This is going to be a short and visual one – just me spotting typefaces, letters and old signs out and about – on a continuous journey. This first part is from Scotland and the Netherlands. It’s a short selection, kind of a reminder for myself to get into this habit again but also a bit of a taster of what’s to come.  Unfortunately lost some of my Fife ones so I have to go out again soon, but fortunately I see something new all the time. There are so many of these old signs.

This is a type of visual research that is not just educational but also very enjoyable and I strongly encourage every local or travelling wanderer to start looking at the landscape this way. There is a local history behind each one of them. I love that they are faded yet still there, reminders of the temporality of the human landscape, yet presenting us with some kind of continuity with the past. I would love to do one day a proper research into these signs, with some actual archive digging, but until then, enjoy these photos.