Comments on: Some thoughts about signs

By: Jan Brasna

Jan Brasna — Sun, 05 Jun 2005 09:04:12 +0000

Andy Budd: Yep, I like also the signage of the direction so I won’t forget to ride it clokwise when driving in UK ;) ...

By: Andy Budd

Andy Budd — Sat, 04 Jun 2005 20:13:28 +0000

My favorite road sign has to be the UK roundabout sign.

I think it’s a fantastic example of good design through subtraction rather than addition.

If I wanted to indicate the direction of travel around the roundabout I probably would have done something obvious like add directional arrows.

Instead the designer has simply removed a section of the roundabout therefore implying the direction of travel without having to add visual clutter.

Genius.

By: Richard Thomas

Richard Thomas — Tue, 31 May 2005 22:25:13 +0000

@Richard - I’m not from America (but Canada) and we have some of the same signs, and like the stop sign, it’s more about the shape and the colour in that situation.

The yellow is the caution sign and sometimes the text changes (but for us, the constuctions signs are an orange with the lil digger)

but like it was already said before, it’s more abotu the shape and colour of the sign (or the graphic(s) on the sign)

By: Mark Boulton

Mark Boulton — Sun, 29 May 2005 01:45:26 +0000

Thanks Waylan, Yeah I think there’s some problems with the live preview and the way certain browsers cope with the rendering. On Safari for example, as I am typing this, the preview is working fine – no lag, but I have experienced lag on some browsers in the past.

By: Waylan

Waylan — Fri, 27 May 2005 23:20:11 +0000

Hmm, I just re-read Josh’s comment and see he was really saying the same thing I did in his last paragraph. Sorry if I came across a little to aggressive there.

Oh, and Mark, I like the option to enable or disable the live preview, but when it’s enabled it takes forever for the characters to appear here while typing. I’ll type a entire sentence and only the first word is displayed in the comment box. I then have to wait for the rest to appear one character at a time at less than half the speed of my rather slow typing. I tried disabling the live preview, but it made no difference. Sure, the preview was no longer displayed, but the delays continued in the comment box. With this comment I have not enabled the Live Preview and things seem to work fine. Just thought you’d like to know.

By: Waylan

Waylan — Fri, 27 May 2005 23:08:10 +0000

Josh- While I understand your argument and yes, buildings should be designed so that it is obvious where things are, you still need signs. Assuming a restaurant has the perfect layout, without signs I will only see a couple doors. I need to know which door takes me to the men’s room and which is the women’s toilet. Using Mark’s analogy, if my daughter has an emergency and I rush in, I don’t have time to ask someone or start exploring which door she needs to go through. While the exploring should be avoided at all times, for obvious reasons, in this instance the need for concise, easily recognizable signs are certainly important. No, there is no need for signs posted all over the building directing people to that area, but we still need signs on the doors. What I got out of Mark’s post was how important the effectiveness of what the signs communicate is and how that relates to how we label links etc. in web sites. No one wants a site with every link comprised of just non-breaking-spaces.

As a side note, your analogy could be quite effective in helping someone see the importance of the layout of a site. If the location of things on the page are readily obvious, and clearly labeled, users will find them much more easily and quickly.

By: Richard Rutter

Richard Rutter — Fri, 27 May 2005 16:48:05 +0000

As a Brit, American road signs have always held some fascination for me, especially the more temporary signs. I saw this sign in Austin, Tx:

There?s something slightly charming and naive about the wording. In the UK, we?d probably just say ?Caution? or ?Roadworks ahead?, which leave it up to the driver to decide on his or her course of action as opposed to the direct instruction provided stateside.

[Sorry about the double post. It’s early]

By: Richard Rutter

Richard Rutter — Fri, 27 May 2005 16:41:28 +0000

As a Brit, American road signs have always held some fascination for me, especially the more temporary signs. I saw this sign in Austin, Tx:

Be prepared to stop

There’s something slightly charming and naive about the wording. In the UK, we’d probably just say ‘Caution’ or ‘Roadworks ahead’, which leave it up to the driver to decide on his or her course of action as opposed to the direct instruction provided stateside.

By: Charles

Charles — Fri, 27 May 2005 09:34:39 +0000

Where did you get that picture of the Korean stop sign? I’ve lived in Korea for ten years, driven here and there around the country, and I can’t remember the last time I saw a stop sign…

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 27 May 2005 04:13:10 +0000

Now on topic…

This spring I’ve seen a ton of businesses advertising along the road using people as signs/sign holders. I think this is more about context than the actual signage, you certainly take notice. Once you’ve got the person’s attention, then the sign needs to be clear and to the point (especially on the roadside.) Whether it’s a person with a sandwich board (as in my photo from NYC) or in a cow costume, I’ve noticed how much I’ve been noticing them so I guess it’s working.

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 27 May 2005 04:02:23 +0000

How does getting paid for all your time, energy, and expenses mean you’re selling out? Mark clearly put a lot of effort into a post, even coming up with a nice illustration for his point. How does it reduce his credibility to have an ad that some people will find useful and you didn’t even notice?