Developing an explanatory hypothesis for urban graphic heritage through the observation of physical traces

Figures & data

Figure 1. Fascia lettering for Relojeria Filiberto Leon. Photography: © 2014 Robert Harland.

Figure 2. Left – Itaú commercial sign atop the Conjunto Nacional mall on Avenida Paulista in São Paulo, Brazil, a listed building since 2005 for its historical and architectural heritage. Right – Farine Five Roses neon sign – an industrial sign in Montreal’s former industrial centre around the Lachine Canal. Photography: © 2010 Robert Harland.

Figure 3. Left – Ghirardelli commercial sign atop Ghirardelli Square, San Francisco, a formally recognized city landmark since 1970. Right – The Colgate Clock in Jersey City facing the Hudson River. Photography: © 2013 & 2014 Robert Harland.

Figure 4. Distinctive lettering on fascia panels in Bilbao, as featured in Atxaga Arnedo Koldo’s book Bilbao Tipográfico: Los Rótulos Comerciales y Otras Gráficas Urbanas (translated as Typographic Bilbao: Commercial signs and other urban graphics). Photography: © 2022 Robert Harland.

Figure 5. A selection of neon signs displaying a distinct aspect of Hong Kong’s twentieth-century visual culture through graphic design. Photography: © 2007 Robert Harland.

Table 1. Established and new domains concerned with the relationship between graphic form and landscape.

Graphic Landscaping (Pan, Harland, and Barnes 2022)	A synthesis of common linguistic, typographic, and semiotic landscape considerations of graphic forms through ‘graphic knowledge’
Typographic Landscaping (Järlehed and Jaworski 2015)	Interrelation between meaning making, social practice, writing systems, and typographic metaphor
Semiotic Landscape (Jaworski and Thurlow 2010)	The interaction and interrelation between written discourse and discursive modalities, visual discourse and spatial practice
Typographic Landscape (Silva Gouveia, Lena Farias, and Souza Gatto 2009).	Reading the urban environment through typography and lettering with the help of perception theory
Geosemiotics (Scollon and Scollon 2003)	The semiotic relationship between the social meaning and placement of signs
Linguistic Landscape (Landry and Bourhis 1997)	The study of visible writing systems

Figure 6. A graphic landscaping framework for aligning several disciplinary perspectives for the benefit of urban graphic heritage. Source: Pan, Harland, and Barnes 2022.

Figure 7. The Shanghai Bund. From top to bottom and left to right: View of a section The Bund; The landmark The Gutzlaff Signal Tower; Lo-relief of Chinese script and figures above the entrance to the Bank of China building; Commemorative plaque for The Bank of Communication Art Deco building; Reproduction lion statue outside the former Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank; Road sign for Zhongshan Road in the style of all Shanghai street nameplates; Map of The Bund displayed on the pedestrian wayfinding system. Photography: © 2017 to 2020 Robert Harland.

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