Signage discussion

[volan123]

Well we need some diversity in the signs, otherwise it would become boring seeing the same sign in all of Europe

[ZelvaCZ]

I am looking forward to this map Even if, honestly, it is not as good as SCS or Promods maps, I like your work a lot because when I opened the editor for the first time.. well, no comment Now, I can make simple landscape and junctions, but it is still very hard for me.

Especially Austria looks nice, keep it up!


Btw, my favourite signs are Czech they are simple, but they have everything you need

[Purno]

Especially compared to my top 3 signage systems of Europe, a lot can be improved.

#3: The Netherlands, Old School

Actually, I prefer the new style more. Considering it copies a lot of elements from the German signage, I'm all for uniformity in the EU.

From now on, back on topic!

I agree, but sorry, I find the topic too interesting not to reply on it. I'd like to suggest splitting of the foreign-sign discussion into a new topic, so the Slovenia topic can stay clean while we can continue the signage discussion

[volan123]

I also prefer the new style of Nederlands signage. Also, I didn't want to say that Austrian signage is in the top, but I compared it with Italy and other Balkan countries

[MandelSoft]

Well, I would like the new signage system of the Netherlands if it were executed well. Unfortunately, this differs quite a lot. There are regions where the standard is really good (Noord-Holland), but I find more situations where it is executed badly (Eindhoven, for instance). It just feels like the German system, but executed with way less quality and consistency...

My biggest pet peeve: floating route shields. It's a case of inefficient and poor alignment. In the northern parts Rotterdam and in Noord-Holland, you don't see that thankfully, and there you have the proper alignment with the baseline, like in this example:

Untitled by Wegenrein, on Flickr

However, I often see the route numbers placed like this:
2014-08-31 17.53.47 by fred3324, on Flickr

Here they are aligned to... yeah, what exactly? It just looks bad, it seems that the center of the route shields is aligned to the top of the arrows, which is completely nonsensical and takes up more vertical space (= more costs for the sign and extra wind loads). Why do they keep on doing that? It's such a pity...

Another pet peeve: I'd prefer to see the route number centered here instead of aligned to the left:



The old system was way more consistent in style and alignment. That is something I like to see. Also due to its simplicity, I value it more than the new system. If only they solved the problems with the current system, then it would be great!

Best,
MandelSoft

[volan123]

So do you know any other bad signages that other countries use? My worst IMO would be Italian, since it's not always consistent and they put way too much info on a little boards:

[MandelSoft]

Oh, I can open a whole can of worms about Italian signage. It's in my opinion the worst system:

- Overall bulky appearance
- Changing font sizes
- Ugly fonts. They use two different ones.
- Overall inefficient sign layout.
- Destination choice is inconsistent.
- Route shields not consistently displayed.
- Arrows don't match lane setup quite often, especially the upward ones
- Downward arrows are not above their respective lanes
- Sometimes the signs have a strange logic, especially in distances. On minor roads, you can see distance markers to certain locations, but it's not the distance to the city, but the road that leads to that city. Very confusing.
- Too many colours on secondary road signs.
- Sometimes way too many destinations

So that's why I consider Italian signage to be the worst of Europe.

Best,
MandelSoft

[volan123]

Totally agree with all the points you made Recently I fell in love with Polish signage, it looks so nice and organized. It's not as good as Germans signs, but for Eastern /Central Europe is good enough

[darthstingy123]

Hi, I have managed to change the UK A road designation font from Motorway to Transport if it is any help to anyone
So basically from this:

To this:


I don't know if you has already done this but I got tired of Motorway on the wrong signs, I also changed the A road map icons to transport.
I am happy to share the files if anyone is interested

[norguy]

Oh, I can open a whole can of worms about Italian signage. It's in my opinion the worst system:

Hmm, what is your (the sign expert ) opinion about the norwegian signage? Personally, I dislike those yellow navigation signs near cities. They are so ugly. Seems like they have copied the worst thing about the german system. Also, I sometimes find their signage in roundabouts confusing. Fortunately though, unlike Sweden and Finland, Norway has red and white prohibitory sign. Looks way better in my opinion.

My favorite signs are those of Denmark. They are beautiful, logic and fits perfectly into the landscape! (In terms of colors and design)