Ghost Signs & Typography is a story of my journey looking for the ghost signs. It started in Massachusetts and then continued to Oregon, Colorado and New York.
My interest in ghost signs started during the spring 2007 with a course on typographic design. My class had 2 walking tours in the city of New Bedford, MA.
There are many varieties of typography on buildings, ships, and murals. The one that I am focusing on is painted on buildings. A ghost sign is a painted sign, usually having to do with advertising, that has faded. Some signs that have completely faded can be seen in the first minutes of a rain storm or sunrise/sunset.
I was concerned about how the typographic history was being lost. From the type we can learn about the past. We can learn about the culture of the area and the people that the signs are in. As a graphic designer and typographer, how can I preserve this type? My skills allow me to reproduce the typography in a digital format unlike photography.
Typography surrounds us in many different forms. It guides us through our lives. It directs us on a trip, such as work, from point A to point B with the use of signage. When you read a magazine you see all the different articles and advertisements. It is also on all the receipts that usually end up in the trash.
Through the typography we can discover what was important to a culture at a specific time. If we traveled to the past, a 100 years ago, maybe we would find that there were general stores. It is difficult to know this information if we don’t have typography.
This book was designed to be placed on a coffee table. If the reader wanted to read the text, they could or if they just wanted to flip through the pictures they would still understand the stystem.
