Analyzing Infographics - Road Signs

 

Image by Walter Knerr from Pixabay 

For this weeks blog we were asked to select an infographic to analyze, and I decided to take a look at road signs. We all use these nearly everyday to maintain safety while traveling and to find our way from a to b. Road signs are interesting in their scale, and by that I mean how broadly they are used. For example, you can find the octagonal stop sign used in the United States, Europe, Iran, China and many other countries with very little significant variation (Stop Sign, 2023).

The ubiquitous nature of road sign usage makes them effective, as when we learn to travel we learn a set of symbols and apply that knowledge nearly everywhere we go. Road signs also display unity of form. When the sign programs were developed they were clearly designed to "...be unified in appearance to enhance the sign program's cohesiveness and effectiveness (Calori and Vanden-Eynden, pg. 202)." This design is explained very well by Autoeurope:

Danger road signs - There are two types of danger road signs: triangular red-outlined and diamond shaped yellow signs. These describe upcoming areas that could present hazardous conditions.

Priority Signs - These signs differ in shape based on function, but overall relate who has the right of way in a situation.

There are many more examples, but these illustrate the use of similar signage for similar purpose.

The massive scale road signs are used on also present a challenge in some ways, as changing anything in the system requires an immense amount of time and cost to implement. It is unlikely that we would see a significant change outside of necessary additions. The next major addition to road signage might be charging stations. With the increased usage of electric vehicles there is going to be more demand for places to charge them. Several states have set in motion legislation to move completely to electric vehicle sales in the coming decades, which will require the design and implementation of new symbols to describe and guide people to places to charge their vehicles.

Wikimedia Foundation. (2023, March 2). Stop sign. Wikipedia. Retrieved March 12, 2023, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_sign#North_America 

Calori, Chris, and David Vanden-Eynden. Signage and Wayfinding Design : A Complete Guide to        Creating Environmental Graphic Design Systems, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/empire-ebooks/detail.action?docID=1895384. 

International road signs guide. Auto Europe. (n.d.). Retrieved March 12, 2023, from https://www.autoeurope.com/roadsigns/