The way ahead Infographics, Information Design Paul Stiff
explains why the British road sign system simply works Britain’s
road and motorway sign system once appeared in a long list for
the ‘Great British Design Quest’, which asked TV viewers ‘to
choose their favourite example of British design from the past
100 years’. But it didn’t get through to the shortlist. That
would have needed someone to explain to voters why, if there
were Nobel prizes for design, this would be a winner. Here are
eight reasons. 1. Jock Kinneir and his assistant, Margaret
Calvert, were the first professional designers of a national
system of road traffic signs. Elsewhere it is still usual for
this to be done by engineers and surveyors – and it shows.
Kinneir’s work, starting with the motorway system from 1957, was
new. Existing signs did not meet standards of salience,
conspicuity and discriminability, to support drivers’ planning
and execution of often safety-critical decisions – at speed,
sometimes under adverse conditions. 2. Kinn