SIGNS STORY 1.02
Signs were developed to inform, to warn, to direct someone who’s coming . . . Later.
The streets and highways have them planted if not every 15 feet along the road, they stack them triplet style on the same post like a giant ice cream cone - by the time you’ve read the top, the others have melted into a blur a quarter mile behind you.
100 km/hr, max, begins,
soft shoulder, lane ends, low bridge
no stopping, no parking, no standing
No turns, left turns, bus stop, truck stop, stop .
And heaven forbid if you’re walking the street,
you actually have time to see them all
Pedestrian walkways, ground level, above ground, underground, .
Crosswalk, wait for the green, wait for the bus,
this way to stairs, that way to elevators,
This way out, enter here, no entry there,
watch for slippery floors, beware of opening doors,
line up here, keep corridor clear,
Floor 102 , observation deck for the view.
Signs, Signs, all my life I’ve been makin them
So many everywhere, my eyes just can’t take them in
Selectively we see the ones we are looking for,
To fill our current needs, the rest of them we just ignore.
the rhymin signm'n
Another purpose of the sign that grew along side of providing information and directions was to Enhance Image. More on the graphic side of things, this element of signs most often is the non-worded appearance part or may be void of verbal message altogether. Crests and coats of arms. The Pub/ Inn/ rural entrepreneur sign may display pictures instead of words for those who couldn’t read. A pub I saw had a sign with only the depiction of a man in robes, holding by his side, his head. A traveler such as I Had to ask. It was called “The Silent Lawyer“. The sign was successful on several levels.
TODAY'S LESSON :
For any sign to be noticed, it must first of all have clarity. This is why it's important to understand exactly what reasons each sign has for being. Trying to fit too many reasons into one sign will cause confusion to the reader, and generally we only have the second or two to grab the passers-by attention. So a storefront sign may be to identify the premises and to enhance the image but trying to make the very same sign direct the public to parking or promoting products or the addition of other information all together on the same sign can get very confusing, cluttered and distracting to the point where it might be ignored altogether. A professional sign designer can sort these out, putting as much as possible with clever simplicity of layout.
The streets and highways have them planted if not every 15 feet along the road, they stack them triplet style on the same post like a giant ice cream cone - by the time you’ve read the top, the others have melted into a blur a quarter mile behind you.
100 km/hr, max, begins,
soft shoulder, lane ends, low bridge
no stopping, no parking, no standing
No turns, left turns, bus stop, truck stop, stop .
And heaven forbid if you’re walking the street,
you actually have time to see them all
Pedestrian walkways, ground level, above ground, underground, .
Crosswalk, wait for the green, wait for the bus,
this way to stairs, that way to elevators,
This way out, enter here, no entry there,
watch for slippery floors, beware of opening doors,
line up here, keep corridor clear,
Floor 102 , observation deck for the view.
Signs, Signs, all my life I’ve been makin them
So many everywhere, my eyes just can’t take them in
Selectively we see the ones we are looking for,
To fill our current needs, the rest of them we just ignore.
the rhymin signm'n
Another purpose of the sign that grew along side of providing information and directions was to Enhance Image. More on the graphic side of things, this element of signs most often is the non-worded appearance part or may be void of verbal message altogether. Crests and coats of arms. The Pub/ Inn/ rural entrepreneur sign may display pictures instead of words for those who couldn’t read. A pub I saw had a sign with only the depiction of a man in robes, holding by his side, his head. A traveler such as I Had to ask. It was called “The Silent Lawyer“. The sign was successful on several levels.
TODAY'S LESSON :
For any sign to be noticed, it must first of all have clarity. This is why it's important to understand exactly what reasons each sign has for being. Trying to fit too many reasons into one sign will cause confusion to the reader, and generally we only have the second or two to grab the passers-by attention. So a storefront sign may be to identify the premises and to enhance the image but trying to make the very same sign direct the public to parking or promoting products or the addition of other information all together on the same sign can get very confusing, cluttered and distracting to the point where it might be ignored altogether. A professional sign designer can sort these out, putting as much as possible with clever simplicity of layout.
posted by Cliff Perry at 04:43
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