Category Archives: Built Environment

Graphic commons: A memory drift

Date: 18.05.2025Distance: 4 milesSteps: 9150Start: 11:50Ground covered: Town centre and feeder streets It’s been a while. Four hours to kill in the East Midlands gave me time to visit a town I lived in for five years in the 1980s, exactly 40 years ago. The intention wasn’t nostalgia, but that naturally occurred as memories jarredContinue reading “Graphic commons: A memory drift”

Ultra-processed graphics

When colleagues bought me Chris van Tulleken’s Ultra-Processed People as a recovery read while I was off work recently, I didn’t expect a book about food to have so many of its pages dedicated to graphic design. But alongside advertising and marketing, visual communication is mentioned enough times for me to liberally tab many of its pagesContinue reading “Ultra-processed graphics”

Graphic commons: transmission

I found this tape in the shape of a cross on the floor of a Waitrose store at an M1 service station last weekend. Such yellow and black tape is typically synonymous as a health & safety hazard warning for when a surface is unsafe, and used “for excavation, trip hazards, low hanging objects andContinue reading “Graphic commons: transmission”

Graphic commons: make do and mend

Getting out and about in recent weeks has bought a renewed attention on my part to the graphic commons, and in particular, road markings. I noticed a few ‘make do and mend’ type repairs to road markings over the last year on some of my constitutionals, but their prevalence has only really struck me recently.Continue reading “Graphic commons: make do and mend”

Question answered

I attended an online talk last night about the Festival of Britain, hosted by the Twentieth Century Society. Delivered by Geoffrey Hollis and supported by Elain Harwood, there were some fascinating photographs shown of London’s South Bank, and background information given on many of the architectural details of the structures and buildings constructed for theContinue reading “Question answered”

Constitutionals

Since I wrote Graphic commons: Government sanctioned dérives, I have started to upload photos taken on my daily #coronawalks to a dedicated Instagram feed called Constitutionals. It features much more of a variety of observations than just the graphic or typographic, as written about here, and is more typical of my usual Instagram feed. Depending onContinue reading “Constitutionals”

Graphic commons: Government sanctioned dérives

Making the most of the ‘sanctioned’ time I am allowed out to exercise during the UK government’s coronavirus pandemic ‘lockdown’, I have been drifting through my neighbourhood on a daily basis for the last week. Despite the awkwardness of swapping sides of the road every time I see someone coming in my direction, this hasContinue reading “Graphic commons: Government sanctioned dérives”

Aesthetics of convenience

In the first of a series of publications that investigate different aspects of the graphic commons, Aesthetics of Convenience explores the vinyl window displays of convenience stores. Through a photographic and textual discussion of how these ‘little and often’ shop window displays affect human behaviour and environmental ambiences, the paper seeks to encourage a discussion aboutContinue reading “Aesthetics of convenience”

Graphic commons: Tunnel and peripheral vision

Distance: 3.7 miles Steps: 8113 Start: 06:25 Ground covered: Feeder roads into and out of Ipswich town centre; pedestrianised shopping precincts; town centre. It has been a while since I last did a dedicated graphic commons walk; 2017 in fact. More recent graphic commons posts have mainly been about walks taken as part of otherContinue reading “Graphic commons: Tunnel and peripheral vision”