Pointers

Back in Madison, Wisco, I one day had the idea of building a fun directional sign as a folly for the bike path behind our house. After some hours of construction in the garage and a secret midnight installation, the sign stands (and still does 5 years later). It points to local landmarks, but also weird places, like the middle of the earth. Other people have since added their own directional pointers. This, I like.

Now, here in Austin, we had a lonely old post in our backyard leftover from the POs that I decided to use to support the grape vine (also left by the POs). Then, it became the perfect place for my native bee box. And then, John and I were brainstorming various ways we could art-it-up a bit, and he came up with reusing the sign idea.

Only this time, it's just us and visitors to the backyard that will see it. Our family and friends are scattered all over this beloved Earth, and it points to those people and places that we love. As a bonus, it serves as a compass, showing us north, south, east and west.

I went for a bit more of a mod design on this version, using Helvetica for the letters and numbers. I tell ya, I really got to understand the construction and design of Helvetica when painting those in. I think I understand every curve, proportion and angle on that font.