Departures – A Journey in Type

Departures A Journey in Type

Departures Time

To

Time

To

01

Departures

09

Airport Alphabet

02

Departure Point

10

Switzerland

03

Start Journey

11

Helvetica

04

New York

12

NASA

05

Salamon’s Proposal

13

The Moon

06

NYC Subway

14

Lunar Surface

07

London Underground

15

Return Journey

08

Heathrow Airport

16

End Journey

Departure Point Step aboard.

02

Start Journey

This is a journey through time, through space, to the ends of the Earth and beyond. This is a journey in type, in transport, in design.

03

Start Journey

New York George Saloman

Our journey begins in 1957, on the New York City Subway system; a chaotic tangle of mismatched stations and lines that linked the regions of the equally chaotic city together.

Out of the Labyrinth; George Saloman titles his proposal to overhaul the signage system of the NYC Subway system. This was a man who felt the confusing and inconsistent signage that peppered the New York subway system were an injustice to the citizens of the city. He felt they deserved better; and so he proposed a new system of organisation for New York’s transport creating uniformity and cohesiveness throughout.

New York City skyline at night

Original 103rd Street Station mosaic signage

04

New York George Saloman

New York Saloman’s Proposal

Within his proposal Saloman suggested the use of Futura Demibold as a standard typeface for all signage in the NYC subway system. The signage he proposed was not too dissimilar from the modern signage that has become famous today.

Original, confusing, New York City subway signage

Futura Typeface

05

New York Futura

NYC Subway Saloman’s Map

Salmoman’s proposal to use Futura as a standard typeface for all New York City Subway signage was rejected, however, Saloman also suggested using a colour coded subway map that united all the separate lines of the system. At the time, the only maps available were very limited and only displayed a certain rail line or group of lines.

Saloman’s NYC Subway map drew heavy influence from Henry Beck’s famous London underground map.

George Saloman’s Original proposed subway map

06

New York Saloman’s Map

Bermuda Triangle

Titanic Wreckage

London London Underground

Henry Beck’s London Underground map, along with all the rest of the transportation in London used Johnston Railway as a standard typeface. At this time, London had the only transport system with consistent signage, as it had been using Johnston Railway since 1916.

London Underground map, by Henry Beck

Mid Atlantic Ridge

07

London Underground

Heathrow Airport Colin Forbes

In 1961, Colin Forbes created the first coherent transportation signage system for the Oceanic building at Heathrow Airport, now named Terminal 3.

Signage at Oceanic Building, Heathrow Airport, by Colin Forbes

08

Heathrow Airport

Airport Alphabet Matthew Carter

Forbes hired Matthew Carter to design a custom grotesque. This was based upon Akzidenz-Grotesk by the Haas Type Foundry and came to be known as Airport Alphabet. This typeface was used as the standard typeface in Colin Forbes signage system at Heathrow Oceanic Building.

Airport Alphabet Typeface, by Matthew Carter, Colin Forbes

09

Airport Alphabet

Switzerland Haas Type Foundry

A few years prior to Colin Forbes and Matthew Carter’s work at Heathrow Oceanic building. The Swiss type foundry Haas, who had created AkzidenzGrotesk, which Carter’s Airport Alphabet was based upon created possibly the most famous typeface of all time, Helvetica.

Haas Type Foundry

10

Switzerland

Helvetica Haas Type Foundry

Helvetica, since its creation in 1957 by Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann of the Swiss type foundry Haas, has become synonymous with signage design throughout the world. Helvetica has been associated particularly heavily with transportation systems from the New York City subway system, through to being used by NASA on their Space Shuttle Orbiter.

Letterpress characters from the Helvetica Typeface

11

Haas Type Foundry Helvetica

NASA Florida

In 1977 NASA launched the first space shuttle Orbiter, the Enterprise. NASA built a total of six Orbiters, each one featuring Helvetica on the hull of the spacecraft reading ‘United States’ and the name of the specific shuttle.

Space Shuttle Discovery

12

Florida

Troposphere

Mesosphere

Stratosphere

Apollo 11 The Moon

Eight Years Prior to the first Orbiter launch, Apollo 11 launched on a mission to land the first humans on the surface of the Moon. These astronauts spent 2½ hours on the surface of the moon before returning to Earth.

Buzz Aldrin on the Surface of The Moon

Thermosphere

Exosphere

13

The Moon

Apollo 11 Plaque The Moon

Eight Years Prior to the first Orbiter launch, Apollo 11 launched on a mission to land the first humans on the surface of the Moon. These astronauts spent 2½ hours on the surface of the moon before returning to Earth. Amongst the things they left behind was a plaque, fixed to the descent ladder of the spacecraft. It read: “Here Men From The Planet Earth First Set Foot Upon the Moon, July 1969 A.D. We Came in Peace For All Mankind.”

Commemorative plaque left upon the surface of The Moon

14

Lunar Surface

Exosphere

Thermosphere

Futura Return Journey

This type, engraved on that plaque, left upon the Moon by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldron; just as George Saloman’s proposed signage for the NYC subway system in 1957 where our journey began, was set in Futura.

Planet Earth from outer space

Mesosphere

Stratosphere

Troposphere

15

Earth

You have arrived at your destination.

16

Thank you for travelling with Departures