Shard

The Shard is the tallest building in the UK and the second tallest building in Europe. We ventured their one night, and it is truly amazing. Everything inside is very high class and fancy. You can't get into the bars or restaurant without nice clothes. It was a big change from our not-so-nice housing that we've had on this trip. The design of the building is really interesting and unique, with the top coming to a point with shards that don't connect- hence the name The Shard. The view from the 32nd floor was absolutely astounding. I was able to see the set up of beautiful London, and it made me really appreciate how the city chose to build out instead of up.  Having very few high rise building looks much more classy and elegant. The city is gorgeous at night. The view from The Shard is one I will always remember.

o2

As my adventures in London are sadly coming to an end, my friends and I are doing as much as possible to make the most of our last week. We decided to go on a gondola ride across the river and we had a blast! The gondola happened to be right next to the O2, which was really interestingly designed.  The dome encompasses are large array of restaurants and bars, as well as a movie theater and of course the stadium for performances and concerts.  Everything is bright and colorful, with unique lighting and simple but modern typefaces throughout.  I also found "Sky Studios" which I of course had to get a picture of! The colors were yellow, orange and pink, with modern lettering. If I was to design a sign, I would make something like that, which I thought was also really cool. Overall, the design in the O2 is definitely something to see.

I AMsterdam

This weekend I went to the most beautiful place I have ever been - Amsterdam in the Netherlands.  The culture in Amsterdam is fascinating. Nearly everything is accepted, with everyone having relaxed attitudes and a happy lifestyle. The canals are absolutely amazing. They go throughout the city and everywhere you look you can see people in their boats just having a good time.  The design of the city is very interesting since it is built around the canals, with a central station and hotels and shops around the outside. We were luck enough to have some amazing whether as well. The two days went by way too fast - but at least now I can say I've explored (and been to clubs and a music festival!) in one of the most unique places of the world.  My favorite part of this trip <3

Girls Just Want to Have Fun

During my London adventures so far this week, I have seen some very interesting signage and typeface.  While relaxing with some friends at a fancy little nail bar called London Grace, I noticed a sign that was particularly fitting for the occasion. The sign was a simple blue and white, which fit with the girly and posh aspects of the nail bar while also not being distracting from the atmosphere.  The typeface was a mixture of thin and thick serif types that gave the feeling of a classy and clean place.  "Lacquer & liquor" was also the perfect text for the occasion. 
The second typeface that stood out to me was some I came across at the end of our Typeface Safari in Dalston.  The words "Chicks Knife Fight" were black on a glass door and used two types of fonts.  Chicks was in a bolder, decorative slab serif. "Knife Fight" is in a bolder, more script type font. It caught my attention because the fonts almost seem like they should be reversed. The knife fight is in a girly font, with chicks being in a tougher font. The contrast and simple color was an interesting contradiction, just one of many discovered during my London adventures. 

Ascot

This week I was lucky enough to go to the most amazing place in England: Ascot Racecourse.  Filled with not only beautiful horse but beautiful design as well, Ascot is a place I will truly never forget and am extremely grateful for the chance to go.  Some of the signage around Ascot particularly got my attention. First, there was the main "Ascot: Welcome to the Racecourse" sign. While the design is very simple, it is very elegant and fits Ascot well.  The typography is a san serif type, with a mixture of thicks and thins within each letter. The typeface is ideal for the setting and was able to maintain a somewhat "royal" feel.  The colors were also very well placed, with dark blue on light grey, and white on dark blue. The second sign that got my attention was a "Bar 1 Ascot" logo on a bar close to the racecourse.  The typeface had one consistent thickness throughout and was a soft yellow color. The type also had double cross bars in each of the As and also had varying ascender heights.  While all the letters were capitalized, the o was smaller and had a higher baseline than the other letters. Overall, the the sign was very unique, yet still maintained a quaint feel for Ascot.

