Comments on: Design Great Billboards

By: pthub

pthub — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 16:40:01 +0000

makes sense, interesting post

By: Spencer Lavery

Spencer Lavery — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 14:23:43 +0000

This sign breaks the fundamental rule of information sign design by relying entirely on language. Almost all caution/emergency-related signs should communicate with an illustration/icon for those that either a) don’t understand the term or b) don’t speak the language.

Tests have shown that not only are illustrations more universally understandable, they’re also quicker to understand in most cases.

The Brits have road signs down to a tee for the most part.

Excellent comparison Matthew.

By: AlexW

AlexW — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 04:40:22 +0000

Perhaps this is what they were doing. After all, as a non-truck driver you aren’t part of their target audience - I’d guess that everyone who needs to use it knows what it is :)

That’s cool if the sign was intelligent enough to black itself out for every non-truck passing it. The problem is 99.9% of the users reading that sign, not only don’t need the information — they are actually likely at least somewhat confused and distracted by what the h*** an ‘arrester bed’ is, and whether they should know.

This is a case where the choice of phrasing is sucking attention and concentration away from the task of driving — so in some way making the road slightly less safe — and returning no benefit whatsoever.

Something as simple as ‘Emergency Braking Zone’ would be clear to all drivers.

By: Tyssen

Tyssen — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 03:32:29 +0000

Valid point overall. I would argue, however, that truckers understand what “arrester beds” are and that is your target audience.

Not necessarily. They’re not called arrester beds in other Australian states and a lot of truck drivers cross state boundaries. Fair enough, if you do a lot of interstate driving, you’ll probably find out what it means, but there’s probably going to be truck drivers who are in the same position as Matt, driving in SA for the first time, and not knowing what it means.

By: RagManX

RagManX — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 02:11:43 +0000

I’ve never seen that term before living in Tennessee. When I’ve seen those ramps, they were always labeled “Runaway truck ramp” across two lines, white text on a green sign, with a big arrow pointing toward the ramp.

By: Atomicron

Atomicron — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 15:16:53 +0000

Although not relevant to the point of the post, an Arrester Bed is know as a Runaway Lane in BC, Canada.

By: wwb_99

wwb_99 — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 14:38:27 +0000

Valid point overall. I would argue, however, that truckers understand what “arrester beds” are and that is your target audience. So it is much more like your, “Rite us, y0″ example than one would think . . .

By: Brian Artka

Brian Artka — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 13:45:31 +0000

hmm… being from the states I have never heard of these two words before, I have no clue where that comes from. lol. Good post Matt.

By: mattymcg

mattymcg — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 10:46:16 +0000

You make a good point, Dave. I guess I was getting at the fact that anyone whose brakes failed might find that ramp rather useful. Why shut out potential “customers”? :-)

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 10:24:55 +0000

“it’s really important to use language that your audience knows and understands immediately” - Perhaps this is what they were doing. After all, as a non-truck driver you aren’t part of their target audience - I’d guess that everyone who needs to use it knows what it is :)
It’ll take most of us longer to parse “web appearance rule” than “CSS”, even though the former is more descriptive and (probably) more intelligible for other people.