Lettering for New Scotland Yard

lettering for new scotland yard phil baines

the new scotland yard lettering notes for the metropolitan police force 3 Edward Wright and Lettering 4 The Source and the Name 5 Surviving Drawings 7 The 2012 Restoration 9 Internal Signs 10 Letraset Flaxman 11 Westminster Cathedral 12 Flaxman Demi-bold 13 Some Appreciations 15 Sources

appendices 16 Flaxman character set and principal sources 16 Additional glyphs presumed necessary for nsy 2016 Image: Flaxman alphabet redrawn by Jo Harris for an exhibition at LCP, 1976, courtesy of University of Reading

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edward wright and lettering The rotating sign for New Scotland Yard was designed by Edward Wright (1912–1988); it was installed at 10 Broadway in 1967–8.

Trained in architecture before the war, Wright was one of those who introduced the concept of graphic design in Britain in the 1950s. He taught at the Central School and the RCA before becoming Head of the Department of Graphic Design at Chelsea School of Art from 1963 to 1977.

Throughout his career Wright combined teaching with his design practice. Through his close relationships with leading architects he produced notable designs for lettering on public buildings, including Peter Robinson, The Strand (1959, Denys Lasdun), International Union of Architects’ Congress Building (1961, Theo Crosby), Churchill College, Cambridge (1961, Richard Sheppard & Partners), New College, Oxford (1962, David Roberts), Imperial College, London (1963, Sheppard Robson & Partners), Ulster Museum (Francis Pym, 1965), and the Tate Gallery, Liverpool (1986, James Stirling).

work. In 1966 in a letter to the architects, Chapman Taylor Partners, he proposed the installation of a separate, symbolic, structure to support the lettering. In the mid-1960s the idea of removing lettering from the fascia of a building was revolutionary, but as Wright observed, “It would be a rather tame and makeshift device to merely add lettering to the [fascia]. Such an important architectural group demands more than a mere label…It is suggested that the sign should be a massive ‘block’…having upon it the words new scotland yard in stainless steel relief. The [block] is to rotate slowly night and day, like a beacon and to be lit obliquely from two points on the top face of the [block]. This would give a continuously changing play of light, reflections and shadows across the sign. In a way the idea behind the device arises from the very nature of the Police force, always alert and prepared to confront the emergencies which threaten the peace of a great city.”

(ewc, Flaxman file, cat. 5.5.4. University of Reading) Image: uncredited photo, courtesy of University of Reading

The New Scotland Yard sign is Wright’s most widely-known public march 2014 3

the source and the name In 1967 Edward Wright named his design for the New Scotland Yard alphabet ‘Flaxman’, on the suggestion of the eminent type historian James Mosley, at that time Librarian of St Bride Printing Library, put forward as a play on the telephone prefix of the Chelsea School of Art: FLAxman.

The name also recalls one of the earliest users of the sanserif letterform in its modern guise—sculptor John Flaxman (1755– 1826)—but in fact Wright took as his inspiration the epigraphic letterforms on the late 2nd century Roman sarcophagus of Cornelius Scipio Barbatus, transposed into calligraphic forms by Hans Eduard Meier in 1952. The subsequent introduction of geometry into the letters was necessitated by the manufacturing processes in the 1960s, whereby the design had to be translated into 3-dimensional forms made in metal.

Image: John Flaxman, Harrow-on-Hill church (top), http://de.academic.ru/pictures/dewiki/80/PiranesiTombaScipioBarbatus_retouched.jpg (bottom)

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surviving drawings Drawings by the Metropolitan Police architect’s office for the main sign show the geometrical basis for the construction of the letters.

Wright also designed a set of numerals and different form of G for the internal door signs. The latter are accompanied by his detailed and extensive character-spacing specifications.

Image: Central Lettering Record (top), University of Reading (bottom left and right)

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There is also a drawing by Bob Chapman showing an inscription to commemorate the opening of the building.

Image: courtesy of University of Reading

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the 2012 restoration A close look at the constructional drawing prior to the restoration of the sign in 2012 revealed that some letters as-made differ slightly from the drawing. The black letter below is as-drawn but the red is as-made.

Image: Phil Baines, 2012

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It was also noted that the spacing of certain character combinations were not even and the opportunity was taken to correct this.

In this drawing grey shows a police drawing of the sign’s layout, red shows the corrections.

Image: Phil Baines, 2012

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internal signs The lettering is also used within the building although it is difficult to date some of the examples. Those, such as the larger, backlit room signs, door numbers, and door warning notices are original, but many other incidental signs seem later and have lettering which shows the marks of its production all too clearly.

It is not known how the additional internal signing, illustrated here, was specified, except to confirm that the signs themselves were not by Wright.

Image: 2012 (below), 2014 (right column)

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letraset flaxman Letraset ltd., manufacturers of sheets of rub-down lettering, maintained an extensive type design studio in Waterloo, and offered a service manufacturing sheets of custom lettering. Flaxman was made for internal use by the Metropolitan Police.

Letraset Flaxman was made in two sizes, in both black and white.

The first sheets were made before the introduction of the ‘spacematic’ guideline system which was intended to aid correct character spacing; later sheets were made with the guidelines.

There are two other things to note here. The first is the narrow G referred to previously, for use with the numbers on room signs; the second is an inline arrow which I haven’t seen on any other drawing.

Image: courtesy of University of Reading

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westminster cathedral Wright also used the lettering for an inscription for the Canadian Air Force Memorial at Westminster Cathedral. Here the small raised letters of the inscription, made in aluminium, are perfectly suited to the Early Christian Byzantine style of the architecture (1895–1903, J.F. Bentley). A Chi-Rho relief sculpture, with symbolic references to airforce markings, was made by the Canadian ‘naillies’ sculptor, David Partridge (1919–2007). Wright’s drawings, held at the University of Reading, show how he combined the two disparate elements, inscription and sculpture, into a harmonious design.

