Signage is the design or use of signs and symbols to communicate a message.[1][2] A signage also means signs collectively or being considered as a group.[3] The term signage is documented to have been popularized in 1975 to 1980.[2]
Signs are any kind of visual graphics created to display information to a particular audience. This is typically manifested in the form of wayfinding information in places such as streets or on the inside and outside buildings. Signs vary in form and size based on location and intent, from more expansive banners, billboards, and murals, to smaller street signs, street name signs, sandwich boards and lawn signs. Newer signs may also use digital or electronic displays.
The main purpose of signs is to communicate, to convey information designed to assist the receiver with decision-making based on the information provided. Alternatively, promotional signage may be designed to persuade receivers of the merits of a given product or service. Signage is distinct from labeling, which conveys information about a particular product or service.
Definition and etymology
The term, 'sign' comes from the old Frenchsigne (noun), signer (verb), meaning a gesture or a motion of the hand. This, in turn, stems from Latin 'signum' indicating an"identifying mark, token, indication, symbol; proof; military standard, ensign; a signal, an omen; sign in the heavens, constellation."[4] In the English, the term is also associated with a flag or ensign. In France, a banner not infrequently took the place of signs or sign boards in the Middle Ages. Signs, however, are best known in the form of painted or carved advertisements for shops, inns, cinemas, etc. They are one of various emblematic methods for publicly calling attention to the place to which they refer.
The term, 'signage' appears to have come into use in the 20th century as a collective noun used to describe a class of signs, especially advertising and promotional signs which came to prominence in the first decades of the twentieth century.[5] The Oxford Dictionary defines the term, signage, as "Signs collectively, especially commercial or public display signs."[6]
Some of the earliest signs were used informally to denote the membership of specific groups. Early Christians used the sign or a cross or the Ichthys (i.e. fish) to denote their religious affiliations, whereas the sign of the sun or the moon would serve the same purpose for pagans.[7]
The use of commercial signage has a very ancient history. Retail signage and promotional signs appear to have developed independently in the East and the West. In antiquity, the ancient Egyptians, Romans and Greeks were known to use signage. In ancient Rome, signboards were used for shop fronts as well as to announce public events.[8] Roman signboards were usually made from stone or terracotta. Alternatively, they were whitened areas, known as albums on the outer walls of shops, forums and marketplaces. Many Roman examples have been preserved; among them the widely recognized bush to indicate a tavern, from which is derived the proverb, "A good wine needs no bush".[9] Apart from the bush, certain identifiable trade signs that survive into modern times include the three balls of pawnbrokers and the red and white barber's pole. Of the signs identified with specific trades, some of these later evolved into trademarks. This suggests that the early history of commercial signage is intimately tied up with the history of branding and labelling.[10]
Recent research suggests that China exhibited a rich history of early retail signage systems.[11] One well-documented, early example of a highly developed brand associated with retail signage is that of the White Rabbit brand of sewing needles, from China's Song Dynasty period (960-1127 CE).[12][13] A copper printing plate used to print posters contained message, which roughly translates as: "Jinan Liu's Fine Needle Shop: We buy high quality steel rods and make fine quality needles, to be ready for use at home in no time."[14] The plate also includes a trademark in the form of a white rabbit which signified good luck and was particularly relevant to the primary purchasers, women with limited literacy. Details in the image show a white rabbit crushing herbs, and included advice to shoppers to look for the stone white rabbit in front of the maker's shop. Thus, the image served as an early form of brand recognition.[15] Eckhart and Bengtsson have argued that during the Song Dynasty, Chinese society developed a consumerist culture, where a high level of consumption was attainable for a wide variety of ordinary consumers rather than just the elite. The rise of a consumer culture prompted the commercial investment in carefully managed company image, retail signage, symbolic brands, trademark protection and sophisticated brand concepts.[13]
During the Medieval period, the use of signboards was generally optional for traders. However, publicans were on a different footing. As early as the 14th century, English law compelled innkeepers and landlords to exhibit signs. In 1389, King Richard II of England compelled landlords to erect signs outside their premises. The legislation stated "Whosoever shall brew ale in the town with intention of selling it must hang out a sign, otherwise he shall forfeit his ale."[16] Legislation was intended to make public houses easily visible to passing inspectors of the quality of the ale they provided (during this period, drinking water was not always good to drink and ale was the usual replacement). In 1393 a publican was prosecuted for failing to display signs. The practice of using signs spread to other types of commercial establishments throughout the Middle Ages.[17] Similar legislation was enacted in Europe. For instance, in France edicts were issued 1567 and 1577, compelling innkeepers and tavern-keepers to erect signs.[18]
Large towns, where many premises practiced the same trade, and especially, where these congregated in the same street, a simple trade sign was insufficient to distinguish one house from another. Thus, traders began to employ a variety of devices to differentiate themselves. Sometimes the trader used a rebus on his own name (e.g. two cocks for the name of Cox); sometimes he adopted a figure of an animal or other object, or portrait of a well-known person, which he considered likely to attract attention. Other signs used the common association of two heterogeneous objects, which (apart from those representing a rebus) were in some cases merely a whimsical combination, but in others arose from a popular misconception of the sign itself (e.g. the combination of the leg and star may have originated in a representation of the insignia of the garter), or from corruption in popular speech (e.g. the combination goat and compasses is said by some to be a corruption of God encompasses).
