'blackboard' blackboards

After a considerable amount of work, a lot of it on the bureaucratic side, the blackboards inspired by Edward Johnston's hand drawn letterforms are finally up and I am pleased to see, used by those who pass by. I really hope people remember Johnston's name, and visit the museum collection and archive, but even if they just have some good fun that will be great. I have written a short explanation which accompanies the piece and I will copy it into this post (below).

an idea of the scale of the piece.

The chalk compartment and explanation

The sheet reads:

What is this ‘blackboard’ installation and why is it here, in Central St Martins?

The letters are based on letterforms drawn by Edward Johnston, one of the original staff members at the Central School of Arts and Crafts. Photographs of these letterforms reside in Central Saint Martins' museum collection and archive, which is accessible to any student.

I had never heard of Johnston before coming to study at Central St Martins, however, I learned that he designed Transport for London’s `Underground' logo and is also responsible for the alphabet design on which their typeface (‘Johnston Sans’) is based.

These blackboards are an opportunity to engage with this college’s history and contribute to its future. Draw whatever you want on them.

And next time you talk to someone who has never heard of CSM, you may casually drop into conversation that 'one of our staff designed the tube logo' - you will not be making it up.

My work on showcase for the 'hidden treasures' brief

At the moment the work is displayed near the museum, soon I shall put up the full installation near the library.

My little blackboards

In order to reduce waste from the cutting of my blackboards, and in hope to make up for some of the expenses making them incurred, I have produced around 20 rectangular MDF pieces that I hope to sell.

After painting these in blackboard black they could be used as a notice board or for drawing on. I labeled them 'note board' and today painted the first three.

The magnet samples

I had them laser cut yesterday.

Pretty neat!

Final crit for hidden treasures

I presented my work for about 5 minutes, Phil asked a few questions about who I spoke to regarding putting them up and then I pretty much got silence from the rest of the students...
When I think a work is really good I give feedback so that I feel like I contribute to the work - it's a way to curve my jealousy.

Does it mean they all hate it?

Behold - my vision

Here are some photos I am about to show at the final crit for this project.

After last time where I showed physical piece of work, I hope these visualisation going to be enough.

Yesterday I enquired about health and safety issues and the practicality of putting the letters up in the University. The person I spoke to said that this project is possible to carry out, and she initiated the procedure is to allow me to do so.

 the letters near the library

 the letters in the street

Working out the kinks

I spent today researching the best way to sample the letters from Johnston's blackboards.

After spending Friday copying the letterforms directly from the blackboards so I have the entire lowercase alphabet, I first adjusted the letters so that there are no extremely thin bars. I'm doing this because after using the CNC machine to print out the word blackboard last week the letter 'k' broke in half.

After making some amendments to the letters I spoke to Catherine Dixon who pointed out that due to the process I used (i.e. using the pen tool and making paths in Illustrator)  the letters appear clunky and  have sharp points in places where a smooth line should be.

She recommended that I consult Johnston's book 'writing & eliminating, & lettering' in which he provides examples of how to appropriately draw letters. In this way any changes i make to the letters can be true to Johnston's teaching.

 a sample from Johnston's book

Printing little blackboards

At the end of the day I have the word Carved out of MDF. The letters are not very big, they are probably similar size to the original letters drawn out on Johnston's blackboard.
But, they will serve as a mockup for my design of blackboards shaped like the letters Edward Johnston drew in his classes.
Tomorrow, I plan to paint them in blackboard paint and prepare them for the midpoint crit.

Earlier today I met with Sarah from the university museum and collection for feedback and further background information for my project.

A page from the background info about the context of my blackboard photographs

Creating an impression of my idea

My plan is to take the letterforms from Edward Johnston's blackboards and turn them into letter shaped blackboards that will promote the collection and subsequently the photographs themselves.

Today was spent preparing impressions of how that will appear in situ.

Edward Johnston's blackboard photographs

I was very happy when I was assigned this item for my first brief for unit 7 'use'. According to the brief we are each assigned a design related object from our university's archived collection. We are expected to produce a promotional piece for both the object and the collection. My assigned item is a set of photographs of Edward Johnstone’s teaching blackboards (c.1920s).

For those who don't know, Johnston used to teach calligraphy at the Central school (now CSM) and was, amongst other things, responsible for this rather well known design.

the box and photographs

  

some of the blackboard photographs

and some photos from the archive