MED4110 Visual Design | Week 1 | Visual Design in the Wild

Neon Signs at The Custard Factory, Digbeth

Main entry sign

Information sign

Old library sign

Looking at visual design in the "wild", I decided to look at neon signs in The Custard Factory, Digbeth. Above are three of them. 

The Custard Factory is "the UK's leading destination for creative and digital businesses, independent shops and alternative culture outside London". It has many examples of visual design, from street art, fly posters and architecture. My example are the neon signs that hang above the shops and businesses. Neon signs are brightly glowing glass tubes that contain different types of gasses (to create different colours). They were popular in the 1920s to the 1950s, after the were invented by Georges Claude. The Custard Factory sign contains helium to create the yellow colour, whereas the information sign contains hydrogen and the old library sign contains mercury. 

The three signs vary in terms of colour, size and font. They are however all made from the same material, which is a sealed glass tube with a metal electrode at each end, filled with a gas at low pressure. The old library and information sign are incased in a glass frame and the Custard Factory sign is hung from wires.  Using the glass tubes means it can be bent into different shapes to create letters. It makes the sign look more interesting as it has a more 3D element to it rather than a flat design. 

The fonts that have been created are all done so for a reason. The clear monospaced font of the library sign means it can easily be read, so customers or visitors can see it is an information point. The cursive font of the old library sign shows the character of the library. The bold capital letters of the Custard Factory sign are a lot bigger than the other signs and  catch the attention of any one passing by. Using yellow for this sign plays on the fact that custard is yellow. using primary colours for the other signs is also eye catching.