The colors! The pinwheel! The weathered type! What’s not to love about this photo of a drive thru sign for a Charlie’s Mongolian Barbeque taken by designer and photographer Jesse Southerland.

In this photo of Brighton Certified Cold Fur Storage the white type pops against the dark red bricks, and I love the way a script font lies in between the condensed sans serifs. The script font is a nice one and I like the truncated top of the lower-case f.

This Co. (from the words Sacramento Coca-Cola Bottling Co.) is a nice crop because it is still highly recognizable as part of Coca-Cola’s name. The colors in the photo are muted and that gives the lettering a syrupy color that reminds me even more of coke. The little curl of the metal arm that pokes into the sky is similar to the curls in the type, and is a nice way to tie the bottom half and the top half together.

This photo of a word cropped to read as AUTO almost looks like a landscape painting. There are many beautiful layers in the background with the trees, hills, fog, white capped mountain, and intense blue sky. In front of all of it is a bright red and bold word with a natural drop shadow that may be obscuring some natural beauty, but at the same time interacting with nature in a beautiful way.

The lettering on the wall for Ziegfeld Theatre is another one of white text on bricks, but this time the brick is a beige color. You might think this would result in minimal contrast, but in this case the dark sides of the deep extrusion give the letters plenty of contrast while the white on beige scheme evokes classiness. I love the little bird’s nest that seems to be in the bottom of the lowercase f.

The sign for Beauty World is apparently old and falling apart, and you can tell that even in its prime it wasn’t exactly the most beautiful lettering (very strange “A” and “Y”). The inclusion of the old and crusty looking lot really reinforces the sense of irony. However, the double irony in this is that capturing this scene in a nice photo has now brought beauty to it in my opinion.

This photo of a thrift shop’s sign is just really nice to look at. I love the rusty white letters against the vertically striped, faded teal wall. The type is very cute and quirky itself, and I like how the vertically extended letter forms interact with the vertical stripes of the background. I especially love how the counters on the lowercase “f” disappear, the bar on the “t” stretches out over the “h”, and the tail on the “p” goes straight through it.

This 202 address on a house is a stark contrast with the thrift store lettering above. The numbers are very geometric and balanced, the white and the black are both very clean, and the horizontal lines create a grid for the type to sit on. Even the structure of the photo is minimal and clean, whereas the thrift store photo had an odd shadow in the corner, and upper and lower layers peeking in around the main wall. Both do a great job of matching the style of the lettering with the composition of the photo.

The sign for Jellico Motel has those nice generic black letters on white panels and the blue rectangle with the word “restaurant” in white neon lights. It reminds me of countless forgettable motels along the highways in America. The inclusion of the scenery shows how a generic motel sign gets its individuality through it’s surroundings. I love how the foggy background reminds of those early mornings when you are checking out of the motel before most people are even awake because you have an adventure to continue.

Here’s another photo with a sense of irony, the broken down neon letters from Las Vegas that spell out the word “GLAM“. There is nothing glamorous about the discarded and beat-up letters, but perhaps it is an unintentional comment on the effect living the Vegas lifestyle eventually has on people.

I just love this photo of the word “Meetings” for it’s subtle imperfections. The washed out color, the texture on the wall and letters, the erratic paneling on the wall, and the horrible kerning all provide an interesting contrast with the cleanliness and structure usually associated with Helvetica. As a bonus, I didn’t notice until recently that this photo was taken by Antonio of AisleOne. He’s been talking about getting an SLR soon, and I can’t wait to see what he does with that!

I have decided to try something new. Instead of posting a mega post of typographic photography once in a blue moon, I’ll feature each photo separately so that I can post these images more frequently and they each get their own spotlight. I’ve created a separate category for typography photography so that essentially there is an ever growing collection in one place that can be browsed at your convenience.

The above photo starts off with a great 3-d metal rendering of the word “Bloom”, but the shadow it creates really makes for the fantastic composition. I love how the shadow seems to crawl up the edge of the physical word.

I thought this creative use of typography in architecture was breathtaking. It’s looks like some sort of poem, and the words seem to dip into the surface of the wall and emerge in a flowing rhythm. Typophile user ngocngo noticed this on a new building and I’m glad he took the time to photograph it and share it.

This hand lettering on a door for a “Microanalysis Research and Consulting Chemist” made me laugh. It’s such a whimsical style and the pink paint adds to the fun. It’s the exact opposite of what I would expect to see for such a company.

Seen in dj denim’s photostream, which contains a plethora of this type of found typography and hand lettering.

As usual, I’m starting off with my favorite of the bunch. This hand painted “A” is obviously poorly rendered, yet somehow I’m still drawn to it. Something about the gimpy looking left leg and the blotchy paint coat is endearing. This “A” isn’t pretty, but it has personality, and it’s boldly doing the best it can to be an “A”.

I thought this photo of a calculated and modern “R” was a nice contrast to the first one. The colors and compositional layouts are similar, yet the styles are on complete opposite ends of the spectrum. This “R” is strictly business, yet sleek and stylish. While I like to cheer for the quirky underdog, I still greatly appreciate the beauty of pristine lines and curves on a smooth surface only broken up by soft shadows.

I just couldn’t resist posting this photo of a rainbow colored number 5 piñata. I love how it’s just floating out of it’s normal context in such a bleak environment. It almost feels like it is a still frame from a really old Sesame Street clip.

This photo of what looks like an abandoned French café has beautiful colors and intriguing letter forms. I like how the broken capital “E” looks like a mini “F” that is floating upwards. The overall restrained and lo-fi feel of the photo compliments the graceful decay of the building.

