Once returning home and
reflecting on my observations so far, it was clear that my main interest was
the relationship between public transport information and Preston. This
interest was clearly partially influenced by my need to travel to and around
the city as an outsider, but mostly originally motivated by the magnitude of
the Bus Station and its signage.
The point of most interest to me,
regarding the Bus Station signage, was the missing letter parts and the traces
of old signage (such as the pasted ‘Cafeteria’ labelling on top of the original
‘Snackbar’ sign).
There were clearly 2, interlinked,
aspects that needed to be looked into moving on from these thoughts:
Firstly I wanted to research other lost
descriptions within Preston transport information over time, including
lost travel destination descriptions and transport methods.
Secondly, thinking that I
primarily wished to reinvent these lost places using today’s signage methods, I
wanted to research the modernist roots of today’s transport signage. This
seemed especially apt given these apparent links between Preston and modernist
typography i.e. the use of Helvetica and Swiss design in the Bus Station and
the premiere of Britain’s motorway signage in 1958. (Furthermore the Train
Station's signage was silently shouting at me each time I passed through
there.)
