Birmingham's Type DNA

PROJECT = "...celebrating Birmingham's typographic tradition ... explore the history of Birmingham's typographic roots and uncover beautiful letterforms that can be found on the streets" alriiighty

So we took to the streets in our group consisting of myself, Selina, Noushka & Rasheeda. We tried to stick to the locations offered including Cannon Street, Vistoria Square & Corporation St. We found a bunch of hidden gems along the way that we'd never seen before like the pure capital san serif 'Hotel' sign:

Which can be found on New St above the Britannia Hotel. Very New York looking I'd say. The typography isn't too hard to find and is literally everywhere, however ugly or hilarious including closing times at "0pm" (if anyone can explain this to me I'd be delighted) The most challenging aspect of the day may have been keeping a hold of my toes and steadily yet successfully smoking in freezing conditions.

The most common typographic quality that kept arising from our walk on engravings and road signs was a serif rather bold typeface that could and hopefully will inspire the second half of this "yellow week" live project.

The second half consisting of choosing a phrase, word or sentence that is synonymous with or unique to Birmingham such as;

Brummy / Second City / Spaghetti Junction etc..

Once we've decided our phrase or word we'll then be creating a 3D "lettering installation" that HAS to be presented to the group on Friday. It also has to be portable, so my initial idea of Birmingham's vast Canals and water seems a bit tricky depending on the ideas of my group... who knows.

Tomorrow the plan is to have a phrase and begin researching materials and methods of creating typography inspired by the ancestry of type around Birmingham.