I love the effect of neon tubing inlaid into a tiled wall on this sign for The Coronet. It creates a strange feel that is classy and playful at the same time, and makes you feel like you are looking at an illustration on a vintage magazine cover instead of a photo. The letters themselves are also very interesting in their shapes and their varying lengths.

This photo of the numbers 842 on a wall really pops out at the viewer. The way the wall is so gray and textured combined with the washed out, super white, numbers makes for a very dynamic composition and draws the eyes to the shapes of the numbers instantly.

Another one of my personal favorites is this photo of a back-lit beverage menu in a dark room . I love the mood it creates due to the lighting where only the lighted menu and lamp are visible within the darkness of the place. The font is very cute and perfect for words like “hot chocolate” and “chai”. I also think the softness of the focus goes greatly with such friendly letterforms.

This photo of a building that says 13 and Werkstoffe (materials) really captures the mechanical, and rigid structure of the type design. The colors are different and eye capturing, yet strictly business in nature. The building design seems to form a strict grid for the type to sit in. I love how the photographer stuck with the style of the design and kept the photo composition centered and straight on.

It’s interesting that the word photographed here is “counter” because it can be used as a typographic term for the inside parts of a letter’s shape. I’m not sure if it was the photographer’s intention, but to me it made me think about the negative spaces within the photograph’s composition. It seems like the white wall behind the black shadow shapes makes for a photo full of “counters”, but maybe I’m just being overly nerdy. In any case, it is still a lovely composed shot.

“Things Change” is the title given to this photo, and I think it a great one. This photo is of pristine quality, with great composition, and very high detail in the texture and color. I also love the way the remnants of the old version of the letters are still visible behind the new ones. It seems to tell a short story of some stubby little numbers that were doing the job fine, but then one day got replaced by some new flashy and sleek numbers. Although the new numbers are definitely classier looking, the old ones probably had more character after all the years it took to leave a mark so prominent on the wall. I feel as if they were like senior citizens that were herded into a nursing home so that they wouldn’t get in the way of the new generation’s progress.

That may seem like an over the top feeling to get from a simple set of numbers on a wall, but that is how type affects humans whether they realise it or not. Type is language, and language is life. This is why I love typography.

Designer/Photographer Douglas Wilson has just uploaded a large Flickr set featuring Polaroid photos of found typography. It consists of mostly hand drawn type on signs, some printed type, and a nature photos thrown in occasionally to provide some nice interludes. They are scanned in sets of four, which makes for some interesting compositions.

I was actually just thinking about posting a new volume of my Typography Photography series, but I just saw this set and I know it’s going to be all over the design blogs this week, so I’d be smart to hold off until next week.

“Capri Lanes” is my current favorite of this bunch. The muted colors of the photo enhance the overall mood of the type. Everyone knows that sun damaged pastel look that reflects an almost sad memory of times when kids would rather play on bumper cars than play video games. I especially like that this is available in a size big enough to be my desktop wallpaper (which it currently is).

This is a photo of the word “Alaska” on an old railroad boxcar. The distressed white on the lush textured red is beautiful. I find it interesting how the washing out and fading evokes a strong sense of the effects of the elements on the paint, it’s quite fitting for the word Alaska.

Black and white was the perfect choice for this photo of the word “Amusements“. The text is laid out in a playful bold black letter type and each letter is bound in a white box. The photograph composition successfully plays off of the theme of black and white boxes through high contrast and creative cropping in order to complement the type treatment.

The words say “I have great desire” and the fantastic title that the photographer gave the photo is “Me too, pal. Me too.” The choice to set this personal phrase in such an impersonal typeface as Helvetica is interesting to me. It creates a tension between the meaning of the words and the way they are displayed that gets the viewer to stop for a minute and really think about what it means to them. I love how the repetition of colors and lines tie the top and bottom half of the photo together without interrupting the generous negative space around the type.

This photo is called “Distressed Type“. The letters used to say “Ticket Office” but somehow most of them got knocked down and the others are struggling to stay upright. When type is made into 3-d objects they seem to take on little lives, as if they are puppets or stuffed animals. With their clean white appearance they seem like they have fallen far before their time. Call me a nerd, but I almost feel sad for these once proud letters.

I’m not sure what the meaning is of this giant “is…“, but maybe that’s the point. What I really like about this photo is the contrast. The big, white, smooth, and curvy type really pops out from the small, brown, rough, and rectangular brick that is lies on. Also, I like seeing the way neon lighting tubes look in the daytime where you can see the curved tubes inside the letter forms.

The rounded square shapes of the numbers for the address year the building was built, 1938, seem to echo the architecture of the building. The brilliance of this photograph lies in the way the blue sky is allowed to just peek in over the top of the building. The blue of the sky is almost exactly the same shade as the numbers and it balances the photo in an interesting way.

I don’t know what “Yöklubi” means, but this image is still striking on a visual level. The rubbed texture of the distressed wood background and the twisted metal of the type and flourishes would normally scream grit and brawn, yet the flowing forms of the lines somehow create an overall elegant feel to the type installation. The detail in this photo is amazing.

The parking lot at Disney’s Epcot Center is telling us to “Create“. I love how they used a format that is typically telling us negative things like “STOP” and “NO PARKING” and wrote something positive and inspirational. The parking lines also make for a great photo composition.

Finally, I really liked this photograph of a highway sign that points to the city of Fate, Texas. The name of the city is odd and makes for a surreal looking scene. It seems weird to be seeing such an abstract notion signed on a factual informational sign. The dusk backdrop, the leafless trees, the brown grass, and the view through the black dots of a tinted car window create a thick atmosphere and obvious mood. There is no question about the uneasy feeling that the word “fate” creates in this photo, and it’s a perfect example of how great photography can reinterpret typography.

{above photo by David John Earls, of typographer.org}