Around this time, some manufacturers began to adapt the coats of arms or badges of noble families as a type of endorsement. These would be described by the people without consideration of the language of heraldry, and thus such signs as the Red Lion, the Green Dragon, etc., have become familiar, especially as pub signs. By the 17th and 18th centuries, the number of commercial houses actively displaying the royal arms on their premises, packaging and labelling had increased, but many claims of royal endorsement were fraudulent. By 1840, the rules surrounding the display of royal arms were tightened to prevent false claims. By the early 19th century, the number of Royal Warrants granted rose rapidly when Queen Victoria granted some 2,000 royal warrants during her reign of 64 years.[19]
Since the object of signboards was to attract the public, they were often of an elaborate character. Not only were the signs themselves large and sometimes of great artistic merit (especially in the 16th and 17th centuries, when they reached their greatest vogue) but the posts or metal supports protruding from the houses over the street, from which the signs were swung, were often elaborately worked, and many beautiful examples of wrought-iron supports survive both in England and continental Europe.
Exterior signs were a prominent feature of the streets of London from the 16th century. Large overhanging signs became a danger and a nuisance in the narrow ways as the city streets became more congested with vehicular traffic. Over time, authorities were forced to regulate the size and placement of exterior signage. In 1669, a French royal order prohibited the excessive size of sign boards and their projection too far over the streets. In Paris in 1761, and in London, about 1762–1773, laws were introduced which gradually compelled sign boards to be removed or fixed flat against the wall.
For the most part, signs only survived in connection with inns, for which some of the greatest artists of the time painted sign boards, usually representing the name of the inn. With the gradual abolition of sign boards, the numbering of houses began to be introduced in the early 18th century in London. It had been attempted in Paris as early as 1512, and had become almost universal by the close of the 18th century, though not enforced until 1805. Another important factor was that during the Middle Ages a large percentage of the population was illiterate and so pictures were more useful as a means of identifying a public house. For this reason there was often no reason to write the establishment's name on the sign and inns opened without a formal written name—the name being derived later from the illustration on the public house's sign. In this sense, a pub sign can be thought of as an early example of visual branding.[20]
Neon sign
During the 19th century, some artists specialized in the painting of signboards, such as the Austro-Hungarian artist Demeter Laccataris. Pending this development, houses which carried on trade at night (e.g. coffee houses, brothels, etc.) had various specific arrangements of lights, and these still survive to some extent, as in the case of doctors' surgeries, and chemists' dispensaries.
Several developments in the early 20th century provided the impetus for widespread commercial adoption of exterior signage. The first, spectaculars, erected in Manhattan in 1892, became commonplace in the first decade of the 20th century and by 1913, "the skies were awash with a blaze of illuminated, animated signs."[21] In the 1920s, the newly developed neon sign was introduced to the United States. Its flexibility and visibility led to widespread commercial adoption and by the 1930s, neon signs were a standard feature of modern building around the world.[22]Privilege signs, which employed the manufacturer's brand as a form of retail endorsement, were common on retail stores during the 20th century, but their use has waned as retailers gained increasing power in the late 20th century. A small number of privilege signs are still present, but most have become abandoned ghost signs.[23][24][25]
An early computer generated hard copy of various size metal printed characters for displays was introduced and patented in 1971, Patent US3596285A, may have been the first data driven printed example of signage in the USA.
