I’ve been in Berlin for almost two months now and, as in any city, I am constantly coming across a unique visual language that identifies this city, giving it a character of its own. As I walk the streets, I am often stopped by the smaller details like iron work on bridges and signage on restaurants. These things are the things we take for granted. Maybe it’s a bit easier to notice them when you are in a new place, and they are not so common as they are to someone that is used to seeing them every day.

Signage

The simplest of visual cues often have a large part of forming our surroundings. They can make us feel comfortable or, conversely, they can make us incredibly aware that we are nowhere near home. Coming from a land of blue and green street signs with white text, these typical Berlin street signs are just one more visual sign that I am no longer in America.

Hand-Drawn Signage

Whether welcomed or not, hand-drawn signs (or graffiti covered buldings) are another unique identifier helping us identify where we are. These are two common examples. When I pass them, I know right where I am.

Storefront in Stockholm

Over the Easter weekend, my wife and I took another trip. Turns out there is more to Stockholm than H&M and IKEA (kidding). We really just did the tourist thing, but we were still pleasantly surprised by the city. It made me want to stay longer and explore deeper.

As always, the lady was laughing as I had to stop and take pictures of all the signage through the city as we walked. I’m becoming increasingly interested in the context of the typographic messages that we see. Individually, the type is not always that interesting, but in combination with the storefront, or in contrast to of the rough wall behind the highly designed signedthese pieces of signage start to become an integral part of our surroundings. And we may never consciously think about it, but these signs form a big part of our surroundings.

So without further ado… a snapshot of Stockholm.

Number 45

Another 45?

This next one really made me laugh. Maybe the letter “j” was just really ugly in that font and they really liked this one? Or maybe it fell off, and they only had this one to replace it with. In any case…

I wonder what kind of design they do...

Store Signage

Sometimes it's just a regular apartment entrance. So simple, and yet I love it.

Store signage

As always, you can see more of my found type on my Flickr Page

It was another Friday evening, straight after one of those full on corporate mumbo jumbo weeks. You know, the ones where you spend all week being productive and making people happy, but really, you look back and you didn’t make a single creative move all week.
That’s where I was.
Cue the beer.
And the Nikon.
I started walking from our house, camera in hand, looking for something to capture, but seriously, there’s not too much that is overly compelling about completely middle class houses built in the early 1900′s. We’re not talking about gems here, just your normal bungalows.
But right about the time I got to Coatsfield, I began to think it would be interesting to take a picture of every house number on one street- not just the nice looking ones – every single one. So I did.
I was a little timid, so I didn’t get too close. I guess some people think it’s strange to point a camera at their house, snap a shot, then keep on walking- only to do it again. A little over halfway through, one concerned citizen approached me and started his interrogation (quite politely I might add). He said they had three break-ins over the last month.
Um. Sorry good citizens of Coatsfield Ave. I was unaware.

The fruit of my voyeurism? This series of photos. I am still amazed at how diverse the house numbers can be on one single, (seemingly) homogenous, neighborhood block.
Any you particularly like?

803

804

808

814

817

821

826

831

854

867

871

872

Anytime I get a chance to see type in new languages, the letters take on whole new meanings. I’m no longer seeing them as a part of a word (which inherently has a meaning), but rather as pieces of art themselves. Moscow did this through using a lot of letters I am familiar with, but using them in strange ways.

These are some photos of found type in Moscow. I hope you enjoy. You can see a whole bunch in my typography set on Flickr.

A simple Metro stop in Moscow

Mosco(nian) bank. (I think)

A Banner over the Street in Moscow

Store Signage in Moscow

We don't have to many signs on buildings like this where I'm from

Simple Cafe near Red Square

I’ve used Photoshop a fair amount, and I’ve edited plenty of photos, but I don’t think I’ve ever actually sat down and fully re-touched a destroyed photo. This was time.

This man is a refugee from Iraq. He fled his country after intense persecution and torture to both him and his family. Part of that torture was destroying this traditional photograph as psychological torture. The original, tattered and really quite meaningless, was sent to me in a small file from a scan of the 5×7. I reproduced it as an 8×10 and was surprised and the quality when I upsized it.

I could have kept going for a long time to keep trying to get it right, but this served its purpose. When I presented this to Alaa, he pointed to his chest where his heart might be, and said in broken english, “this feels good”.

It felt good for me too. Just for a little bit of fun and a few giggles, I kept going and made the following stylized version. Probably not what he was looking for, so I presented him the simple re-touched version. I kinda like this though. (and yes, that IS his real name).

Stylized version

I just got a new camera. Still don’t know how to use it. I may want to start working on that.

It’s a Nikon D60. It’s a really good camera for what it is. It’s not professional at all. In fact, its closer to a point and shoot. But it’s pretty rad. Came in a good kit, and it has all the manual features I need to learn with. I’m pretty excited about starting to take some sweet shots. I hope I will be posting some soon.