Drop shadows – up, down, left or right?

Yesterday evening I presented a talk for the Letter Exchange at The Artworkers Guild on Queen Square. The subject was The Signwriters of Old London and I shared with them my observations and research about some of the people and companies who created beautiful carved and gilded shop fascias or hand-painted ads on buildings. 

The Q&A after the talk was really good and one person asked about drop shadows on letters. He suggested that here in the UK we tend to apply the shadows on the other side to those he'd seen in Germany. I responded that I've seen this applied on both left and right sides here.  

Intrigued by this notion, and wondering if there were more signs dressing to the left or right, I've looked within my picture archive. Here follows a random selection of screenshots showing that there is indeed a winner.

I’ve grouped them into two sections. This first batch shows the 3D/drop shadow effect at the bottom right, making the letters look like they are standing out above us, as if we are looking up at them:

The next ones show the shadow falling to the left:

The drop shadow to the right wins with 20, compared to 6 to the left = approx 75% of the signs. However, I do notice that half of the latter section are post-war era. I wonder what that's about?!

But here's an oddity – at Lloyd's old dairy the name above the door has the drop shadow at bottom left, yet the script along the adjacent windows is the other way:

I think the drop shadow choice depends on the style of letters employed because the words/names need to be clearly legible. It was suggested last night that it was quicker and cheaper to produce the shadows from one direction which I think must be to the left because, with most letters having a vertical on the left side it is quicker/easier to achieve – for instance, using the Lloyds sign above as an example, if the shadows went the other way the internal of the vertical on the letter L would need to be rendered as well as small end of the bottom bar. Plus there's that curve on the D.

To illustrate that a shadow in any direction can produce different results, I have cobbled together these rudimentary examples, the bottom two showing the letters dropping down towards us:

What do you think?

A Ladbroke Grove ghostsign – a huge hidden gem that's hard to see

Within the entrance to Elgin Mews at the rear of The Elgin at 96 Ladbroke Grove which, btw, is an absolutely gorgeous example of a Victorian gin palace, there are some large letters painted on the wall.

Here's a screenshot of the Google map of the area:

Today there are residential properties along the mews, but up until the 1970s, there would have been small tradesmen here offering various services. The postal directories from 1899 through to 1910 show a range of businesses – a horse dealer, a dentist, a chimney sweep, a bath chair proprietor, a locksmith, a carman (that's a man with a van), an upholsterer, a billposter, a couple of builders and a french polisher.

In the mews entrance off Ladbroke Grove there are large letters on the left side. Here it is in eight sections. 

The sign is one long line of big white letters on a black strip. Due to the narrowness here it's not possible to get a better angle on it. At first, all I could make out was S. KER[something]. OUN....
I found it difficult to decipher because I couldn't tie up the letters I saw with any of the trades listed above. I wondered if KER was part of a company name/owner. Nope. Nothing tied up with the available info.

Then, taking shelter here one rainy day I had another good look at it, and the different lighting conditions helped me to ascertain that the full points are actually commas and it says:
TILES, KERBS, SURROUNDS
which means it's surely a sign for one of the builders, either Charles Halford or Frank Richards who were both here in 1915, the latter since at least 1910.

Other elements of the sign appear to have worn away over time – it surely would have shown the name of the company plus other products available, yet how this happened is beyond me seeing as this is very well protected from the elements.

I am also at a loss how anyone would have been able to see the sign from the road as it's only noticeable if you are approaching slowly from the South and, even then, not until you are almost at a level with it. Quick! Turn right now!

There doesn't appear to be any hints of a similar sign on the opposite wall for anyone approaching from the north/the station. There could well have been a sign at the eastern end of the mews, but long gone now. 

This sign features on my Portobello Ghostsigns walk – join me to find out more – see here 

The Conversation at St Martin's-in-the-Fields – coming together to talk about the world

St Martin’s-in-the-Fields continues to host “The Conversation”, an excellent series of interviews available in-person or from the comfort of your sofa on Tuesday evenings at 7pm through to the end of July. Some talks are within the church, some are in the crypt.  

I have, so far, attended three…

I found Harriet Walter* to be amazingly engaging – she spoke about her relationship with Shakespeare’s female characters and delighted us with readings from her book She Speaks! – very clever!

Amistead Maupin’s conversation was very well-attended – a wonderful mix of facts and fiction – I love how he reveals everything and nothing all at once. Last week I watched and listened attentively as Sarah Churchwell talked about Scarlett O’Hara and American politics, and I learned a lot.   Apologies for the out-of-focus pics – I was so engrossed that when I remembered to take pics I simply held up my arm and clicked, hence Harriet and Sarah are blurred.

*I’ve just realised that Harriet Walter isn’t shown on the poster thingy at the top, which I copied from their website. The same thing also appears on banners outside the church. The list of names ought to show these people: Jonathan Sumption, Oliver Bullough, Ali Smith, Jackie Morris & Robert McFarlane, Janina Ramirez and Andrea Wulf.

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