Exit sign preference?

[tolbs17]

I prefer red. Green kinda seems silly to me. Although here, I've seen buildings with both red and green.

https://blog.1000bulbs.com/home/exit-sign-guide

This was taken at the ECU Student Center. The Health Sciences building has all green exit signs.

[Big John]

Some states have requirements or recommendations on which color to use:  https://blog.1000bulbs.com/home/exit-sign-guide

[tolbs17]

Some states have requirements or recommendations on which color to use:  https://blog.1000bulbs.com/home/exit-sign-guide

interesting i see. Normally signs are red but green signs are allowed. Signs are mostly red here

[ran4sh]

Red is or was the standard in America, green is used in some other countries. The interesting trend I'm seeing is that aircraft exit signs which had been red are changing to green, for example, Delta Air Lines' newest safety presentation video says that the exits are marked with green signs.

[formulanone]

Red is or was the standard in America, green is used in some other countries. The interesting trend I'm seeing is that aircraft exit signs which had been red are changing to green, for example, Delta Air Lines' newest safety presentation video says that the exits are marked with green signs.

I wonder if the change was psychological; don't be afraid to exit because it's red, it's okay (green) to exit here in an emergency. Could also be wherever interior outfitting companies are based. Google shows a few different examples, and most use red.

Airbus tends to use green, Boeing uses red...from my small sample size of photos. Now I'll be checking this out for a while!


Back Row of Delta's Airbus A321 by formulanone, on Flickr


Back Row View, Boeing 737-900 by formulanone, on Flickr

[Scott5114]

Green signs are easier to see because the wavelength isn't as long, and thus human eyes are more sensitive to it. Also, in the event of a fire, green will stand out easier on account of... all of the fire, which is famously not green.

I think red is actually only used in the US; every other country requires green (Canada used to allow red but it is phasing it out). Most other countries also include a pictogram of a person running through a door.

[jeffandnicole]

Throughout the King of Prussia Mall near Philly, you'll also find floor-level Exit signage, because they also teach you to crawl below the smoke when possible.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/schuminweb/51496780643

[SkyPesos]

Prefer green exit signs myself. Not sure why besides that it looks more appealing to me than red signs, and that most other countries use green exit signs.

[ran4sh]

Green signs are easier to see because the wavelength isn't as long, and thus human eyes are more sensitive to it. Also, in the event of a fire, green will stand out easier on account of... all of the fire, which is famously not green.

Green isn't really close to being the shortest wavelength color though. If short wavelengths are easier to see then one would think that violet and blue would be those colors.

[hotdogPi]

Green signs are easier to see because the wavelength isn't as long, and thus human eyes are more sensitive to it. Also, in the event of a fire, green will stand out easier on account of... all of the fire, which is famously not green.

Green isn't really close to being the shortest wavelength color though. If short wavelengths are easier to see then one would think that violet and blue would be those colors.

Green is definitely the brightest to the human eye. He might have meant "closer to the center" rather than just shorter.

[formulanone]

Green signs are easier to see because the wavelength isn't as long, and thus human eyes are more sensitive to it. Also, in the event of a fire, green will stand out easier on account of... all of the fire, which is famously not green.

Green isn't really close to being the shortest wavelength color though. If short wavelengths are easier to see then one would think that violet and blue would be those colors.

Green is definitely the brightest to the human eye. He might have meant "closer to the center" rather than just shorter.

Red is a longer wavelength than any other color in a human's visual spectrum; it is not as visually attenuated by absorption compared to other shorter wavelengths' colors. Thus, it is physically the first color the human eye sees, and psychologically it can be used to induce primal fear due to the color being related to bloodshed.

Still, if everything in a room is red, you would need something to make it stand out. Perceptually, we tend to cancel-out an overload of visual phenomena to a small percentage of what our fovea (located to the rear of our eye cavity) can sharply detect. As green is a visual complement on the other side of the color wheel, it would make the most sense.

[wriddle082]

I sort of like E5-1bP mounted above E5-1.  Or the Nebraska style.  Because they're different.

[Dirt Roads]

Red is or was the standard in America, green is used in some other countries.

Rabbit hole.  I had a hard time learning certain parts of the Dutch language.  The exit signs are marked "UIT".  That word is actually pronounced almost just like the English word "out".  I tried to order pizza with onions (Dutch "uin") in a restaurant where all of the staff were from the Middle East and nobody spoke English.  That word first came out like "yuinz" in Pittsburghese.  Had no problem ordering pepperoni, but never could figure out how to order onions until I got back to work at the airport and found out how to pronounce the word on the exit sign.

[Scott5114]

Green signs are easier to see because the wavelength isn't as long, and thus human eyes are more sensitive to it. Also, in the event of a fire, green will stand out easier on account of... all of the fire, which is famously not green.

