MELISSA PRICE
In the latest issue of Gym Class Magazine we caught up with London-based designer Melissa Price. She’d recently completed a self-initiated book celebrating London’s Barbican estate. It’s well ace.
In the Q&A Melissa mentioned another project she was working on… an ode to the UK’s M1 motorway. Excitingly, this latest book, called M1: 50 years, is now available. Here’s what Melissa has to say about it:
“M1: 50 years is a hand-screenprinted 20 page book about the M1 motorway, published to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its opening in 1959.
The book is a collection of drawings of the motorway’s junctions seen from above. I became interested in the graceful curves and shapes of the junctions and found that there are huge variations, from the simplest to those with multiple flyovers and roundabouts. It was an interesting challenge to take a subject that isn’t normally considered to be aesthetically pleasing and find a graphic angle on it.
Reading up on the history of motorways I found it very interesting that although they are generally seen as ugly and devoid of any aesthetic consideration, in fact their shape is carefully considered to give drivers a safe and visually simulating experience. The earliest sections of the M1 had several long straight stretches that were later discovered to have a soporific effect on drivers. In later motorway construction sweeping curved shapes were introduced after it was recognised that a changing perspective and vista helps drivers stay alert, improving safety.
The book was also a chance to celebrate the graphic identity of the UK motorway system developed by Jock Kinnear and Margaret Calvert in the late 50s. The typeface used is Transport, a ‘friendlier’ version of Akzidenz Grotesk developed as part of the UK road signage system, and the book is printed on blue paper stock to echo the blue background employed for all motorway signage.
The illustrations are accompanied by a full listing of the destinations that are signed from each junction, from South to North. The book has a short cover in paper-lined bookcloth with a Singer-sewn binding.”
You can buy M1: 50 Years from indie book store Kaleid Editions.