The Factory Records cataloging system is another fun thing to dive into. Posters and records got catalog numbers but so did things like the Haçienda nightclub (FAC51), Rob Gretton's dental surgery (FAC99), a stray cat that wandered into the club (FAC191), a Christmas party (FAC259), and their website (FAC421).

The last number was allocated for Tony Wilson's grave, FAC501. The headstone was designed by Peter Saville and in typical fashion took three years to create. And it's beautiful.

https://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/2651/peter-savill...

Factory's own table: https://www.factoryrecords.org/periodic-table-of-factory-rec...

This gravestone is frankly the most beautiful thing I have seen in ages. Thanks. It simply didn’t occur to me that the principles of graphic design could be applied to such things.

There’s a club in Manchester called FAC251. Perhaps this is some kind of remnant or reference to the system

Edit: https://www.factorymanchester.com/about-us/

The club is housed in the old Factory HQ which was itself numbered FAC251. The club is a bit of a deliberate sequel to Factory’s Hacienda - I think Peter Hook (former bassist for New Order, Factory’s biggest act) is involved.

It's hideous. Like a website from 1999 where the assets don't load and your system couldnt find the fonts.

Took three years? Someone got swindled.

I'm not sure why you are being voted down, I agree.

it looks like the business card of a regional sales manager circa 2002

I'm sure that's not the first time Tony Wilson has heard that.

"Come closer to look at"

From my calculations, the smallest text in the document is around .7 inches. This equates to a viewing distance of around 18 inches-ish. Yeh... a bit tight. But remember the last time you viewed a gravestone with interest. How far away were you?

good question. However, I have fairly poor eyesight and I don’t wear glasses, so perhaps I’m not the best case study

Saville is a generally brilliant graphic designer. These New Order covers are wonderful, but he’s perhaps best known for his Joy Division cover for the album “Unknown Pleasures”:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/how-joy-d...

I'm also a fan and made a small script to generate that type of art if anyone is interested: https://github.com/leoadberg/UnknownPleasures

And so much more. I just recently saw his name inside the cover of Cox & Forshaw’s The Quantum Universe: Everything That Can Happen Does Happen [0]. I went to find an image for you all and got this link with that and the rest.

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2013/sep/09...

FWIW I adore New Order with all of my heart. Just had to say it.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Quantum_Universe

That's really fun, never realized the meaning. Here's a bit of code to play with your own text: https://svelte.dev/repl/091adbc64170450992ed581b7a5b395e?ver...

if you would like to view some examples in use, the recent lyric video for blue monday [1] has some of mr saville's code visible.

[1] https://youtu.be/c1GxjzHm5us

My favorite part of this post is this gem of a comment:

> Hi there i am kavin, its my first occasion to commenting anyplace, when i read this piece of writing i thought i could also create comment due to this sensible post.

So British and heartwarming!