Design Context

I decided to take a trip down to Granary Wharf and Clarence Dock to have a look at canal boats and any old warehouses that still had ghost signs painted on them...

I also thought I'd upload 2 pictures I took when I went to the Neubau Talk in Huddersfield, as they related to what I was looking into for COP..

From the canal walk...
We walked down through Hyde Park and Leeds uni, so I had a quick look at some inscriptions..







Bit of a weird Railway tower we found on our travels..





Some old ghost type on the side of an abandoned building... Barely visible!



Stray canal boat..


The Onion Bargee!!!


I found the canal notice interesting as it dates back to 1890s..


Bit of old type on the side of a rusty boat..


Another ghost sign, this time on the side of a Salem Church..



Some more type on the other side of the church too..


And some inscriptions on the front!



We came across the Tetley's warehouse, so had to take a pic!


Also, saw a really strange looking building..


Down by the canal and river now, saw some hand painted type across the river.. Unfortunately there weren't ANY canal boats docked at Granary Wharf, so it was a long walk onwards to Clarence Dock..


Clarence Dock! And LOADS of boats!









Luckily, the owner of Rebecca was outside his boat and he was happy enough to stop for a chat, he even invited us inside to have a look and talk about the boat!!


The man was really nice and answered loads of questions, he even found this booklet which had various sign painters who specialise in canal boat painting inside, so I took a pic of the info - thought that I could probably get in touch with some of these people..


He also told us about a free boat taxi that we could take back upstream, which saved us over an hour of walking!!


Tried to get a picture of this nice type on one of the canal boats whilst on the taxi boat, but it was hard to zoom in well..

Anyway, I found the experience really useful. It was good to be able to talk to an actual sign writer's client (the man who owned Rebecca, who unfortunately we didn't quite catch the name of). He told us a lot about canal boats and joiners etc, and explained how he thinks it's really important for sign writers to keep up their businesses, as there is still a market for them, be it niche.

He also told us about when they bought the boat and how every single person who worked on it had been documented, but only the sign writer wasn't noted in the documents, which is a real shame! They don't really get much credit for what they do!!

He also explained how he's currently in the process of speaking to a local sign writer, as they need some touch ups on the paint on one side of the boat, as over the years the boat always docks on a particular side (due to the doors being on the left), so the sun always bleaches that side of the boat's paint work!


Also went past a bit of ghost signage on the side of a building near Kirkstall Lane a few days ago.. Thought it was quite interesting as you could tell that they had used the signage for advertising, particularly newspapers..