The Royal Motorboat Club is situated next to Djurgårdsbron. On a hot summer day the café is a great stop for an ice-cream. The letters, wich seem to be a combination of Avant Garde, Gill Sans and Futura, have a nice feeling of 1930s, capturing a fresh version of the engineering aspect of boating. A scent from a time when oil, gas and petroleum products only meant freedom, speed and a holiday get-away. You can still catch one or two of the famous and protected Pettersson-boats, shiny and polished wooden masterpieces of Swedish boat-building. / Djurgården

Golden letters on The Royal Opera

The Royal Opera in Stockholm resides next to the stream beside the Gustav Adolf Torg. The visitor is guided by these golden letters framed by solid oak wood-workings over the shaded entrance. The neo-baroque building is drawn by Axel Anderberg and was ready for cultural action in 1898./City

Letters of worship

This is the western portal to S:t Jacobs Church. Cut by stone mason Henrik Blom in 1643 in a late renaissance/early baroque style. The letter are most likely from about this time as well. Despite the fact that Sweden cast of the Danish intruders a hundred years earlier, the Danish influence on the letter Ä/Æ and Ö/Ø, with its diagonal, nicely curved here, is still evident. S, K, R and E are other letters that characterize this inscription from the times of Queen Kristina. / City

The new Friends Arena

The latest addition to Stockholm as an experience capitol is this stadium in Solna just north of the city. The capacity is 50-67 000 seats depending on the event. Sponsored by Swedbank, one of the major banks in Sweden it got its name after the pupil support organization Friends working against bullying. The brand new logo for the arena seems to consist of Friends in Helvetica Bold or Black complemented with Arena set in what looks like Futura Black or maybe Gotham Black. / Solna

Perpetua?

This is, I believe, a hospital restaurant. But is the type Perpetua? Not the standard Monotype version, is it? Some Phototypestting version from the 80s? / Kungholmen

La Dolce Suburban Vita

Named after the fountains on the square in front of it, the movie theater Fontänen opened it’s doors to the public in 1956 as a part of Vällingby centrum, the first thoroughly designed ABC suburb outside Stockholm. The ABC suburb should contain everything the modern family could want: work places, housing, malls and even entertainment. From the start it could accommodate 502 visitors on its gala nights. Today it is renovated with all of it’s 50s interior remaining. The script in this neon sign on the roof is a narrow, upright 50s version of the hand painted script of early 20th century. / Vällingby

Vasastan street art goldmine

Street Art, posters and graffiti under S:t Eriks Bron/St Erik’s Bridge. Using among other home made Cooper stencil letters, / Vasastan

A milestone typeface of the 80s

As a young man in the eighties I got a lot of my design preferences from magazines from England. In one of them, The Face, there were some stunning graphical headlines set in letters reminiscent of rough art deco in a German “Metropolis” way. The designer behind the Face was of course Neville Brody, one of type design’s most prolific names. Here is his typeface Insignia from 1989 mounted with nice lighting behind it, but, alas, with very disturbing bars as well. With jewelry and fashion for young Stockholm, this store carries color, humor and passion to wear and blog about. / Kungsholmen

Another Venetian

There’s a lot of talk in typographer’s circles about Venetians, i.e. the typefaces cut in Venice the decades just before 1500. This sign carries some all together different letters. If the Golden Types of the Venerable Old Lady by the Mediterranean bore themselves with a noble austerity, this script is all about expression and movement. A spirited dance of lines and swashes. Its a steel pen script donned with the temper of a Carmen. Nice lighting, but why such a broad sign and ineffective layout? / Söder

Classical heritage on The National Museum

Despite being one of the most used typefaces in book design in Sweden since its introduction in 1934, Baskerville has never lost its distinguished, almost regal appearance. Being the perfect choice for the National Museums signage it’s also applied in their printed material in a consistent way that gives them credit. / Blasieholmen