Disclaimer This blog is about the graphic design of burglar alarms and has no connection with the companies featured. Most photos show vintage sounders and are not the latest products of the firms under discussion. For up-to-date info on any company, please visit their official website.
Burglar Alarm Britain
Where vigilante culture meets vernacular design
Category Archives: Shadowy intruder
“CIA”, Emsworth: backyard creeper
Posted by on May 27, 2011
“CIA” burglar alarm, Emsworth• A shadowy CIA intruder is creeping through the rusty debris of this harbourside back yard, bringing a splash of red to the decaying scene. I featured a close-up of this under the “Shadowy Intruders” theme a long way back, when I had no idea what the initials really stood for. Thanks to some informed comment by Paul Germaine, I can now tell you that it is Christie Intruder Alarms, founded in 1967 by husband-and-wife team Barrie and Janet Christie, and still going strong on the South Coast today. According to their excellent website, this “crooked man” logo – one of my favourites, and still in use – was designed in 1970 by Janet Christie herself. When amateur burglar alarm-spotting friends come to me with exciting alarm designs they’ve stumbled across, it’s often this one, because it’s so amusing and noticeable. • Spotted: Seagull Lane, Emsworth, Hampshire, PO10, England, 2003 • Politics: In the Conservative constituency of Havant
“ES Security”, Southwark: don’t mix crime with mime
Posted by on February 3, 2011
“ES Security” burglar alarm, Southwark • Another window-clutching mime artiste (see also Securitech, Exeter), wearing a strange beret-like hat possibly inspired by annoying Gallic “clown” Marcel Marceau. Unhappily for the lithe snooper, there is a highly advanced second burglar alarm hidden inside the window (I’m assuming this is an interior view), whose powerful sound waves have brutally severed his right foot. That’ll teach him to mix crime with mime. This is my last “shadowy intruder” for now, and I must admit I’m rather bored with their anonymous silhouettes – I prefer the bizarre cartoon felons I think of as “pantomime burglars”, of which some prime specimens will follow shortly. • Spotted: Southwark Street, Southwark, London, SE1, England, 2010 • Politics: In the Liberal Democrat constituency of Bermondsey and Old Southwark
“Corinium Security”, Cirencester: shell suited shadow
Posted by on February 2, 2011
“Corinium Security” burglar alarm, Cirencester • An unusually athletic shadowy intruder in a pre-internet shell suit, performing Parkour across a DIY array of stickers in a manner reminiscent of the Milk Tray man. Most Corinium alarms feature elaborate classical designs (Cirencester, aka the Roman town of Corinium Dobunnorum, is that kind of place) – I’ll get round to those later. • Spotted: Town centre, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, GL7, England, 2007 • Politics: In the Conservative constituency of Cotswolds
“Regal”, Wandsworth: a work by Neville Brody?
Posted by on February 1, 2011
“Regal Security Systems” burglar alarm (stickered over RH Alarms), Wandsworth • Oh, the ignominy – having another firm’s logo plastered over your head. There’s enough of the original design showing to discern that this is an RH Alarms box, the same as yesterday’s faded felon – their trademark running figures had clearly become yesterday’s men. The Regal design is also pretty ancient by now, and looks inspired by the 1980s works of Neville Brody (famed art director of style mag The Face), especially his 1984 record sleeve for Marilyn’s Baby U Left Me. I’m sure the logo font is one of his: it’s like a cross between Dome and Typeface 4. I can’t find a digital version, but of course any old designer could have photocopied the letters from magazine headlines, as was common practice pre-DTP. However Brody did design things like estate agents’ boards in his earlier days, so it’s not inconceivable he had a hand in this – and a conspiracy theorist would note that his font foundry, Fuse, ran a design competition on the theme of security in 2005. The only regal connotations of the honeycomb device are royal jelly and queen bees (or, coincidentally, The Royal College of Art, where Neville Brody is now head of graphics), but the conceit of taking an aristocratic title is very common amongst the burglar alarm fraternity – and a theme I shall return to. • Spotted: Battersea Park Road, Wandsworth, London, SW11, England, 2002 • Politics: In the Conservative constituency of Battersea
“RH Alarms”, Frome: faded felon
Posted by on January 31, 2011
“RH Alarms” burglar alarm (faded), Frome, 2008 • The ultimate in anonymous intruders: a burglar so bleached that only his generic silhouette remains. With a bit of tweaking in Photoshop, it is possible to discover the logo “RH Alarms” – a suitably uninformative name. • Spotted: Town centre, Frome, Somerset, BA11, England, 2008 • Politics: In the Liberal Democrat constituency of Somerton and Frome
“Crime Stop Protected”, Birmingham: death disco
Posted by on January 30, 2011
“Crime Stop Protected” burglar alarm, Birmingham, 2005 • The Mad Man burglar from IAS returns, only to be caught in a pulsating op-art circle, reminiscent of HAL’s all-seeing “eye” in 2001: A Space Odyssey. It’s often hard to tell whether such wave visualisations represent sound or light; perhaps this is meant to conjure up both, a blaring hell of screaming sirens and strobing beams, pinning our suave criminal like a moth on a spotlight in a nightmarish 1970s disco. We can see you, Dave… • Spotted: Meriden Street, Birmingham, West Midlands, B5, England, 2005 • Politics: In the Labour constituency of Birmingham Ladywood
