Slate looks at the history and importance of signage and wayfinding design.
This is a six-part essay on signs, how they keep us safe and help us get around - or not. The essays discuss how poor signing contributed to a fatal bus crash, why people get lost in Penn Station, and how London will be using signs to encourage people to get off the Tube and walk instead.
Julia Turner writes, "The 1970s saw the first stirrings of revolution in the sign world. That's when the SEGD [Society for Environmental Graphic Design] was founded, and it's when designers first began to seriously study how best to orient people and guide them through space. Their work was prompted in part by America's great urban thinkers: people like Kevin Lynch and Jane Jacobs, who argued that spaces should be designed not to fulfill the grand visions of architects but with humble human uses in mind."
Thanks to J Mearkle
Read the full story: The Secret Language of Signs
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Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
City of Cambridge
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