Motoring Discussion > The road sign as design classic	Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Zero	Replies: 18

Fri 9 Dec 11 19:41   The road sign as design classic - Zero

The Design Museum has added a motorway sign to its collection. So is British road signage a design classic? www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15990443 Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 9 Dec 11 19:45   The road sign as design classic - Meldrew

Largely an interest in the typeface I think tinyurl.com/7wyhk9q Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 9 Dec 11 19:58   The road sign as design classic - R.P.

Personally, I believe they're probably the best organised signage in any country I've driven in. Absolute inspired designs - colour coded with exactly the right size font with a common standard as to where they are placed an in layout. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 9 Dec 11 20:00   The road sign as design classic - R.P.

oh and whilst I'm at it a totally (well largely) logical road numbering system. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 9 Dec 11 20:06   The road sign as design classic - Zero

used to be, road numbering standards and logicality are starting to slip. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 9 Dec 11 20:14   The road sign as design classic - Armel Coussine

I agree Rob. Most Western European signage is pretty good even on minor roads. But it isn't as comprehensive as ours usually is. However modernizing local authorities can be a bit of a menace. And I have to say that large parts of Surrey are confusing and unreadable to me. Of course a simple crossroads looks like a labyrinth to a very stupid person. Leave the good old black-and-white cast iron pointers to Wobbling Parva and Itching alone! Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 9 Dec 11 20:39   The road sign as design classic - Manatee

>> Leave the good old black-and-white cast iron pointers to Wobbling Parva and Itching alone! I get nostalgic on the very rare occasions I see onw of the "old" signs, especially the warning signs. www.igg.org.uk/gansg/00-app1/st-furn.htm (scroll down). I'm very suspicious of direction signs now. Too often they send you a ridiculously long way round. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 9 Dec 11 20:41   The road sign as design classic - Zero

I stole - sorry rescued -, one of the old cast Iron black and white signs from a council dump in Exeter, It points the way to Ilfracombe, and states its a B road and 12 3/4 miles. Damn heavy I can tell you, the Capri was nose high all the way home. Its mounted on a concrete washing pole in a certain garden... Last edited by: Zero on Fri 9 Dec 11 at 20:42 Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 9 Dec 11 20:46   The road sign as design classic - MD

>> It points the way to Ilfracombe,...................From? Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 9 Dec 11 20:48   The road sign as design classic - Zero

>> >> It points the way to Ilfracombe,...................From? I dont know! wherever 12 3/4 miles away is! Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 9 Dec 11 20:51   The road sign as design classic - R.P.

I dont know! wherever 12 3/4 miles away is! HaHa ! Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 9 Dec 11 20:53   The road sign as design classic - henry k

>> >> >> It points the way to Ilfracombe,...................From? >> >> I dont know! wherever 12 3/4 miles away is! >> " Best to not start from here" Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 9 Dec 11 21:02   The road sign as design classic - Armel Coussine

>> " Best to not start from here" Heh heh... well rescued Zero. I hope you have it set up pointing within a compass minute of the as-the-crow-flies direction of Ilfracombe? I would expect nothing less of you. It may well have come from a rural junction in the middle of nowhere being renewed. Got in the way of the roadworks and just got broken up. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 9 Dec 11 21:34   The road sign as design classic - spamcan61

Barnstaple maybe, can't find many other places at that distance. >> It points the way to Ilfracombe,...................From? >> Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 9 Dec 11 20:20   The road sign as design classic - henry k

>>Personally, I believe they're probably the best organised signage in any country I've driven in. >> Tat is also my experience. I can only recall seeing one sign that was, IMO, meaningless to most road users. It said Trees Removed. Even knowing about the road it was a useless sign. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 9 Dec 11 20:24   The road sign as design classic - R.P.

I was on a vaguely unfamiliar road today (a mega-million pound by-pass paid for by Zero and his neighbours) - beautifully signed it was instantly clear using the green and white directionals which guided me seamlessly to where I wanted to go....peerless. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 9 Dec 11 20:32   The road sign as design classic - Armel Coussine

There is a proliferation of very silly signs, expensive and visually polluting. The modern council bureaucrat is a very shabby and intellectually corrupt element. I regularly pass signs that suddenly light up with the childish, hysterical admonition 'Slow down' when one approaches them even at a virtual crawl. As there are already white lines on the road and a more specific sign warning of the sharp bend or whatever, these ghastly things are just a gratuitous insult to every passing driver. And of course they encourage mimsing which God knows calls for no encouragement. So our signage used to be good and still is on motorways and important main roads. But it is as Zero points out being gradually sabotaged by idiots in many localities. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 9 Dec 11 22:54   The road sign as design classic - bathtub tom

SWMBO worked with a Sharon and a Tracey, both came from the brummie area. They were leaving for new jobs at the same time and had a joint leaving party. I was working around the Aylesbury area and noticed workmen removing signs for Brill, which they refused to flog to me. They would've been wonderful for the leaving do. I contacted the local authority to ask about buying them, they wanted silly money. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 9 Dec 11 22:58   The road sign as design classic - Dave_

I used to have a customer named Simon Bath, who lived on a large country estate in the Shires. Where two of the driveways in the grounds met (it was a *very* large estate) there was an old-style direction sign to Simonsbath, which must have stood on Exmoor 50 years ago. Nicely done, I thought :) Reply to this message | Report message