Trad Twist mix NGS Soho Retro
A great mix of contemporary retro classics to inspire.
Our ability to take the old and refresh is shown on this page and across the site.
We’re equally happy assisting and faithfully replicating your own design material or you need us to help create your brand ID the results are always prompt and above the quality lines.
Legendary London deserving of
NO ORDINARY TYPE
Gill Sans Bold Condensed for Regent Sounds and Johnston Type for McGlashan’s
For McGlashan’s we noted their desire for Baker St/Marylebone heritage and era mood. Our fine tuning included polishing kerning and introducing some micro characteristics found in the Baker St. station heritage Johnston signage.
We call Baker St our typographic ‘Johnston museum station’. It’s featured on our APP, adorned with original signage typography in situ in that fabulous station.
NGS
Creative Style and Typographic Design Mastery
Sometimes rather Plain,
always Beautiful, English Lettering.
Incised Didot and Bodoni Font, Choosing Keeping shop Covent Garden.
Found your magic?
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“Fashions fade, style is eternal.”
Yves Saint Laurent
STYLE ALWAYS OUTSHINES FASHION
But probably never really needs to.
It’s easy to taste the allure of new splashes of fashionista design trends… they instantly appeal, sugar coated, transient, beautiful, and are just plain yummy eye candy, nay addictive!
… yep we all love the odd choc treat and slice of tiramisu.
NG
But almost instantly these over sweetened styles become meteoric, and over saturated. With Insta and Tic Tok coverage everything is ‘out of the bag’ and so last year.
As a designer I’d be asked by design developers and manufacturers, to go to international fairs on design ‘comp shopping’ forays. For 20 years my job was to tap into new design trend: walking the floors of Paris, NY, Canton, Frankfurt, Milan and home turf UK design fairs in order to coherently barometer and table reports on new trend, and what’s happening in the industry. It was my job coming out of very traditional training ground of a portraiture fine art degree at Camberwell School of Art, to become a trend development specialist, to take a view of the manufacturing design field globally and derive from this churning mass of fashion/home interiors activity, a core theme and deliver New Product Development. These were specifically for manufacturers, importers and large retail groups – annual ranges that would out-last, and set new competitive trends based on the gamut of constant-flow, design DNA out there.
BIRTH OF THE PRO TREND PREDICTOR AND DEVELOPER
I was one of many such trend developers out in the field, and saw the rise of Indo-China Based factory design teams running amok, doing at first a pretty patchy job of low cost in-house product design.
But in just a few years these young talented creatives grew and overtook that area of design thrive and activity. What remained was a few of us who became makers or continued to strive for enrichment of the ore material of their own specific design product genre.
I did both.
I crafted and cheselled away at my core design drivers and areas of deep interests and worked hard perfecting the other counterpart of production and ever popular by-hand Sku delivery. Ironically I found my life’s work return to the tip of a clutch of fine, pointed sable brushes.
As a masterstroke signwriter and graphic typographer if found myself drawn back to now working not so much from the faces but to the facades of London. I was mixing paints in the winter cold and summer smog, alongside the new Shoreditch street artists and a capital breathing revival and a new raw creative agenda into ‘by-hand’ and digital creativity alike.
“Fashion you can buy, but style you possess. The key to style is learning who you are, which takes years. ” — Iris Apfel.
Graphic design fell into categories of sharp fashion right through the growing ranges into the historical archival alphabets which were birthed in deep antiquity (200 BC) to mid century and the birth of the more recognisable modern day brand design era (1905 – London Underground – Frank Pick influence).
These timeless ‘influencers’ literally shaped mine and many fine lettering artists lives.
Today those lives and shapes are presented here. Reflective, gracious, and time honoured… yet always convergent, dipped in freshness of the future, divergent, instinctive trends and styles.
Nick Garrett. NGS
DEPENDABLE MIX OF THE BEST FONTS AND IN-HOUSE aRCHIVAL LETTERING DESIGNS
French and Italian Typography flavours, mixed with our Stylish Classical London themes, and inspired vicinity Heritage Signs.
THE CLASSIC MIX
WE ARE LONDON LETTERING aRTISTS
(with a slice of Trad Twist mix NGS soho Retro/NYC Boho panned in!)
HOT SIGNS NOW SERVED
WITH A COOL MODERN TWIST...
Above: Interior Wall Signage | Gill Sans Light with Bold Drop Shadow | Bone white.
FONTS AREN’T TO BE ALWAYS TRUSTED
We never just take a font and jazz it..
we check all the fonts clients fwd our way and balance them out.
We then hand-paint lettering that is always carefully spaced and stylishly scaled.
Whether a rich old school cool vintage classic sign,
or fresh, new, joyful minimalist,
… a cute twist of both worlds.
Sign things are made differently here.
