Name: City of London Street Nameplate Typeface
Type: Custom typeface
Client: City of London Corporation
Completion year: 2025
The City of London Street Nameplate Typeface used in the City Of London. It is a custom typeface and exclusive to the Corporation of London.
The City of London is a distinct area inside London and that comes with its own city hall, known as Guildhall, and mayor, known as Lord Mayor, separately from London. The government of the city is called the City of London Corporation.
In 1986, the Corporation started a discussion on a new corporate identity including the signage system and started deploying it in ’88. At this time, a typeface was custom-made based on Monotype Albertus. Unfortunately, the designer of this typeface is not known. (John Ward FCSD, FRSA is credited for the signage system as a whole) Also, perhaps because it was not for commercial purposes, the typeface did not have a name, and it was not necessary. In this case, let's use "COL Sign".
Produced in the 1930s, Albertus was primarily a headline typeface, and incidentally acceptable for signage purposes. COL Sign, on the other hand, was an improved typeface for signage, with thicker weights, more uniform proportions, and the removal of sharp joints in the centre of B and R. The lowercase letters are wider and the contrast is slightly lowered. When you think of representative typefaces in the UK and London, many people think of Johnston's London Underground typeface, but Wolpe's Albertus and its derivative typeface, COL Sign, are also suitable for that place in my opinion. The original Albertus is used as a signage typeface in the London Borough of Lambeth.
What I adore about COL Sign is the fact that it is a flared/serif typeface that seems quite rare for signage purpose. It is for more serious purpose but does not sacrifice personality and class. Another such example was BAA Sign, a former signage typeface that was based on Bembo Bold to be used in Heathrow Airport; it’s replaced by Frutiger but a small number of signs with the typeface is still in use.
COL Sign was meant to operate in large sizes and not for printing. It therefore did not exist in the form of a mechanically strict "font" like metal type that we envision. It seems that the operation method was such that the original drawing of each character and the spacing instruction manual were carried out by craftsmen at the site of signboard production.
In the digital age, the operation of typefaces was not very uniform, and similar typefaces were used in a variety of ways. Starting with Monotype's Albertus, Flareserif 821, A028 (URW++'s GhostScript copy typeface), and my work Albertus Nova are scattered throughout the city. This situation was not intentional, and the Corporation decided to unify. I was lucky enough to be in charge of Albertus Nova here, and I was approached.
My improvements are minor, and if you are not familiar with the original typeface, I don't think it will make much sense if it is explained, but the big ones are as follows.
- Lower the A crossbar to increase counter space.
- G was a lot wider than C, so I made them closer to each other.
- O and Q were thinner than the other letters, so I made them fatter.
- W is narrow, and the blackness of the peaks and valleys was noticeable, so I made it a little wider.
- Added more flare to certain corners like in K, M, and X.
- The lowercase letters were rather narrow and thin; a quirk which was likely inherited from Albertus. I made them wider and thicker.
- The lowercase joints as seen in letters like n, were too thin and flickering, so I made them thicker.
- I raised the dots of i and j a little.
- Kerning data has been added.
I think it is a testament to London’s diversity that its iconic typeface was originally designed by an immigrant, and updated by another (twice: Albertus Nova and this typeface), which I am extremely proud of regardless of how small my contribution may be. I hope it will continue to be the face of the City of London.
Also, as a souvenir, I had a street nameplate made for myself using the updated version of COL Sign. I will make it a treasure for a lifetime! (John Carpenter Street is a real street in the city, but film director John Carpenter is famous for using Albertus extensively in his film credits. Although it has nothing to do with the person who is the origin of the street and the director, it is a beautiful coincidence.)