21 Sep 2007

Ariel Bikes

This sign from Kennington in south London was spotted by Steve and I photographed it soon after. It’s right beside a library which makes it difficult to get a square shot. It is a mystery why it says “Writers” across the bottom and also interesting that the top left of the sign has completely gone.Ariel began as a manufacturer of bicycles before moving into motorcycles, for which they became famous.  The fact that the last motorcycle was made in 1967 dates this sign. A brief history can be found on Wikipedia.

The design of this sign is quite advanced in terms of the type faces used and the illustration of the man riding the horse. It reads “Ariel, Leaders of Design”. At first I thought this was a play on the word ‘leader‘ which was a model designed in 1954 but this 1951 postcard makes use of the slogan before this date. Note the stylised horse’s head in the top right. The company appears to have toggled between using this and the full horse and man design.

Here’s a 1937 advertisement showing the origins of the man on the horse logo/icon and it also uses a similar yellow colour to the sign. The typeface used for ‘Ariel’ likewise remains unchanged over time. This was once a great British brand and appears to have gone out of business in the face of increasing competition from Japan. Despite this they survive in Kennington because of their use of the painted advertising medium.

More examples of press advertising can here.

• Ariel
• London
• Research
• UK