Many thanks for sending me the images, much appreciated!

I’ve been putting together some of my research information into Ireland’s dual language signs in a blog format, so if you are interested, check it out at http://garrettreil.ie/design-research-blog.php

It’s a work in progress, and I’ll add more information as time goes by.

Best
Garrett

Many thanks for an interesting blog. I’m doing some academic work on Ireland’s dual language road signs (in a bid to improve, or at least draw attention to, the typographic design!).

I like your photos of Gerard Unger’s type in application and would very much appreciate if you’d grant me permission to use them for academic purposes, it would be used to illustrate the Netherland’s solution as one example of international practise. (Of course you’d be duly credited!)

I wonder if you have experienced any interesting dual language examples, good or bad, on your typographic travels>?

Any help gratefully received – and keep up the good work!

Sláinte

Garrett

In Germany many, many lights are attached to the top and point downwards.

Where do you live?
In my region there are hardly any lit signs left, because the current retroreflective materials make the additional lights superfluous.

At the sign you look for your destination. Say Rotterdam. Immediatly below that—where you naturally expect it—you have a small icon-like arrow, pointing you to the correct lane.

Well, I don’t think it’s that simple. Signs are read in different ways and they need to give access to those different ways of reading.
We usually don’t read all the information on a sign from the top left to the bottom right until we find our target. We look for our target where we expect it to be. So grouping the targets with a large arrow might be very helpful to quickly access the information we are looking for.

But then again, what »feels right« is usually just what we are used to the most. And that’s why I am surprised that this very new way of applying the arrows should be introduced in The Netherlands. Even though I like it, it might be rather confusing for the people who are not used to it. And I don’t think that’s gonna speed up the traffic!
The advantage of the German way of doing the arrows is clearly it’s consistency. They don’t change direction just because they are on an overhead sign.

I also, personally, don’t agree with the long arrows pointing upward. It takes to much time to deside… The reading direction is always downward for us Europeans.

So what happens in the Netherlands is the following:

At the sign you look for your destination. Say Rotterdam. Immediatly below that—where you naturally expect it—you have a small icon-like arrow, pointing you to the correct lane. I have to admit though that I am a Dutchman living in Germany, and hence be more comfortable with the old Dutch system.

Taking Sander picture of the 3-lane sign A12, A348, it is true that with the upward pointing arrows you can indicate the a particular lane is going to Apeldoorn, and that later on you still have the option to go to Nijmegen because a second lane will appear in the direction Nijmegen.

The purpose of all roadsigns is to inform you almost instantly where to go, and what to do. And to fullfill this purpose without creating ambiguity.

Just my 2 cents from Germany, Marco…

Thank you for your great series of traffic sign analyses for a lot of countries!
I’m looking foreward to read some more posts of other country-traffic-signs like from Italy, Greece, Spain or Great Britain and the US.

Greets from Germany,

Toby

What do you think of open or closed arrows? Should the text be centered of left aligned?

Well, I think that all features (arrows, alignment, typeface, sizes, borders, text content, colors, materials, …) must be considered within a comprehensive design. There might be good reasons for different arrows or alignments, as long as they work together with all the other features of the design.

I totally agree with you that the signs are too small, all the information is clutterd onto the sign. There is not even a grid to be found in this design. As from my understanding all of the highway signs are changed to this new style, this is based on a survey “Fileproof” where the arrows pointing upwards (like as in TomTom navigation software) speeds the traffic.

The problem with the Dutch is that there is no identity for road and highway signs, everything has been gathered in years without thinking about what is important. There is too much discussion and influences from all parties, which in the end will have a compromised identity.

Last summer I spend in Germany and the road and highway signs are so much better designed and placed. But then again Germany has a larger and wider put up infrastructure than the Netherlands.

What do you think of open or closed arrows? Should the text be centered of left aligned?

Btw, I love your photos!

I totally agree with you on the signs hanging on lighting points, they are very hard to read, too much information and a lighting pole is not intended as a sign. I prefer the German approach where signs are put before you make a decision rather than across the street (the Dutch way). And I believe you are right about the brief to mr Unger, the signs should be redesigned not the only typeface.

Your photo from “Venlo” is not a highway, it is a b-road, the second photo with “Eindhoven” is a highway sign and about to be changed, see image below.

I would prefer to use one typeface for all road signs in the Netherlands (just like the Germans do). Great read, thanks for sharing your information.

I do doubt that the last one is an official sign; I think someone made up its own. The text at the right bottom also suggests this: that doesn’t exists for the ‘official’ signage.