City of Westminster street nameplate, London

This City of Westminster street nameplate in London illustrates how urban graphic objects evolve to serve a multitude of purposes, from the utility of labelling roads to the cultural expression of a fashion accessory. The nameplate, designed in the 1960s by Christopher Timings at Design Research Unit in London, now stands for a number of competing and complementary dualities: global and local, culture and commerce, modern and traditional, word and image, time and space, and its meanings continue to multiply. In the same way that landmark buildings and structures symbolize places, the same can be said for smaller urban objects such as this.