Green isn't really close to being the shortest wavelength color though. If short wavelengths are easier to see then one would think that violet and blue would be those colors.

Blue doesn't have the positive connotations that green does though. A green light means go. A blue light means you're in a Kmart that's about to go out of business.

[tolbs17]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exit_sign

In the United States, exit signs can have either red or green lettering, but traditionally have been red. Many states or cities have enacted building codes which specify the sign color. For example, in Baltimore, Salt Lake City, and Portland, Oregon, green is required. New York City, Rhode Island, and Chicago (along with the rest of Illinois) require that exit signs have red text.

We never introduced symbolic exit signs.

Newly installed exit signs in Australia are green with white "running man" figure (AS2293). Previously, green written 'EXIT' signs were standard.

[SkyPesos]

We never introduced symbolic exit signs.

Newly installed exit signs in Australia are green with white "running man" figure (AS2293). Previously, green written 'EXIT' signs were standard.

The US seem to use a lot more more text-based signage than pictogram-based compared to other countries. Like for road signs, compare the MUTCD signs and the Vienna Convention signs, and you'll see. Speed limit signs elsewhere are simply a number in a white and red circle, for example.

[Pink Jazz]

Green signs are easier to see because the wavelength isn't as long, and thus human eyes are more sensitive to it. Also, in the event of a fire, green will stand out easier on account of... all of the fire, which is famously not green.

Green isn't really close to being the shortest wavelength color though. If short wavelengths are easier to see then one would think that violet and blue would be those colors.

Blue doesn't have the positive connotations that green does though. A green light means go. A blue light means you're in a Kmart that's about to go out of business.

In fact, violet is one of the colors that the human eye is least sensitive to.

[jakeroot]

The green running man is definitely the norm across British Columbia, as it is in most of Canada. It seems like a lot of retrofits took place.

Here in Washington, I mostly see green in new buildings, red in older buildings. The green running man is used in the WA-99 Tunnel under Seattle, as well as the I-90 Mount Baker tunnel and I-90 Aubrey Davis Park lid (both of these were retrofitted within the last five years, previously it showed a vertical EXIT in red-on-white).

[tolbs17]

I know the US has no plans to switch over to the green running man signs as they say the EXIT text works just fine for humans to see.

[jakeroot]

I know the US has no plans to switch over to the green running man signs as they say the EXIT text works just fine for humans to see.

They said that? Regulations like this are notoriously slow to change, I wouldn't be surprised if the US adopted the running man in the next decade.

[tolbs17]

I know the US has no plans to switch over to the green running man signs as they say the EXIT text works just fine for humans to see.

They said that? Regulations like this are notoriously slow to change, I wouldn't be surprised if the US adopted the running man in the next decade.

https://www.jessupmfg.com/blog/what-is-the-running-man-exit-sign-and-where-is-it-used.html

While the NFPA has no plans to substitute the classic American emergency EXIT sign anytime soon, you can't deny the Running Man's widespread appeal.

[jakeroot]

https://www.jessupmfg.com/blog/what-is-the-running-man-exit-sign-and-where-is-it-used.html

While the NFPA has no plans to substitute the classic American emergency EXIT sign anytime soon, you can't deny the Running Man's widespread appeal.

Based on that, you could assume that the running man exit sign could just as easily become the standard if it's already permitted. All you need are a few cities/counties/states to start mandating it, it becomes a trend, and then eventually the standard.

[Scott5114]

The problem is that while NFPA has no problem with the running-man sign, without them adding it to their standard, there's no way to guarantee that it won't get you a code enforcement violation. For example, right now, I'm working on a commercial project in a town of 8900. If I put up a running man exit sign, I risk the building inspector saying "well, that ain't something I ever seen before" and issuing a code enforcement violation against us. I could try to persuade him that yes, actually, this meets NFPA regulations, and, and, and...but I might not succeed if he's stuck in his ways. Well, do I really want to risk having my business partners pissed off at me because I wasted a few hundred dollars on non-standard exit signs? No, I'm going to put up a standard exit sign.

As it is now, I don't think you can even buy an exit sign that both meets NFPA standards and includes the running man. All of the ones I've found are glow-in-the-dark, rather than internally illuminated, and stress that they can only be used as an "egress marker" (I am not sure what the distinction is) and not as a primary exit sign.

[Henry]

I like green better because it doesn't hurt the eyes as much as red does.

[jeffandnicole]

I know the US has no plans to switch over to the green running man signs as they say the EXIT text works just fine for humans to see.

They said that? Regulations like this are notoriously slow to change, I wouldn't be surprised if the US adopted the running man in the next decade.

You know if they try to adopt it, immediately the disabled and the hard of running will loudly bitch about the design.