STENCILondon

During the stencil workshop I created a vernacular typeface which features the spires of the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. I used as my starting point the typeface Braggadoccio, because its simple block form made it relatively easy to convert into a stencil over the course of the workshop. The stencil graphic was relatively successful at capturing a sense of London's skyline, and I experimented with different print finishes.

It was also noted by chance that when the graphic is turned upside-down, it has the appearance of dripping blood. This set me thinking about creating a London 'ambigram', that is a word that can be read from two different viewpoints; as such I wanted to create a typographic visual that, when read from one angle, would reference London's grandiose, lofty architecture, and when flipped would reference London's bloody past.

I experimented with how the form of a London ambigram might work, before eventually resorting to an 'ambigram generator' website for reasons of speed and convenience, to create the type to use as my starting point.

Once I had this graphic, I annexed the spires of a number of London churches...

before tracing and digitising…

For the final outcome in my book I'd like to design a poster in the style of the recent marmite campaign which changes depending on the orientation of the poster...

So, from one aspect the poster could reference London's lofty architecture, from another the gruesome history behind the buildings...