Graffiti & Typography in St. Louis

October 4th, 2011 by Jim Kidwell

I was recently in St. Louis to present Server-based Font Management Best Practices to a great group of creative & IT folks, as well as visit some Extensis customers in the area. One day, I had a few extra minutes downtown and decided to drive around the iconic arch. Unfortunately, the parking situation is less than desirable (pay only), but in my quest to find a spot, I happened upon a massive trove of interesting street art just south of the arch. There’s a huge (looked to be many miles long) 15-20 foot tall wall that’s covered with graffiti just south of the Arch.

I tend to think that new creative ideas can come from practically anyplace, and it’s just a process of keeping your eyes open. Here are a few bits of typography and other creative content that I found during my few minutes perusing a short section of the wall. It sometimes kills me that some of the excellent creative work is so quickly painted over.

Here’s what the wall looks like, looking north. You can see the Arch in the background, behind all of the power lines.