Deco Font

I thought I'd have a go at designing a Deco font. There are hundreds to be found all over the internet so I had to make a real effort to do something distinctive. hopefully the consistency of the 'rules' that I've applied to the letter design make this tall and slender alphabet that wee bit different:

Glasgow Transport Map (sneak peek)

This map of an integrated Greater Glasgow transport system is a project I've been working on for what seems like an age. It's still far from finished (lacking labels and a key etc.) but it is now - finally - all plotted out and I think I've been fairly successful in finding the right balance between 'real world' geography and the intuitive usability of diagrammatic mapping. It involves all of the conurbation's current surface rail and subway lines, in addition to a large number of projects (mostly the reinstatement of former routes) that have been mooted in the past few years; the world's third-oldest subway system finally gets an extension!

In addition to my absolute obsession with transit mapping and the work of Beck, Vignelli et al, this diagram is the product of my frustration at the lack of a contemporary map for Glasgow's commuter rail network, which is, even without the additions found here, a fairly substantial system. Ideally, I'd love the city to be served by a fully integrated S-Bahn style system centred on the 'Glasgow Crossrail' plan and a revived Glasgow Cross station (the southernmost interchange on the cut-out below).

I will hopefully bring you the finished product fairly soon. Until then, you'll have to make do with this bus replacement service!

Wedding Invite - Back Cover

Forming the back cover to the wedding invite (see below) I drew this wee thing. All very simple but I think it's quite effective - the couple's initials above the sharp contours of the Cuillin of Skye (where the groom proposed to the bride!)

Invite Maps

I was recently commissioned to design some invitations for a wedding with a mountains/maps theme. The completed booklets are a few pages long and these venue-finders form the centrepiece - both physically and stylistically.

The idea was to combine a useful and sufficiently-detailed map for the wedding guests (most of whom were travelling to the venue from outside Scotland) while maintaining a playful visual style; there's more than a little early 90s 8-bit video gaming in them thar hills!

The overview and local maps as they appear together in the invite:

Failte gu Alba:

From the 'Fair City' to the venue:

Central Belt detail:

Ferry from Belfast; kinda looks like Northern Ireland is coughing the boat to Scotland:

Galibier et Tourmalet (Tour de France, Tour de France)

In celebration of the ongoing centenary edition of Le Tour I have designed this. Bike on the flat, bike beginning an ascent, bike nearing the summit (think Mont Ventoux or one of the other famous cols of this great race), and bike descending at breakneck speed down the other side. Vive Le Tour:

'Le Géant de Provence' and a hazy Massif Central (or something like that):

Bus Ticket

Here is a bus ticket I designed for use at the wedding (see below). The fictional logo draws heavily on 1920s/30s transport design (wings, arrows, circles, blocky type etc.) but I'd expect that cherubs don't feature too regularly on the omnibus identities of that era. This whole wedding business made for a really fun design project:

Congratulations to the happy couple!

Wedding Invitation

I was asked to create a wedding invitation for some friends. Their big day will involve everyone piling on to a bus to travel between the church and the reception venue so I made this journey between sites the central theme of the invitation and ordered the key information within an abstract map:

Church:

Bus:

Marquee (the reception venue is home to some hungry pigs):

And here's the typeface I designed for the project. It's quite tall and all of the letters (with the exception of 'I') fit the same dimensions. It has no name: