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“My name is Bob and I’m 56”: ErikRightHand in use at transitional housing development
Posted by joeclark in
5 Mar 2010 — 9:41am
5 Mar 2010 — 9:41am
Woodgreen Community Services bought an “atrocious” old rooming house in east-end Toronto (at Queen and Carroll in Riverside), gutted it, and rebuilt it as well-finished transitional housing for homeless people.
At last night’s unveiling (2010.03.04), I was surprised to see a transcription of an interview with an underhoused person written all over the walls… in Erik van Blokland’s ErikRightHand. Effectively used, with actual graphic design deployed on large canvases in unexpected locations, like stairwells. (I got to tell the manager I knew the designer!)
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5 Mar 2010 — 12:12pm
That's really touching -- a great idea, well implemented, with a particularly suiting choice of font!
5 Mar 2010 — 3:15pm
The impact is very effective, although I wonder what it will be like for the residents, presuming the intention is to leave the text in place? Or is this only temporary, for the opening?
Although the overall effect is good, it strikes me as a pity, looking at the close-ups, that this is a typeface with single forms for each letter: seeing identical shapes repeated in close proximity undermines the apparent handwritten quality of the text and, hence, its individual personality.
6 Mar 2010 — 6:07am
It was a one-off, John, and won’t be there forever. And if only! the LettError kidz had the sort of chops necessary to vary character shapes from position to position! When will these boys learn?
Wait.
Anyway, I actually don’t mind the phenomenon, which I think was cancelled out by the really well-considered size and positioning variations. Although legitimate calligraphy might also have been interesting, if unwieldy and expensive.
6 Mar 2010 — 9:47am
Nice to see design work for everyone.