Spotted this curious old advertising sign in Brixton Road, London, today. It’s just across the road from Workspace’s new Kennington Park HQ. Here we’re working with office refurb experts Faithdean plc to transform the interiors with frosted window vinyls and digital wallpaper, plus create and implement the wayfinding.

Looks like the sign – and its disturbing message – are about to give up the ghost. Just as many of the fans of this brand of cigarette did. (A little detective work shows that it was Craven A.)

You’ll find a lot more old hand-painted signs at The History of Advertising Trust.

And if you need hand-painting, window and wall graphics in vinyl, wallpaper designed and made to measure or wayfinding for your own interiors or signage project, give Glyphics a call on 020 7739 7818

That’s the story behind this fascinating little news clip from the BBC’s David Sillito. So what type type are you?

Typeface guru, Simon Garfield reckons there are around 100,000 fonts available to choose from online these days.

Pick the wrong one and you could give yourself a digital personality you really don’t like.

Did you know we use this term in the vinyl sign business?

We have to pick out all the vinyl bits we don’t want when we apply the pre-cut vinyl sheet to a substrate and we call it ‘Weeding”! We do it all by hand using a scalpel. So think of us when we have to pick out all the negative shapes on some 20pt lettering!!

Do kids still get slates at school to practise their letters and nurture budding Picassos? Using a chalk to make your mark has to be the best kind of instant messaging. It’s also one of the oldest. Even the cavemen did it. So we think every 21st century grown-up will get a kick from this fab blackboard vinyl. It’s matt black with all the appearance, texture and characteristics of the blackboard you knew and loved in the classroom. It’s also self-adhesive so it’s easy to self-install, cut to any shape you choose, write on with ordinary chalk and wipe clean with a damp cloth.

So why bother with all the mess and hassle of painting with blackboard paint? Contact us now for a free sample and get an instant effect.

Visitors to the hidden courtyard HQ of design agency The Partners are being welcomed by an eye-provoking new art form.

The iron bar gates at the entrance to their Smithfield enclave have just been transformed by Glyphics to carry The Partners’ brand. And the optical trickery involved is inspiring lots of head-scratching and “How have they done that…?” moments for passers-by.

From a distance, the words ‘The Partners’ and the typographic brace look solid. Get up close and it’s clear that the fluorescent pink and white vinyls have been cleverly designed and cut and then wrapped round each metal bar. It means that even when the gates are wide open or ajar, you can still read the name.

Remember the legendary alphabet gates created by graphic design master Alan Fletcher for his Notting Hill studio? That spirit lives on here – as design icon spotters can see by heading to Greenhill Rents, Cowcross Street, London EC1.

Calligraphy could be just the ingredient you need to give a distinctive new flavour to your next graphic design or interiors project. That was the take-away message for everyone at our ‘Spice up your type’ Workshop on Thursday 24 March 2011. (Thanks guys for making it such a success.)

We had the internationally renowned calligrapher Satwinder Sehmi on hand to show us just how it’s done and to get the creative juices flowing.

Like to discuss how you can use calligraphy in a project? Imagine it on walls, shop fronts, signage, digital wallpaper and menus – and let’s talk: 020 7739 7818.

Couldn’t be with us for this Workshop? Don’t worry. We plan more on other crafts soon. And be sure to take a look at our calligraphic front window at 75 Leonard Street, London EC2 right now.

England’s biggest penguin pool opens today – Friday 27 May 2011 – with signage by Glyphics.

Designed by the team at Here Design and produced and installed by Glyphics.

Penguin Beach at London Zoo re-creates a South American coastline, complete with a colony of Humboldt and Macaroni penguins.

And the inhabitants are the design inspiration for the entrance signs. Glyphics have created and installed a line of dancing penguins in metal. One dives for a fish.

“We came up with the idea of using blue and silver shimmer discs to give the impression of water” explains Glyphics’ Brian Heppell. “That way you get movement as well as sparkle. The words Penguin Beach are in varnished plywood”.

This is just the latest in a number of signage projects commissioned from the Glyphics team by the Zoological Society of London. You can also see our work in the Zoo’s Butterfly Paradise, Out Of Africa and in the flock of bats we designed and made for the staircase leading to the Night Life zone of the Rainforest Life exhibit.

Need graphics and signage for your new venture, outdoors or in? Get in touch with Glyphics on 020 7739 7818.

Or call in at 75 Leonard Street, London EC2, and p-p-pick up a Penguin biscuit while we chat (subject to availability…).

A bit late for anyone to make a visit but I thought it might be nice to show this beautiful old lettering exposed towards the top of Brick Lane, London E1 when a new fascia was being installed (not by us!) I’ve no idea what the shop was, or what the lettering said, as it was partly covered over. It was a year or so back and it’s been covered over or maybe removed since.

A bit late for anyone to make a visit but I thought it might be nice to show this beautiful old lettering exposed towards the top of Brick Lane, London E1 when a new fascia was being installed (not by us!) I’ve no idea what the shop was, or what the lettering said, as it was partly covered over. It was a year or so back and it’s been covered over or maybe removed since.

A hand-gilded ring by Glyphics shines out over the latest restaurant venture by chef Yotam Ottolenghi in London’s West End. Opened just last week, Nopi – so-called because it’s NOrth of PIccadilly – is designed to be “a destination, a bit like the Wolseley, where you can pop in at any time of day and feel the energy and vibe” according to Ottolenghi, described as”Man of the moment” in the ‘Sunday Times’, 20 February 2011.

The Glyphics team worked as signage consultants to London agency Here Design: the name behind the new restaurant’s branding. We created elegant, deep-cut lettering in black metal with the ‘O’ of Nopi in gold leaf, for the facade itself. Plus an innovative solution for a fine golden ring as a projecting sign. It’s so delicately designed and fixed that it appears to float. But it’s also built for whatever the weather throws at it. This too has been finished in gold leaf by our hand-gilding expert.

See the result at the new restaurant in Warwick Street, Soho, London W1, just behind Aquascutum in Regent Street. Or on Nopi’s blog. And read more about Nopi here: www.nopi-restaurant.com

Planning a new restaurant? Get in touch to get Glyphics on your team: www.glyphics.co.uk

You’ll spot a transformation on the 5th Floor with the arrival of an oh-so-cool Gelupo Gelateria, fresh from their success in Archer Street, Soho. It’s a pop-up ice cream parlour with great graphics by Here Design, created by Glyphics and installed by us overnight last night. Catch a cone from now until 3 July 2011. Just follow our wolf’s pawprints from the top of the escalator and the express lift. Need graphics and signage for your new restaurant or store, pop-up or permanent? Give Glyphics a call on 020 7739 7818.