Utility Markings of Oxford Street
Visual Research
June - August 2022, Graphic Design
Overview: Photographic and digital experiments of utility marketing of Oxford Street as Visual Research for an intervention based graphic project.
The Brief: These experiments are curated from projects that made up my Advanced Graphics course at UNSW. The task involves selecting a place (I chose Oxford Street, Sydney), conducting visual research and designing graphic interventions to communicate a developed narrative. The work needed to demonstrate advanced graphic design skills in typography and image marking.
The Outcome: After exploring Oxford Street several times I became fascinated by the spray paint on the pavement. I learnt that this spray paint is utility markings in which colour, lines and numbers carry specific meanings and are essential to public and worker safety during construction as they label unseen hazards beneath the street. Through experiments, I reimagined these markings to carry meaning from the original colour coding and create new unique lines and typefaces to compare the physical underlying infrastructure to the foundational human stories that built the culture of Oxford Street as they passed through Taylor Square.
Presentation and Deliverables
Visual Research Elements:
Typography, Crosswalk and Wayfinding Narrative Interventions:
Development Process
Photograph overview
I visited Oxford Street a few times. On my second visit, I noticed the utility marking. I took 391 photographs on my up-and-back walk, taking great notice of the graffiti (construction markers) all over the ground.
Experimental Image Making
Using my photos from Oxford Street I explored the types of symbols and colours of spray paint by creating a series of different tracings. I noticed that most of the lines were direction based.
Image Making Experiment
I decided to take one of my utility markings outlines and experiment with changing the lines. The original drawing is on the left. I altered it with the middle drawing to be very stylised and geometric, and on the right, the line form is very free and very organic. I felt this was more fitting for Oxford Street's character. It prompted my thinking surrounding my graphic language and how it can tell an oxford street narrative with line and type.
Custom Typography
While designing my graphic interventions I was required to use custom type. I dedicated some time to completing my own typography set for the project with three versions.
- The first is letters and numbers from the utility markings on Oxford Street.
- The second is this type in a "flowing" form.
- The third is stylised and rigid.
- The first is letters and numbers from the utility markings on Oxford Street.
- The second is this type in a "flowing" form.
- The third is stylised and rigid.
