Visual Research: Willis Street
A project journey to create a typeface for a street based off its visual assets and history.
A project of 'Visual Research'.
For one of my projects I had to pick a street located in the Wellington region (of New Zealand), go to that location and do some observations about the environment, take pictures or sketch the images, textures, colours, people, objects, etc that typify the place. With that information decide on what lettering or wording were to be used for the title. Not only just the Streets name with a featured type, but to create a whole alphabet for it, so it could be used anywhere.
The 1.2-kilometre street, named after New Zealand Company director 'Arthur Willis' was established (as early as I know) in 1840. With that I was looking at the streets older historic features that it had to offer.
Willis Street is to me a strong working busy place, so I worked with making a clean serif font, with some little details added on to give it a little bit of extra character. Giving it an old school letter press and wood burning, carving or painting for signs.
After a long time drafting up the typeface in sketchbooks for a few hundred times, getting them roughly how I'd like them, I scanned them into the computer and finalized the fonts weights and sizes to be all correct
and similar.
I gave some letters some elongated features and strokes so there can be some variety in words if needed.
I came up with a slogan to go with the street being "Take a journey back to Willis Street" and have the establishment year on the sides for that vintage style.
