Here's some of the key pointers to help signs make the most sense. It's really mostly common sense, certainly when it's all distilled, but sometimes it can simply help to approach things with a fresh, external and independent eye, drawing on experience and a structured approach. Here's our top ten tips.
1. Context.
The sign should be seen in the context of what comes before and what comes after. Part of a clear journey and flow. Equally the macro context will determine it's style an tone.
2. Be clear about purpose.
Be really clear in advance about the purpose before trying to find the words. It makes the words easier to find and more effective. It could include information, advice, instruction or command.
3. Encourage the desired action.
It's often tempting to see the negative issues and specify it's absence, rather encourage the positive alternative. Typically we see "Keep off the grass" when what we actually want people to do is to "Please keep to the paths". There's some science there two. We cannot naturally visualise the absence of something. For example..."Do not think of a red duck".....and you can't help but visualise a red duck, exactly the opposite of the request. So in all the Do Not "whatever" signs, the first thing somebody does is visualise the actual thing being discouraged, rather than the action being encouraged. For all the same reasons, sports physiologists focus on positive visualisation....visualise success and it's more likely to happen, visualise failure and that's what your encouraging.
4. Think first time user.
It's very easy to get into a a sense of traffic warden frustration...."If I told you once I've told you 100 times not to park there". Wait a minute "On no, actually I've told 100 different people once." So the test is to by default target the sign at the person seeing it for the first time. Often the signs are to encourage or discourage a persistent and consistent behaviour, but it's more usually it'about influencing lots of people once, rather than a few people lots of times. Second time users already know what they need to know.
5. Less is more.
But less is less easy to get right. In the words of Blaise Pascal, “I made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter" (Provincial Letters XVI). It's not surprisingly, each word has to do proportionally more work when there are fewer of them. Spending the effort here does pay off.
6. Be polite
Being polite goes a long way. Those please and thank you's go a long way. It's the equivalent of the engaging warmth that would ordinarily come through in personal contact.
7. Be careful with sentences.
Signs can end up being a sentence. It can be tempting to drop some of the joining up words, but can then invite the wrong joining up words to be read in other places.
8. Be Careful with CAPITALS
It's generally recognised that words in capitals are the written equivalent of shouting in the world of online communications. Arguably a more critical consideration matter signage is that a string of words in capitals, rather than lower case, are more difficult to read.
9. Do Design.
It's easy to think that signs are just about the words. But it's equally a design challenge... size, layout, spacing, font, colours, borders, balance of white space and ink.
10. Review
Things change so a programme of review can help ensure that sings and still doing the right job. It's also a chance to get those first impression signs nice and sparking clean.
