Road Signage Systems

Signage is critical in enabling transport at every level in every mode, and hence, the universal uniformity of road signs across national boundaries has been essential for the development of globalization. Road, rail, airport, and seaport signage systems are subsets of transport signage systems, and the development of supply chain management and global tourism has experienced a growing integration of the signage in different transport modalities. At the same time, the rapid growth and increasing complexity of transport systems has led to a proliferation in the amount and variety of transport signage and a potential for confusion. In response, there is a demand for making signage as independent of a language as possible and for information technology to take over many of the functions of transport signage.

Signs provide a relationship between the physical existence of the sign itself and what the sign means to people and what the sign specifically refers to. A road sign is only a painted piece of wood stuck in the ground unless a driver knows that the 30 painted on it means there is a speed limit of 30 kilometers or miles per hour and that it refers to the exact place where the speed limit comes into operation. Transport signage is distinct in that signs are linked to what they refer to either directly, as when the sign for an exit is placed above the exit, or by indicating the location of what it refers to, as when a sign points to an exit.

There has always been a concern in regard to signage to simplify the sign and make it iconic in the sense that the sign looks like the thing it signifies. So a sign for a taxi stand might have an icon of a taxi as well as the word for a taxi. Such a sign could be readily recognized by someone who could not read or did not know the language the word was in. The growth of global tourism and the numbers of non-native language speakers using any given transport system has lead to an increase in iconic signage.

In 1968, 52 countries agreed to the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals in an attempt to provide global standards for road signage. In general, however, global conformism in transport signage is a trend originating from the needs of global tourism rather than from an imposed set of standards. Stop signs are clearly stop signs in any country because of their shape, coloring, use of bars, and placement. There is also increasing standardization in transport signage between the different modes of transport. This comes with the growth of supply chain management of transport, which seeks to take into account all the transport systems used from start to finish of a transport event. So the signage at airports seeks to integrate with the signage of the railway systems, urban transit systems, and road systems that service them.

All sign systems have two levels of meaning: denotative and connotative. Signage that is for the public good, to inform, mandate, warn, and/or guide people so that they can find places, travel safely, and observe appropriate codes of behavior, seeks to be as clear and unambiguous as possible. It prioritizes denotative meaning. To this end, there is research into the psychology of perception, particularly as it affects the placing and visibility of signs so that people have time to comprehend and react to them. Signage that advertises a service or product seeks to make clear where that service or product can be obtained, but it privileges connotative meaning by seeking to evoke in viewers whatever ideas, emotions, or associations will persuade them to use that service or product. Advertisers invest in research into perception, but their purpose is to persuade. Public signage may, therefore, find itself competing with commercial signage for the attention of transport users.

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