The International
Typographic Award for 2014 was awarded jointly to Studio MMkoehn’s Eros und
Thanatos Book designed by Maria Magdalena Koehn and Why Not Associates’ The
Comedy Carpet designed by Gordon Young.
The Comedy Carpet installed in Blackpool UK is
2,200 m² containing over 160,000 granite letters embedded into concrete.
The work is a collaboration of Gordon Young and Why Not Associates Studio. The
project which took five years to complete, gives visual form to jokes, songs
and catchphrases from past to the present. It grabs the attention of
different age groups and also tourists.
The manufacturing which was the most challenging part was led by Gordon who opened
his own factory to make something that has never be done before.
People really like the Comedy Carpet and connected with
it so much. One of the associate’s in Why not associates says, “I was just very
happy to see how the local people began to take ownership, and
that it became part of the new popular culture of Blackpool.” Although the
content is very British and foreigners would have difficulty understanding the
references, the Comedy Carpet had gained an incredible popularity in all over
the World.
The design is in three basic colors of black, blue
and red which makes the design simple but appealing, fun and easy to read. The
different scales used for the type, makes it visually interesting and the usage
of the different typefaces creates movement and excitement in the piece as
whole. Borders created boundaries and gave structure to the design. Also,
simple symbols such as stars, diamonds, circles, and hearts have been used to
fill empty spaces. The total product looks like a huge classified section on newspaper.
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