Image: Westminster Cathedral

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flaxman demi-bold Confusingly Wright named his 1967 design for a sans serif lowercase alphabet ‘Flaxman semi-bold’. Based on 20th century geometric alphabets, this alphabet was manufactured in wood by DeLittles of York. It was only made in large sizes for the printing of concrete poetry banners displayed outside at the Brighton Festival, 1967.

It bears no relationship to the NSY capitals although they have the same name; they are not informed by the same design sources and were never intended to be used together.

Image: courtesy of Ann Pillar

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some appreciations “Public interest in the symbolism of the New Scotland Yard sign is borne out by correspondence in The Times (2013), initiated by Sir Tim Rice, in relation to the displacement of the letters on the third side by a blue marketing plaque. The subsequent restoration of the letters has reignited Edward Wright’s original intentions concerning the symbolism of the reflective qualities of the letters, which are made in brushed steel. It may be that on one hand the longevity of the sign is due in part to the legibility of the sans serif letterforms, but on the other the timeless quality of the forms may be of greater significance in its public appeal.

“In place now for almost fifty years, and never copied, the New Scotland Yard sign has become part of the national consciousness. In the early 1980s Wolff Olins did not include it in their corporate identity proposal for the Metropolitan Police, and yet it has come to play a significant role in that identity, unusually not through stress by the institution of the Metropolitan Police, but by common consent and repeated use. The designer Mike Dempsey recently commented, ‘My take on its longevity is very straightforward. The very fact that the sign is animated and the typography extremely legible makes it the perfect backdrop for crime reporting in London’. Dempsey’s view was confirmed by the BBC News Group, which calculated that approximately 800 outside broadcasts were made from the sign in 2012. And fascination with the New Scotland Yard sign extends beyond national borders, as shown by the Guildford Tourist Office, who reported that ‘where is the sign?’ is one of the most FAQs by visitors to London.”

Image: BBC, courtesy of Ann Pillar

Ann Pillar (email to Phil Baines  March 2014)

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“In this dull site, there is a spark of life: in front of the architecturally banal building is a sign whose shining letters brighten even the dirtiest weather.

The triangular support echoes the site, where Dacre Street meets Broadway.

And revolving—the whole object engages its context. The lettering is one of Wright’s best alphabets. As usual with him, the forms were generated by a set of tough constraints: circles and straight lines only, the terminal points sheered off at right angles to the stroke. Geometric letters are often stiff and unusable, but these—characters subtly off-centered and varied—sing with life. Wright wasn’t so fond of the police and had doubts about the job, which included signs throughout the building. But having taken it on, he carried it through with full commitment, leaving London with this quiet surprise.”

Robin Kinross (Eye 10, Autumn 1993, p.66) Now that the French Railways House ‘france’ sign has been removed from Piccadilly, the New Scotland Yard sign remains the only significant example of good modern post-War lettering in a public place in the whole of London. Its retention by the Met would ensure continuity for them, and retain the future of an important part of London’s lettering heritage.

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Image: Piccadilly † 2013

sources Central Lettering Record, Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London. Drawing showing construction of letters by J. Innes Elliott, Architect & Chief Surveyor, Metropolitan Police Architect’s Office.

Edward Wright Collection (ewc), Department of Typography & Graphic Design, University of Reading. Material relating to the New Scotland Yard sign, the Flaxman alphabet sheet, internal numeral drawings and letter-spacing charts, ‘Flaxman’ Letraset sheets, and photographs.

Ann Pillar, Edward Wright (1912–1988) artist, designer, teacher, doctoral thesis (2013), University of Reading.

Phil Baines studied at St. Martin’s School of Art and the rca and has worked as a freelance graphic designer since 1987. Work has included print work for arts organisations and publishers, animated type for commercials, and exhibition design. Recent work has included lettering design for the memorial for the 7 July 2005 London bombings (Hyde Park) and 26 December 2004 Tsunami (Natural History Museum). Since 1991 he has taught half-fulltime at Central Saint Martins where he became Professor of Typography in 2006.

These notes could not have been made without the help of Ann Pillar. Anne worked for Monotype where she set up and managed the publicity department before teaching typography for ten years at Staffordshire College, and later at Reading. In 2008 she was awarded ahrc funding for doctoral research on Edward Wright.

V&A, Prints & Drawings: Engineering specification for the sign’s revolving mechanism, drawn by Edward Wright. Accession circ. 736–1971, pressmark md. 22.

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appendices 1 2 3 4

Innes Elliott drawing (clr) Letraset (Reading) Spacing specification tables for the numbers are at Reading.

For door numbers only (ap).

flaxman character set and principal sources Character Sources A 1, 2 B 1, 2 C 1, 2 D 1, 2 E 1, 2 F 1, 2 G 1, 2 alternative G 2, 4 H 1, 2 I 1, 2 J 1, 2 K 1, 2 L 1, 2 M 1, 2 N 1, 2 O 1, 2 P 1, 2 Q 1, 2 R 1, 2

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S T U V W X Y Z 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 (hyphen) - / & solid arrow open arrow

1, 2 1, 2 1, 2 1, 2 1, 2 1, 2 1, 2 1, 2 1, 3 1, 3 1, 3 1, 3 1, 3 1, 3 1, 3 1, 3 1, 3 1, 3 1, 2 1, 2 1, 2 1, 2 2

additional glyphs presumed necessary for nsy 2016 and other comments (full point) . (comma) , (en dash) –

For sequence separators ie. 1–5 etc.