Buenos Aires, Argentina

In 1971, my dear Argentinian friend Ronald Shakespear was commissioned by BA’s City Hall to undertake a design project that would eventually grow to be called the “Visual Plan for Buenos Aires.” The project was unique in its context (certainly the first in South America) not only because of its massive scale, but also due to the dynamic interaction it entailed with both “the client” and ultimately “the client’s clients” (the city’s citizens). This turned out to be the first time that the Helvetica font was used in Argentina’s urban landscape… and among the hundreds of sign iterations generated, resulted in (I will argue here) the best design of a Taxi sign ever…

You can read more about the full project scope and its sustained impact in Eye #63 (UK), Domus #159 (Italy), and Graphis #168 (Switzerland).

Taxi!