Signs of the times
Until recently, Exit Signs have been reassuring in their blandness...
In the ‘age of terror’, however, Exit Signs seem to have assumed a new urgency and drama...
So, we may forget evacuating our workplaces in an orderly fashion — just go hell-for-leather out that door.
But where there are multiple exits, we may one day be faced with a very stark choice...
Perhaps Exit Signs should now specify distances.
And soon perhaps we may even see something like this on the budget flight...
Labels: signs
posted by Jacob A. Stam at 3/07/2007 01:06:00 AM
4 Comments:
Yes Jacob. These signs are everywhere in Europe, well, Germany and Grece anyway.
They were used for the dunnies too. Often they indicated my need for same....
Least they were better than the bloke wearing a baseball cap that continually blew up trains on the monitors of Singapore's MRT.
Hmm, I wonder what signs for Melbourne rail and tram emergency exits should really look like? Disturbing, I imagine.
But back to the point: what are they trying to tell us, do you think? Why has the signifier evolved in this manner, given that 98% in the world will never in their lives need to rush to an exit?
Those caught up in natural disasters obviously don't have the luxury of dinky exit signs.
..... given that 98% of people ...
that should have read.
To be fair, I suppose a figure frantically running for the door is a universal signifier. It's conceivable that someone somewhere even in Australia has no conception of what the collection of symbols EXIT signifies. Many users of the met can't seem to manage to read train timetables, dependent instead on those pushbutton automatons with the impeccable diction and rounded vowells - oh, vowls so rownded as you wouldn't believe you were in Straya, mate!
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