“Securitech”, Exeter: mime artistes beware
Posted by on January 29, 2011
“Securitech” burglar alarm, Exeter, 2009 • Another shadowy intruder transfixed within a piercing beam of light (see also JB-Eye), suggesting burglary by mime artiste during a nuclear blast. I’d advise using a neutron bomb, it’ll eliminate the felon but leave the building intact. Perhaps unsurprisingly, there actually is a Nu-Tron burglar alarm; I’ll dig it out one day soon. • Spotted: Town centre, Exeter, Devon, EX1, England, 2009 • Politics: In the Labour constituency of Exeter
“JB-Eye”, Manchester: Pacman eats burglar
Posted by on January 28, 2011
“JB-Eye Security Systems” burglar alarm, Manchester, 2009 • “Please, Mr Pacman, don’t eat me! I don’t want to be a topping on your giant cheese pizza!” This looks like a tiny, pleading figure imploring a monster Pacman not to devour him. The unusual refinement of a shadow suggests a blast of nuclear light emanating from the chomping black blob. What the title JB-Eye has to do with it all is opaque – the name of some weird Pacman religion perhaps? • Spotted: Deansgate area, Manchester, Lancashire, M1, England, 2009 • Politics: In the Labour constituency of Manchester Central
“DSA”, Bath: a bizarre Freudian slip
Posted by on January 27, 2011
“DSA Bath” burglar alarm, Bath, 2007 • At first glance I thought the creator of this otherwise basic design had included touches that were positively Freudian. A doorway with a swishy fringed curtain, conjuring up both sex shop and butcher. A prominent knob, its position implying the door is firmly shut. A shadowy figure grabbing for it: desperate for entry, or escape? A peeping-tom camera spying impassively on the proceedings. And under it all the word “Bath”, suggesting a scene from Hitchock. Then I realised the boring truth: the swishy lines are meant to be waves of some kind, emanating from the boxy thing I’d assumed was a camera. What the device really is, and whether it emits sound waves, light beams, or death rays, is left to the potential intruder’s imagination. But there’s no fringed curtain, and no Freudian subtext. Not intentionally, anyway. • Spotted: Town centre, Bath, Avon, BA2, England, 2007 • Politics: In the Liberal Democrat constituency of Bath
“CIA”, Emsworth: secret service snooper
Posted by on January 26, 2011
“CIA” burglar alarm, Emsworth, 2003 • Here’s another CIA alarm, more happily composed than yesterday’s diagonal effort. Apart from being placed too high up to focus on sharply, everything about CIA alarms is utterly classic: the strident colour, the tabloid typography, the furtive figure. And, of course, being named after one of the world’s most notorious spy organisations. Though, assuming the real CIA is not in the UK burglar alarm business, what this memorable acronym actually stands for remains unexplained. • Spotted: Seagull Lane, Emsworth, Hampshire, PO10, England, 2003 • Politics: In the Conservative constituency of Havant
“CIA”, Hersham: the clumsiest spy
Posted by on January 25, 2011
“CIA” burglar alarm, Hersham, 2002 • Well may chummy duck – there’s a low-hanging “A” about to hit his head in this stunning merger of the “shadowy intruder” and “awkward diagonal logo” schools of burglar alarm design. In a poignant touch, two tiny refined details grace this three-fingered figure of otherwise elephant man-like clumsiness: a rumple at the back of the knee, and a stray flap escaping the waistband. • Spotted: Molesey Road, Hersham, Surrey, KT12, England • Politics: In the Conservative constituency of Esher and Walton
“Warning Smoke Screen”, Derby: arse blast
Posted by on January 24, 2011
“Warning Smoke Screen” burglar alarm, Derby, 2010 •
Exit burglar, pursued by giant fart.• Spotted: Town centre, Derby, Derbyshire, DE1, England, 2010 • Politics: In the Labour constituency of Derby South
“DR Security”, Tower Hamlets: What’s up, Doc?
Posted by on January 23, 2011
“DR Security” burglar alarm, Tower Hamlets, 2007 • “Help, Doctor Security, can you make a house call? There’s a huge red throbbing pimple on my roof! When you get here, just climb in through the giant No Entry sign, and mind that nasty gap in the floorboards…” • Spotted: Three Colts Lane, Tower Hamlets, London, E2, England, 2007 • Politics: In the Labour constituency of Bethnal Green and Bow
“IAS”, Sheffield: career criminal or Mad Man?
Posted by on January 22, 2011
“IAS” burglar alarm, Sheffield, 2010 • Most shadowy intruders seem to be based on the same stumbling silhouette, copied with varying degrees of simplification and skill. This is a particularly extravagant one – note the stack heels, the bulky and flowing jacket, the strangely bouffant hair. He’s more like an extra from Mad Men or a drunken salesman than a sneak thief – unless career criminals actually do wear formal attire. The name “IAS” is equally shadowy: an unexplained acronym, beloved of so many burglar alarm firms. Intruder Alert Systems is my guess… (googles)… blimey, it could be, but there are loads of organisations called IAS. International Accounting Standards, that must be it – it’s a pretty rumpled suit. • Spotted: Fargate, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S1, England, 2010 • Politics: In the Labour constituency of Sheffield Central
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