Beautiful Brighton

While some of my flatmates were able to travel to the beautiful town of Brighton earlier in the trip, I was finally able to go on the 4th of July. I was pretty tired when I got there but soon woke up when I realized how gorgeous and unique Brighton really is! The first thing that struck me was the design of the sign saying "Welcome to Brighton"  at the train station. Blue, purple, and pink are my favorite colors when they are all together, so the sign grabbed my attention right away. The fun typography also caught my eye as it showed that Brighton is just a fun, happy, beachy town. With great food and a great atmosphere, I had an amazing 4th of July there!
As we were walking around and around all the streets of Brighton, I also spotted an interesting piece of street art. "Brighton Fringe" was painted in a deep purple, with squared and capitalized lettering that gave the art a feeling of confidence.  The art used only four main colors and was very blocky, but seemed to show the music culture with signing and guitar, while also showing a girl running and likely trying to catch up with friends. Overall, I thought the art was simple yet attention grabbing with a special street-art design. Along with the fantastic atmosphere, the art and typography I found in Brighton certainly made a positive impact on my experience there.

Arch is Bomb

This week we took some excruciatingly long walking field to some beautiful monuments and museums.  One day it was 95 degrees outside and we traveled about 10 miles to get to three main places. While the history we learned got a little blurred for me personally, I absolutely loved the architecture. I have always seen the breath taking design of European buildings in movies and such, but it is completely different seeing it in real life.  The first piece that was truly life changing to see was the ceiling in the Banqueting House. The level of detail the story within the paintings is something never see in the United States.  The way the ceiling was designed as an artistic masterpiece all in itself is something absolutely worth experiencing and appreciating. What also amazed me was the outside architecture of the British Museum. While we did not stay as long as we would have liked, and will definitely go back, the design is something I think about when I remember Greek and Roman history. The level of detail, precision, and mathematic accuracy involved in designing a building like this is something I will remember forever. The beauty seen here is beauty to be honored and appreciated. Looking forward to seeing more in the coming weeks.

Art is a Creation

 While going on our trip to the Museum of Brands we stumbled upon an adorable art gallery in Notting Hill. The town itself is absolutely adorable, with colorful little houses, town-home/flat style as usual in London, that have a quaint yet intriguing feeling about them. This art gallery was no exception. There were two art pieces that particularly stood out to me. The first one was a bold yet interesting word collage of sorts.  With splashes of color, the piece said "Art cannot be criticized because every mistake is a new creation." This was very interesting to me as it not only said something about art but of life. You can make mistakes but without mistakes nothing new would ever happen and we might miss many unique opportunities.  The next piece of art was more comical.  The picture was pretty simple, with pink, white and black as the only colors and two grandmas knitting in rocking chairs. The funny part is that one granny is knitting a sweater that says "Punks Not Dead" and the other is knitting a sweater that says "Thug for Life." This put a smile on my face because it showed that no matter how old we get, we cannot forget to stay young in our minds. It hit me personally as college is soon coming to an end, but this reminded me to keep being me no matter where life takes me and no matter how old I get. Overall, I am very glad to have found this art gallery as it helped bring to light some simple yet important life mottos.

Make it Right

 During the first week traveling around in London, I began to notice a multitude of inspirational signs. I was particularly interested in a painted statue that said "Change Your Life." The typeface of the words and the way the words were positioned in the mouth of the statue gave it a very strong, loud effect.  While a little too lacking in soft qualities for my taste, it was very cool to see and definitely made an impression on me.  Another sign I noticed, while waiting for the Tube none the less, was an advertisement that said "When stuff sucks, make it right." I found this particularly interesting as the typeface is very simple and the sign has a white background. I have seen this also on TV commercials while in London, and I found it mildly inspirational on there as well. All in all, I found some interesting signs this week and really felt like they could be quite purposeful if I just stopped to really appreciate the underlying message.

It's Beautfiful Here

My first few days in London have been full of gorgeous landscape and architecture.  We have spent a lot of time in Hyde Park, with a pond, walking trails, and Kensington Gardens and Castle to see.  The design of the castle, from the outside, it very elegant and has a feeling of importance.  The gardens are also incredibly beautiful and clearly designed for someone of high authority.  We walk all around London it seems, and our time in Hyde Park is no different.  The park is absolutely stunning and I wish things like this were more common in America.  Great start to the trip!