Historic retail sign boards
Four Times Night painting by William Hogarth depicting a retail sign c.1738
Four Times of the Day: Noon by William Hogarth, painting depicting retail signage, 18th century
Four Times of the Day: Noon by William Hogarth, (detail), 18th century
Painting by William Hogarth, depicting large, overhanging retail sign, 18th century
Eugène Atget, Shop Sign, rue Saint-Louis-en-l'Île, c.1908
Inn sign above historic crossroads, Sutton, Surrey, Greater London
Role and function of signage
In general, signs perform the following roles or functions:
Information-provision: signs conveying information about services and facilities, such as maps, directories, instructional signs or interpretive signage used in museums, galleries, zoos, parks and gardens, exhibitions, tourist and cultural attractions that enhance the customer's experience.[26] Retail signage state product names or simply the prices. Highway signs, Billboards, digital displays of stock market quotes, etc.
Persuasion: promotional signage designed to persuade users of the relative merits of a company, product or brand.
Direction/ Navigation: signs showing the location of services, facilities, functional spaces and key areas, such as sign posts or directional arrows.
Identification: signs indicating services and facilities, such as room names and numbers, restroom signs, or floor designations.
Safety and Regulatory: signs giving warning or safety instructions, such as warning signs, traffic signs, exit signs, signs indicating what to do in an emergency or natural disaster or signs conveying rules and regulations.
Navigation – may be exterior or interior (e.g. with interactive screens in the floor as with "informational footsteps" found in some tourist attractions, museums, and the like or with other means of "dynamic wayfinding").[27]
Signs may be used in exterior spaces or on-premises locations. Signs used on the exterior of a building are often designed to encourage people to enter and on the interior to encourage people to explore the environment and participate in all that the space has to offer. Any given sign may perform multiple roles simultaneously. For example, signage may provide information, but may also serve to assist customers navigate their way through a complex service or retail environment.[28][29]
Pictograms are images commonly used to convey the message of a sign. In statutory signage, pictograms follow specific sets of colour, shape and sizing rules based on the laws of the country in which the signage is being displayed. For example, In UK and EU signage, the width of a sign's pictogram must be 80% the height of the area it is printed to. In the US, in order to comply with the ADA Accessibility Guidelines, the same pictogram must be located within its own defined field, with raised characters and braille located beneath the field.
For a pictogram to be successful it must be recognizable across cultures and languages, even if there is no text present. Following standard color and shape conventions increases the likelihood that the pictogram and sign will be universally understood.
Sign shape
The shape of a sign can help to convey its message. Shape can be brand- or design-based, or can be part of a set of signage conventions used to standardize sign meaning. Usage of particular shapes may vary by country and culture.
Some common signage shape conventions are as follows:
Rectangular signs are often used to portray general information to an audience.
Circular signs often represent an instruction that must be followed, either mandatory or prohibitive.
Triangular signs are often warning signs, used to convey danger or caution.
Sign technology
Several types of signs and sign materials in Oregon, US
Materials
Below is a list of commonly used materials in signmaking shops.
A 40 ft (12 m) neon sign built in 1951 for the Pioneer Club in Las Vegas, Nevada shows the elaborate artistic effects that can be achieved.
Lighting
Signs frequently use lighting as a means of conveying their information or as a way to increase visibility.
Neon signs, introduced in 1910 at the Paris Motor Show, are produced by the craft of bending glass tubing into shapes. A worker skilled in this craft is known as a glass bender, neon or tube bender.
Light-emitting diodes (LEDs ) are frequently used in signs for both general illumination, display of alphanumeric characters with animation effects, or as part of multi-pixel video displays. LED signs became common at sport venues, businesses, churches, schools, and government buildings. Brightness of LED signs can vary, leading to some municipalities in the United States banning their use due to issues such as light pollution.[30]
Signage is the most visual part of wayfinding. A good wayfinding system needs well designed signage, but it also has to be well placed and to match the user's language.
There are four types of signs most commonly used which help navigate users and give them appropriate information.[31] They are:
Informational: These provide useful information on the place where the users are, such as free wifi, opening hours, etc.
Directional: As the name indicates, these direct users with arrows saying which way to go for whichever purpose. These most often at junctions when the user must make a decision about the route.
Identification:To help users recognise where they currently are, identification signs can be placed at the entrances of buildings, parks, etc. They symbolise the arrival to a destination.
Regulatory: These let people know what they can and cannot do in a given area and are most frequently phrased negatively with the aim of creating a safe environment. Examples include "no smoking" or "restricted area".
