Architectural Lettering, Visual Identity and Early Branding in Commercial Buildings in London (1870s-1939): The Truman's Case

This thesis is focused on design practice and uses a practice-informed approach to examine the use of architectural lettering on commercial buildings during the last years of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century (1870s–1939).

This research argues that, despite the lack of a corporate approach at this early stage (Henrion & Parkin, 1967; Olins, 2004), in the case of large corporations the use of architectural lettering was fundamental in shaping the company’s ‘house style’ or ‘visual identity’ by contributing to developing identifiable buildings. It does so by exploring the architectural lettering of the London-based brewery Truman Hanbury and Buxton and Co. Ltd., also known as Truman’s — an iconic London landmark, but also an unrecorded and unexplored example of the use of public lettering. The analysis suggests that the use of architectural lettering for Truman’s public houses was fundamental in shaping the company’s early visual identity by developing identifiable buildings. During the early 20th century, companies like breweries — prolific and early adopters of copyright legislation (Duguid, 2003) — helped to shape the history of branding, not necessarily by having an identity strategy, like the London Underground or the national railways, but to protect themselves from their competitors. The specific history of London pubs and legal regulation (Jennings, 2007) created the perfect opportunity for the development of ‘house styles’, as the breweries used pub exteriors for advertising and communication. The flexibility of lettering — its ability to adapt to different contexts and particular needs in terms of size, position and space (Baines & Dixon, 2003) — was, I argue, essential in establishing a cohesive yet flexible visual identity.

This is significant because it challenges canonical histories of design by suggesting that overlooked players such as Truman’s had a significant role in the development of visual identity schemes in the 20th century. The study of design history has generally focused on pioneer companies and key individuals which has reduced the richness and complexity of design history (Scotford, 2014, p.44). Smaller companies like Truman’s, while not pioneers in the history of design, also contributed to the fabric of branding and graphic design, an idea that contradicts the ‘hero’ approach that graphic design history has borrowed from art history, an approach that ‘singles out individuals and emphasises the designer not as a communicator but as a personality’ (Wilkins, 2014). My research addresses this gap in design and graphic history by focusing on the visual identity of companies that were simply ‘doing their job’, often for pragmatic reasons rather than unified design strategies. In doing so, I record a previously undocumented aspect of London’s ‘graphic memory’ (Farias, 2014) in the 20th century, building a case for the protection of architectural lettering on commercial premises.

Finally, this is a practice-informed research project that borrows and adapts methods from different disciplines under the umbrella of design research (Gray & Marlins, 204). Architectural lettering is interrogated from both macro and micro perspectives, using archival and historical research and case study methods combined with visual methods informed by design practice. I have used my experience as a visual practicioner as a tool to explore others design practice, as an ‘instrument for reasoning’ (Tufte, 1983, p.9), to transform existing knowledge and to construct new knowledge (Orna & Stevens, 1995, p.134).