Sam Roberts

‘Graphic Design for Cities’, Where Design Meets Craft and More with United Creatives Manchester

This talk at the Sign Design Society on 7th June looks fascinating, check out some of the projects from United Creatives, home of the speaker Chris Edmunds, below.  Pictured is part of The Larkin Trail.  (The trail itself is on its own website.) Download the full event flyer here.

1 Jun 2012

RSPA health and safety posters, original mid-20th Century artworks found

Fascinating discovery at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, video here, images here.

31 May 2012

RIP Mr. Burbujas (via @ihazrabies)

Photo: Kasey Smith This post on the Perception Filter blog tells a sorry tale of the (partial) loss of this character-filled sign in San Francisco, and some conjecture about hidden meanings within the scene depicted.  It appears that persistant grafitti has led the laundry owners to finally give up on repairing the sign, a very […]

30 May 2012

Hand-Painted Gambia (and Jamaican Bonus)

A recent trip to a wedding in The Gambia, West Africa, was another piece of delight for a hand painted signage enthusiast like me.  In a similar fashion to my February visit to Bangladesh I was often distracted by the variety of forms found in the small part of the country we visited.  Also like […]

27 May 2012

Noor and Noor 2’s new hand painted sign in Bow

An interesting array of lettering types used in this newly painted sign.  Anyone know who did it and when it was done? (Thanks Ross for the photos.)

27 May 2012

(P)Imp and the Herbrand Street ‘Mural’ from @nycsouthpaw

I’ve just started watching Game of Thrones (highly addictive) so can appreciate this new piece of street art now covering part of the Herbrand Street ‘Mural’.  Does anyone know anything about the artist and the reaction of the locals which was quite hostile the last time..? PS. Does the Imp remind anyone else of Eddy Izzard […]

26 May 2012

Hand painted electioneering in Egypt

Will this one day become a ghostsign like the political slogans found in Pompeii?  (Another piece of interesting signage news from the Egyptian elections here.)

24 May 2012

William Stage investigates some of the ghostsigns of St Louis ahead of forthcoming book

Photo: William Stage This article offers a preview of some of the material that is lined up for the forthcoming book, Ghost Signs of St Louis.  I’m very honoured to have been invited by William Stage to write a forward to this follow up to the definitive ghostsigns book and the postcard book from last […]

22 May 2012

East End shop fronts exhibition profiled on Spitalfields Life

Photo: Alan Dein Interview with Alan Dein and more preview images of this exhibition on the Spitalfiends Life blog.

21 May 2012

The price of Coke in America remained unchanged for over 70 years

Photo: MOLLYBLOCK The 5c price shown in the picture above only helps to place this sign in the 1886-1959 bracket.  This research attempts to explain why this happened, with the resulting difficulty of using price as a dating tool for Coca-Cola ghostsigns in the USA.

19 May 2012

An opportunity to grab a brush or spray can and contribute to the restoration of a Brixton mural

My friends at the London Mural Preservation Society have successfully obtained lottery funding to restore the Brixton Windmill Mural.  The fun part is that members of the public can get involved this weekend (19th and 20th), next weekend (26th) and the Tuesday and Thursday (22nd and 24th) in between.  Find out more, including additonal work […]

18 May 2012

Photographic exhibition of East End shop fronts opens today

I’m gutted I won’t be able to visit this exhibition (pdf flyer below) of Alan Dein‘s late 1980s images of shop fronts in Tower Hamlets. If anyone writes a review then let me know and I’ll link to it here. (Hat tip to Lorna at History Workshop Online for the discovery.) Download exhibition poster.

17 May 2012

Hand painted McDonald’s signs, a first for me

Photo: Kasey Smith Everyone is familiar with hand painted signs for Coca-cola but these are new to me.  Some more pictures and an interesting commentary over on the Perception Filter blog.

15 May 2012

Australian ghostsigns profiled in this 2008 Stephen Banham article

Photo: Stephen Banham (Makes me want some Monty Leisurewear!) Full article here mainly focused on the hide and seek nature of many ghostsigns, including this line which echoes mine and Sebastian Groes’ urging against nostalgia: Instead of feeling mournful about the demise or entombing of these letterforms, perhaps we should embrace the dynamics of the ever-changing […]

14 May 2012

New book charting hand painted advertising on walls in the Netherlands

Writing on the Wall (my article about them here) are publishing a book which I’m very excited about.  Details on the pdf below for those who read Dutch, otherwise try Google Translate with a copy and paste of the text for an approximate translation.  It is priced at 29.95euros and order enquiries should be sent […]

13 May 2012

Melbourne’s signage in beautiful book form

Characters by Stephen Banham looks to be one of the must have new books on signage and public lettering.  It is high on my want list after reading this review sent to me by Geraldine of Birmingham Graphic DNA and this review picked up by Faythe of The Sign Painter Movie.  There is an accompanying […]

12 May 2012

Farewell and RIP to the Hammersmith Palais

[Update, November 2020: This sign is still visible, and the demolition works appear to have only affected the building immediately behind this wall.] Thursday, 10th May 2012 marked the final destruction of the once proud Hammersmith Palais, home to this underground-platform-long ghostsign. Dances were once twice daily but the evidence of this now only remains […]

11 May 2012

London Remembers searching for clues about mystery girl painted onto wall in Belsize Park (@LondonRemembers)

Click here for more information and to add any leads to the case.  (London Remembers’ homepage is here.)

11 May 2012

Guided tour of hand painted advertising on walls in Utrecht, 11th May

It may be too late to book but for those in the Utrecht area this (pdf flyer) looks to be an informative tour of the city’s historic wall advertising.  (Organised by Writing on the Wall.)

10 May 2012

Two signs from The Hague sent to me by Martin Percival

Martin kindly sent me these that he took in The Hague. They are restoration jobs, details of the black and white one here [Link expired] and more on another organisation working on preservation in the Netherlands here.

9 May 2012

Rain reveals Mazawattee Tea ghostsign at Sydenham station (via @DrMatthewSweet)

Photo: Dr Matthew Sweet Evidence of the weather revealing what might otherwise be hidden.  I’m sure I’ve seen a Mazawattee Tea sign elsewhere, perhaps with an illustration of some sort, any leads welcome in the comments…

6 May 2012

‘Sky as Signage’: an atmospheric #instagram photo from @ihazrabies

Photo: Kasey Smith Makes me wonder what once filled that space…  Found on the perception filter blog.

4 May 2012

Stella Artois vs Newcastle Brown Ale

Nice fun poking in New York (via Sell Sell).  In Stella’s defence they did do one of the more impressive pieces of modern hand painted work in that city.  That said, chalice does seem a little poncy and I’ll stick to calling a glass a glass.

1 May 2012

Avatar restaurant’s painted gates in Kerala, India

Photo: Nihaal Faizal These gates in India are less than inviting but the Signsighted blog where I found it asks the valid question of what they serve at the restaurant…

30 Apr 2012