Johnston Typeface

Periscope was invited by Transport for London to design an artwork to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Edward Johnston’s typeface. We researched the origins and evolution of the typeface, Johnston’s take on what makes a successful typeface and the relationship that the typeface has to London and Londoners.

From this we developed a proposal for a wall of 3-dimensional cast brass letters. The letter wall combined the calligraphy of the hand drawn originals to the more refined Johnston 100 typeface, and utilised Johnston’s own words to describe the typeface.

The project was sited at Farringdon Station, which with the completion of the Elizabeth line in 2018 was one of the first stations to showcase the Johnston 100 font throughout the station - making it the perfect location for a lasting and delightful tribute to the continuing legacy of the lettering of Edward Johnston.