Signs define our built environment more than architecture. This may be news to architects, but it shouldn't be. In the same way that dirty clothes, yesterday's newspaper and and dusty brick-a-brack clutter up those unlived-in rooms from Better Homes and Gardens once the cameras are gone, signage clutters up the streetscape. Open your eyes. What do you see? Signs! You see signs.
That's not necessarily a bad thing. It's people communicating. We do that. Quite a lot, actually. More than we need to. Of course, there are hierarchies of communication. Some times it can be a very important message that you must read. Sometimes, it's just senseless, unwelcome noise someone is rudely pushing in you face.
That's not necessarily a bad thing. It's people communicating. We do that. Quite a lot, actually. More than we need to. Of course, there are hierarchies of communication. Some times it can be a very important message that you must read. Sometimes, it's just senseless, unwelcome noise someone is rudely pushing in you face.
Some signs are well designed and well made. Others are not - It would be a kindness to suggest they were designed at all and, if "well made" means they don't fall down, then, they are for the most part, well made.
I design signs for a living and before that I made signs. The signs I design are no-nonsense wayfinding, regulatory and information signs. In my job, I try to communicate as clearly and concisely as possible. I'm not here to say I do it well - Just that that's my objective. I have spent a considerable amount of time researching relative legibility of various typefaces. Here, in this blog, I am more interested in finding out at what point a sign fails to communicate, and how. Or how it may communicate in some unintended way.
All images will be mine. I'm an artist, so some of them will be drawings of signs.
I design signs for a living and before that I made signs. The signs I design are no-nonsense wayfinding, regulatory and information signs. In my job, I try to communicate as clearly and concisely as possible. I'm not here to say I do it well - Just that that's my objective. I have spent a considerable amount of time researching relative legibility of various typefaces. Here, in this blog, I am more interested in finding out at what point a sign fails to communicate, and how. Or how it may communicate in some unintended way.
All images will be mine. I'm an artist, so some of them will be drawings of signs.
This sign for Hoo Lee Garden(s) in Coburg Ontario, is a lovely example to start with. It has aged well and I like it.
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