on Twitter at @lcclondon and @rosegridneff respectively