Kells – The Bigger Picture conference - ‘A Conversation in Signage’. The conference will raise awareness of the principles of good shopfront design and signage and will showcase some of the best sign writers in the country.

Kells – The Bigger Picture conference - ‘A Conversation in Signage’

7.30pm – 9.30pm Thursday 6^th September 2018,

Church of Ireland, Church St, Kells, Co. Meath

Following on from the highly successful ‘Kells – The Bigger Picture’ conference series, Kells TypeTrail in association with Kells Local Heroes, Meath Council County and the Heritage Council’s Irish Walled Town Network will host a seminar called ‘A Conversation in Signage’. The conference will raise awareness of the principles of good shopfront design and signage and will showcase some of the best sign writers in the country. The event will conclude this year’s Kells TypeTrail: now in its ninth year celebrating typography and lettering as a modern art form.

A photographic exhibition 'Our Type' by Trevor Finnegan, showcasing shopfronts, signage and typography of Ireland’s towns and villages will open to coincide with the conference in Clarkes Studio, Suffolk St, Kells and will run until September 20^th 2018.  Our Type is an ongoing photographic project documenting the disappearing shopfronts, signage and typography of Ireland's towns and villages. Across Ireland, we have many towns and villages that retain a rich tradition of vernacular signage. However, the fate of these shopfronts is being threatened by the uniformity of the corporate multi-national store which unfortunately ignores and subverts local history and tradition. By highlighting the design and typographic traditions that are unique to Ireland, the project's aim is for people to recognise the importance of the 'Traditional Shopfront' in our society and support the disappearing trades in our local communities. Images from the project are currently being exhibited as part of Ireland’s national pavilion ‘Free Market’ at this year's Venice Biennale.