ICONLondon

In preparation for the icon workshop I walked at evening rush-hour from the relatively affluent area of Bond St, through the popular commercial areas around Regent St and Oxford St, via the cobbled alleys around Carnaby St, through to the seedy backalleys of Soho. I made a note of the prevailing feelings and impressions of each area, along with the frequently used icons and typefaces. I then repeated the journey later in the evening an noted how the feel of the respective areas had changed.

In the workshop we used these impressions and experiences to produce a number of icons which captured the essence of the various of London, which we could use to create a flag for the capital which was a manifestation of our own experiences and feelings.

Ultimately the icons we created as a group I felt were too literal in their interpretation, and so after the workshop I revisited the activity, and attempted to inject some of my own experiences into the graphics. To begin with I focussed on the 3 contrasting areas of Bond St, Oxford St and Carnaby St. I began by collating and analysing the various logos which make up the visual landscape of these areas, and then used these observations to start forming the icons:

The logos and graphics of Bond St are unsurprising uniform in their look and feel, employing a colour scheme of black, white and gold (to a lesser extent) and using either classic, serifs, clean, modern geometric sans-serifs or a combination of the two. In developing this icon, I took into account the imposing, intimidating feeling of the area, as well as it's traditional, conservative roots. The form of the icon developed into a solid black polygon whose shape was Inspired by the angular forms of the Rolls Royces on Berkeley Square, plus castle and flag details which added a sense of both heritage and exclusivity. Further, the nearby saville row provided the inspiration for the stitching which is a nod towards the bespoke experience expected in the area.

For Oxford St I noted that the majority of logos on view used primary colours and simple geometric shapes such as squares, circles and triangles, and used simple, often lowercase, Helvetica-esq sans-serifs. By hanging the icon from a clothes hanger I created a visual nod towards the 'off-the-rack', mass-produced nature of the business in the area, however, i quickly realised at some point I need to capture the frustration caused by crowds and tourists in the area...

For Carnaby St, it became apparent that the visuals were more diverse and crafted, and showed much greater awareness of and attention to typography and colour. Thus I began by experimenting with more specialised typefaces, as well as an irregular polygon shape, which reflects the non-conformist impulse which prevails in the area.

In the spirit of the initial workshop I hit upon the idea of using the icons to create a flag for the West End, but decided that in this case it would be appropriate to include an icon for Soho, and so yesterday went on another research trip, observing the dominant visuals and feelings in the area:

Findings include:

A predominance of Italian restaurants and cafes and therefore Roman names and Classic Roman serifs and cursive sans-serifs:

High density of gay bars - rainbow colour schemes and graphics of naked male torsos

Strip clubs/brothels/sex shops - neon red lights:

Pubs! Traditional pub signage/iconography

Now I just need to work up each icon in order to put the flag together...