Xhilda Cuko
My research problem focuses on the disappearance of everyday signage and its impact on the city’s visual identity. When local storefronts close or are replaced, the typographic forms that defined the neighbourhood character are lost. This raises the challenge of how we can preserve these letterforms and memories to maintain the city’s identity for future generations.
How can visual communication effectively document and
convey memories of places lost to cultural and
architectural change?
Through my research, I identified historic commercial signage as a form of graphic heritage that carries cultural memory through its letterforms and material qualities. This understanding shaped my design process, which involved extracting and reorganizing typographic fragments from archival imagery of Toronto storefronts. The outcome of this phase was a series of two postcards and brochures, used as a testing ground for developing and refining a contemporary typographic system that preserves urban identity while allowing for further expansion.
Postcard Size: 6” x 4”
Brochure size: 12” x 6”
Assets: Toronto Public Library/ Digital Archive