A pictogram, also called a pictogramme, pictograph, or simply picto, and in computer usage an icon, is a graphic symbol that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object. Pictographs are often used in writing and graphic systems in which the characters are to a considerable extent pictorial in appearance. A pictogram may also be used in subjects such as leisure, tourism, and geography.
Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and then sells in smaller quantities to consumers for a profit. Retailers are the final link in the supply chain from producers to consumers.
In marketing, brand management begins with an analysis on how a brand is currently perceived in the market, proceeds to planning how the brand should be perceived if it is to achieve its objectives and continues with ensuring that the brand is perceived as planned and secures its objectives. Developing a good relationship with target markets is essential for brand management. Tangible elements of brand management include the product itself; its look, price, and packaging, etc. The intangible elements are the experiences that the target markets share with the brand, and also the relationships they have with the brand. A brand manager would oversee all aspects of the consumer's brand association as well as relationships with members of the supply chain.
Traffic signs or road signs are signs erected at the side of or above roads to give instructions or provide information to road users. The earliest signs were simple wooden or stone milestones. Later, signs with directional arms were introduced, for example the fingerposts in the United Kingdom and their wooden counterparts in Saxony.
In computing, an icon is a pictogram or ideogram displayed on a computer screen in order to help the user navigate a computer system. The icon itself is a quickly comprehensible symbol of a software tool, function, or a data file, accessible on the system and is more like a traffic sign than a detailed illustration of the actual entity it represents. It can serve as an electronic hyperlink or file shortcut to access the program or data. The user can activate an icon using a mouse, pointer, finger, or voice commands. Their placement on the screen, also in relation to other icons, may provide further information to the user about their usage. In activating an icon, the user can move directly into and out of the identified function without knowing anything further about the location or requirements of the file or code.
The general prohibition sign, also known informally as the no symbol, 'do not' sign, circle-backslash symbol, nay, interdictory circle, prohibited symbol, don't do it symbol, or universal no, is a red circle with a 45-degree diagonal line inside the circle from upper-left to lower-right. It is typically overlaid on a pictogram to warn that an activity is not permitted, or has accompanying text to describe what is prohibited.
An interactive kiosk is a computer terminal featuring specialized hardware and software that provides access to information and applications for communication, commerce, entertainment, or education.
A retirement home – sometimes called an old people's home,old folks' home, or old age home, although old people's home can also refer to a nursing home – is a multi-residence housing facility intended for the elderly. Typically, each person or couple in the home has an apartment-style room or suite of rooms with an en-suite bathroom. Additional facilities are provided within the building. This can include facilities for meals, gatherings, recreation activities, and some form of health or hospital care. A place in a retirement home can be paid for on a rental basis, like an apartment, or can be bought in perpetuity on the same basis as a condominium.
Neon lighting consists of brightly glowing, electrified glass tubes or bulbs that contain rarefied neon or other gases. Neon lights are a type of cold cathode gas-discharge light. A neon tube is a sealed glass tube with a metal electrode at each end, filled with one of a number of gases at low pressure. A high potential of several thousand volts applied to the electrodes ionizes the gas in the tube, causing it to emit colored light. The color of the light depends on the gas in the tube. Neon lights were named for neon, a noble gas which gives off a popular orange light, but other gases and chemicals are used to produce other colors, such as hydrogen (purple-red), helium, carbon dioxide (white), and mercury (blue). Neon tubes can be fabricated in curving artistic shapes, to form letters or pictures. They are mainly used to make dramatic, multicolored glowing signage for advertising, called neon signs, which were popular from the 1920s to 1960s and again in the 1980s.
Pattison Outdoor Advertising is a Canadian out-of-home advertising company owned by the Jim Pattison Group. According to the Canadian Out-of-Home Measurement Bureau, it was Canada's largest out-of-home advertising company in 2013, holding more than 55% of the national market share in horizontal posters and a 43% market share of all traditional out-of-home media.
Digital signage is a segment of electronic signage. Digital displays use technologies such as LCD, LED, projection and e-paper to display digital images, video, web pages, weather data, restaurant menus, or text. They can be found in public spaces, transportation systems, museums, stadiums, retail stores, hotels, restaurants and corporate buildings etc., to provide wayfinding, exhibitions, marketing and outdoor advertising. They are used as a network of electronic displays that are centrally managed and individually addressable for the display of text, animated or video messages for advertising, information, entertainment and merchandising to targeted audiences.
Signage systems are visually oriented information systems, consisting of signs, maps, arrows, color-codings systems, pictograms and different typographic elements. Signage systems differ from other methods of information presentation because they are typically used to guide people's passage through the physical world; road signs on a highway, station identification signs in a subway and overhead signs in an airport are all common examples of signage systems. The act of following a signage system is known as wayfinding, waysigning or signposting.
An arrow is a graphical symbol, such as ← or →, or a pictogram, used to point or indicate direction. In its simplest form, an arrow is a triangle, chevron, or concave kite, usually affixed to a line segment or rectangle, and in more complex forms a representation of an actual arrow. The direction indicated by an arrow is the one along the length of the line or rectangle toward the single pointed end.
Visual merchandising is the practice in the retail industry of optimizing the presentation of products and services to better highlight their features and benefits. The purpose of such visual merchandising is to attract, engage, and motivate the customer towards making a purchase.
The term "ADA Signs" has come into common use in the architectural, construction and signage industries with the advent of the Americans With Disabilities Act, or ADA. The Americans with Disabilities Act regulates accessibility; and includes requirements for signage that is conveniently located and easy to read both visually and through tactile touch.
Retail design is a creative and commercial discipline that combines several different areas of expertise together in the design and construction of retail space. Retail design is primarily a specialized practice of architecture and interior design; however, it also incorporates elements of industrial design, graphic design, ergonomics, and advertising.
Legible London is a citywide wayfinding system for London, operated by Transport for London (TfL). The system is designed to provide a consistent visual language and wayfinding system across the city, allowing visitors and local residents to easily gain local geographic knowledge regardless of the area they are in. It is the world's largest municipal wayfinding system.
Signwriters design, manufacture and install signs, including advertising signs for shops, businesses and public facilities as well as signs for transport systems.
Ronald Shakespear is an Argentine graphic designer, mostly known for the Buenos Aires Visual Plan, designed along Guillermo González Ruiz in 1971–72. and other visual identity systems for several companies.
Wayfinding has been used in the context of architecture to refer to the user experience of orientation and navigating within the built environment.
↑ Van Voorst, R., RELG: World, Cengage, 2012, p. 257t
↑ Beard, Fred K. (2017). "The Ancient History of Advertising: Insights and Implications for Practitioners". Journal of Advertising Research. 57 (3): 239–244. doi:10.2501/JAR-2017-033. S2CID168647966.
↑ Corballis, P. (1989) Pub Signs, Lennard/Queen Anne
↑ Beard, F.K. (2016) "A History of Advertising and Sales Promotion," in The Routledge Companion to Marketing History, D.G. Brian Jones and Mark Tadajewski (eds), Oxon, Routledge, pp 201–224. ISBN9780367868710
↑ Zonggghuo lish bowu guan (ed.) (1991), Zonggghuo godai shi cako tulu: song yuan shiqi, Shanghai, Shanghai Educational Institute, p. 109
↑ Petty, R.D. (2016) "A History of Brand Identity Protection and Brand Marketing," in The Routledge Companion to Marketing History, D.G. Brian Jones, Mark Tadajewski (eds), Oxon, Routledge, p. 99. ISBN9780367868710
↑ Manton, Dafydd (2008). Ale and Arty in Sheffield: The Disappearing Art of Pub Signs. Sheffield, England: Arc Publishing and Print. ISBN978-1906722005.
↑ Haas, Cynthia Lea (1997). Ghost Signs of Arkansas. University of Arkansas Press. p.19. ISBN9781610751698.
↑ O'Toole, Lawrence (2012). Fading Ads of Philadelphia. History Press. p.103. ISBN9781609495435.
↑ Calori, C. (2007) Signage and Wayfinding Design: A Complete Guide to Graphic Design Systems, Wiley. pp. 8–9. ISBN978-1-119-08582-9
↑ Taylor, Charles R. (2010). "The Role of Signage in Marketing: Outdoor Advertising, Out-of-Home Media, and On-Premise Signs". Wiley International Encyclopedia of Marketing. doi:10.1002/9781444316568.wiem04011. ISBN9781405161787.
↑ Bitner, M.J., "Servicescapes: The Impact of Physical Surroundings on Customers and Employees," Journal of Marketing, vol. 56, no. 2, 1992, pp 57 -71
↑ Katz, K.L. and Rossiter, J. (1991) "Store Atmosphere: An Environmental Psychology Approach," in Bateson, J.E.G., Managing Services Marketing: Text, Cases and Readings, Dryden, Orlando, Fl, pp. 227–243. ISBN9780138070175
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