Typinglot

Abstract

TypingLot is an ongoing project about urban typography. Project consists of a collection of type photographs showcased online at http:// typinglot.com and a software which allows its users to typeset by using the letters in this collection. There are more than thousand type photographs in the collection taken in urban environments mostly in the New York and New Jersey area. New Orleans, San Francisco, Helsinki, Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir are some other cities happen to be presented with a small number of types in this collection. TypingLot enrolls amateur type design in a serious manner, thus acknowledging that society’s visual and material culture is not solely the product of professional design activity. Also, at an ideological level street is beautiful. What makes the typographic life on the street more beautiful than a designer or typographer’s screen are the transformations of type due to material being used, or the texture, or mis-applications, implementations by the crafts man. More specifically about this project, slight bulges caused by the photographic distortions are also added to these imperfections.