Chirpin’ is the 1977 album by the Persuasions, an a cappella group that formed in Brooklyn in 1962. Art direction by Tony Lane, with a cover painting by Gary Meyer.

The typographic treatment pays homage to the lettering on the iconic Tube map for London Underground from 1908, with larger EndcapS and each letter enclosed in a tile-like box. The fonts used to emulate the hand-drawn sans are Futura Bold and Extra Bold

[More info on Discogs]

For comparison: detail from London’s 1908 Tube map

A safety campaign for Transport for London, designed to spotlight potential hazards across the network. Led by Ali Augur at VCCP London, the design and art direction made the most of short, punchy headlines within a portrait format. To emphasise impact, Obviously was used for its variable weights. The font is robust even when skewed or angled, always holding its strength and clarity.

Illustrator Andrew Hudson was brought on board to create the textured and colourful visuals that run throughout the campaign, adding depth and personality to the message.

OnyFuture in use for the website and socials of UX & Product Design Week, organised by Future London Academy.

Opened by Sir Edwin Cornwall, M.P. Chairman of the London County Council, 10th March, 1906.

The opening of the Baker Street & Waterloo Railway, better known as the Bakerloo line, in 1906 was a milestone in the development of London’s Underground railways as it marked the inauguration of the first of the tube lines financed and constructed by the Underground Electric Railways of London group. The UERL was the vast, American backed, concern that had bought its way into London’s transport by effective purchase of the existing steam operated District Railway to electrify it, the construction of the power house at Lots Road, Chelsea, and the acquisition and construction of three tube railway schemes: the Baker St & Waterloo, the Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway and the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway. The first stages of the three tube railways, under construction since 1902/3, were to open in 1906/7 – a great relief to the cash strapped company who had financed them as it meant that at last passenger fares started to provide income.

The very smart booklet produced for the opening is in simple deckle edged card covers (similar to that for the opening of the Met’s Uxbridge Extension) and this copy is signed “Cecil G Page” or Paget. The script typeface is a German design first cast by the foundry of Benjamin Krebs Nachfahren in Frankfurt/Main in 1903 as Ridingerschrift. The small text is set in two widths of De Vinne, which was domestically available from Caslon.

Read more about the history of the Baker Street & Waterloo Railway and see more images from the brochure on Flickr.

InProgress (Production Type) is used for a site-specific installation at Southwark station, London, commissioned by Art on the Underground from British artist Linder.

Linder created a 85 meter long piece of photomontage titled The Bower of Bliss, which “is a poetic euphemism for birthplace, for womb, for place of origin.” It’s displayed as street-level billboards that wrap around the entire façade of the station.

The typography employs several of the special features included in InProgress, like the underlined glyphs in the lowercase, or the discretionary ligatures (e.g. for HO, OR, EE, AR, TH, ER), some of which take the form of stacked letters (DE). The Bower of Bliss is on view until January 2020.

The artwork is announced via a poster that is displayed in every London Underground station.

Poster Auctions International, Inc.:

Marty, who was mainly a fashion illustrator in the Art Deco style, by the 1930s had become a set designer for theater and film – and his talent in those arenas has clearly been reflected in these small panels for the London Underground, intended for display in the Tube carriages themselves. He created 14 of them between 1931 and 1934. [See more.]

The hand-drawn lettering is based directly on Johnston, the London Transport’s official typeface.