APPENDIX CONCERNING THE DEFINITION OF THE CITY TRAFFIC LETTERS
author: Dobrosav Obradović

Translation into English: Ivan Milenković

To define letters means finding and respecting their shapes, positions of lines, relationships that exist between them and the wonderful harmony which emerged from centuries of writing, and which is continually deepened by calligraphy and typography. Only here the writing will be done by photography, the youngest of these graphical arts, so don't object if some letter or the other is written less skillfully. It shall be written from one special place which spans across the entire city. From the beginning, ever since I came to Belgrade, my attention was drawn to the wires of trams and trolleys. Mostly because they occupied space that is given little notice, a space which extends through the middle of the streets, but hovers above them containing only wires and a few lamppost tops. So much free space was available on all surrounding sides. So it was them, which I don't acknowledge as objects of the urban landscape, that showed this urban world a most basic lesson. The essence is in the free surrounding area, the free flow and not in the overcrowding buildings, offices and overpopulation. I was amazed by the entanglement of wires and their folding by the curves of streets, their shape - I knew - was determined by need, the need to move, to travel. Besides, I have followed them, and there I was, totally amazed that the more I followed them the more I felt I have ventured deeper into the city, and they showed me the way. So it is with the letters they depicted, as letters are the basic component of speech so are wires a basic component of travel. If somebody regards speech and travel just as basic human needs, then it must be that he regards the very shape of letters similarly. The same laws that apply to the written word apply to the propagation of wires, the right moves are firm and stabile, some are light and curled and some serve only as added embellishment. But all of them together comprise the final look of the letters. They have their historical heritage as has the Alphabet or the Azbuka or any other system of writing, so to be able to read you have to learn by following a sensible route; as it is with the wires of trolleys, if you follow them they will lead through many nook and crannies of the city. To learn the letters of the city means to begin learning its speech.

This work is executed as an exercise for the subject Calligraphy & Typeface Design, third year, Department of Applid Graphic, Faculty of Applied Arts in Belgrade, under the tuition of Ass. Jana Oršolić, school year 2007/2008.