This page is all about our Proper Classical Modern signs.
Adding the inspirational NGS twist. Trad Twist mix of NGS Retro Signs: Fall in love..
So, with each twist, the project becomes more unique, ‘accented’ and bespoke.
From pure brand ID design, to small signage,
or your local coffee shop,
we love them all equally!
A Twist mix of NGS Accent Signs.
Below:
Retro Chic Cafe Murano, Covent Garden.
Short story:
Cafe Murano Signage Flavours
For this special Samson interior design project in Covent Garden, we added a clean cut modern stencil element to this classic Roman font.
Worked a treat especially in Tiramisu Crema naturale!
NGS
LONDON VINTAGE
MODERN MAGIC
The Tasty Twist mix of NGS Flagship Retail Signs
It Shows… We Do Love Retail Magic.
PURE URBAN COOL RETAIL BRAND
COULD BE THE DIFFERENCE YOU NEED.
Design psychology is alive in everything I do…
Nick Garrett
YOU DESERVE
THE SMOOTHEST, BEST EYECATCHING, PERFORMING LETTERS.
NGS London… sign painting Retail + Hospitality Signs.
NGS London.
Painting on bricks + rough stuff.
The Electric Cafe
MORE CAFE SIGNS: Gallery pages
Design is in constant change…
One thing that isn’t, is our best dressed quality.
Painting your Retail + Hospitality Signs.
NGS’s SERAINA’S SPIN ON SIGN DESIGN
Seraina shares her thoughts on
Cost-effective design
CREATING BOLD BEAUTIFUL SIGNS
In the moment, in London.
History in the making?… we think so.
Over the past 25 years, I’ve contributed to fairly big bold trends in lettering, and distressed wall finishes. Mixing in tweaks that give a design accent is something we at NGS specialise in.
Today, we constantly develop new ‘relic’ or ‘bronze lustre’ surface finishes. We design new typefaces/fonts, that dip into London past, derive foundations, and deliver great, new, brand image, for today’s + future businesses.
NGS: THE BOLD TYPE
Our clean, fresh ‘Classic chic’ Script style
Southbank near the Swan/Tate Modern.
Cool design tweaks pull London’s vintage typography out of the mothballs.
“Customers, and public alike are responding warmly to our New twist retro classic typography.
NG
Painting Retail + Hospitality Signs | Painting Retail + Hospitality Signs.
Always trend edging ahead
Check this:
EVOLVING IS Being Original
INFORMED BY THE RIGHT ORIGINS
We do a lot of fun in our work process. Defining new designs means a lot of soul searching at times.
Finding the right fit for a powerful trend-driven capital.
”We don’t adopt gimmicks. We do develop originality”
NG
Classic Serifs, Chunky Blocks & Sweet Scripts.
(Tap image to zoom in).
Adam’s Gold, Slanted ‘Script’.
A family heritage script, in pure Gold.
Storytelling signs:
Working with Adam, at Adret.
Adret’s gold leaf “Script” letters, off Bond Street, imbue the original handwriting of the founder’s beloved grandmother, (who nicknamed Adam ‘Adret‘).
While being mindful of keeping Adam’s emotional bond very much alive in the sign story, we added a little weight and zing, to accent the visual delivery and to embed the calligraphy warmly into the stunning, heritage (‘Bolstered’ Façade and bowed Cuban Mahogany framed window and front), architecture.
“Totally passionate about typography.
Highly recommend, will for sure be using again...”
Adam Rogers ‘Adret’, New Bond Street
NGS London + UK.
Contact NGS
RECENTLY WE’VE CREATED A LOT OF VINTAGE THINGS.
REFINING INTO AN EVER SO COOL, SERENE MINIMAL, BRAND MOMENT.
PEOPLE JUST LOVE OUR ‘SIGNATURE’ SHOPS.
Nick Garrett
Modern Sans
WHAT’S YOUR IDEAL, CALM, SWISH, SWASH?
NGS London + UK.
Next up:
Signs for Home
Our much loved ‘Serif’ house numbers combine it all.
A Classic Holland Park House Title.
Fine-line Serif Font with extended width of ‘A’ characters and a wide ‘O’ for a bit of visual hold.
There’s a lot going on in this particular painted house number panel above. I coin it ‘helpful, subconscious‘ design feeds.
With fine Roman letters like these, I often look for characters that I can extend a little wider, in order to add a warm voice and importantly, slowing the read down, holding the viewer’s secure attention that bit longer.
For addresses and deliveries it increases the likelihood of deliveries coming to the right home.
Subtle, psychologically aware design.
Contemporary Twist Signwriting.
Richness of past. Today’s fresh.
Our most popular pages.
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Painted very purely
This modern-twist gallery aims to feed your direction.
Taken from our recent work – to inspire you to start a powerful collaboration and identity.