National Identity
Are there implications of road sign design for national identity?
Intentionally designing style attributes into road sign types is contrary to best practise, the focus must remain on clarity. But it is notable that motorway signs become a visible expression of national identity. I would argue that this even more the case in countries with dual-language signs. Margaret Calvert, co-designer of Transport mentions this unintentional by-product in relation to the design of the UK’s signs…
We never thought of it as a corporate identity, because a corporate identity is not just signs, but if you see it everywhere, it is part of the look of Britain. For me, and this is speaking of London, it goes with red buses and black cabs. (Poynor et al. 2004)
This element of identity goes far beyond a simple visual phenomenon in bilingual jurisdictions like Ireland. The ‘accidental’ nature of the design of our road signs to date has not been a positive in terms of identity, making Ireland the butt of humour and longstanding visitor complaints (Bord Fáilte 2000), rather than a leader.
The NRA has made inroads in placement of signs, adding directory signs, junction numbers and using overhead directional signs. It has also offered increased guidance on the use of appropriate type sizes (Reil 2006b). This may go some way to address issues of clarity, but essentially they will always be working to counter the shortcomings of a compromised system.
Clearly, our bilingual signs do not follow best practise. But, our road signs are one of the most visible statements we make about the importance of the Irish language, becoming part of our ‘linguistic landscape’ (Puzey, 2007). As such, in a time where we are committed to improving the use of Irish and have affirmed its constitutional status as our first language, there is an opportunity to lead the way. This would go beyond the matter of language and affirm Ireland as a design and research-focused economy.
Irish “…a fully fledged modern European language”
Irish is described as “a fully fledged modern European language” in the Statement on Language (RIALTAS na hÉIREANN; GOVERNMENT of IRELAND 2006).
Surely, a modern and living language should not be ‘ghettoised’ and deserves more than a faux celtic rendition of a few typographic characters. Likewise, Irish place names surely deserve to be read as easily as English. And if we can improve the readability and effectiveness of the English place names simultaneously, this in itself is a compelling argument for change.