The Worst of Road Signs

[empirestate]

OK, so we've got Alabama, Kentucky and Tonawanda. Can we narrow it down to certain local sign companies that might be responsible for the horridness?

Don't forget Oklahoma.

God, how could I?

Hell, that doesn't even do it for New York. Hmmm, let's see...

-Randolph
-Village of Lancaster (batch of restriction signs that are too new for GSV)
-Fort Edward thinks it's in certain parts of Canada[/url]

If I could remember where all of the signs were, I'd post more locations. There's a lot of crap in New York.

I mean, it's the story of this entire thread, really...the examples from New York so far, except the Tonawanda squares of course, just aren't what I'd put into a category with some of the other really awful stuff we've seen. Matter of fact, even the Alabama ones, though decidedly off-model, aren't completely abhorrent in terms of plain appearance. It's not that I believe New York would be immune to whatever causes widespread areas of crappiness elsewhere–which, by the way, I'm beginning to doubt the existence of, to be honest–it's just that I'm not seeing evidence of it.

[noelbotevera]

OK, so we've got Alabama, Kentucky and Tonawanda. Can we narrow it down to certain local sign companies that might be responsible for the horridness?

Don't forget Oklahoma.

God, how could I?

CoNcESSiONS

[cappicard]

Hardly worst of, more like unique or odd. And it looks quite good since the height is the same as the lane assignment sign.

It doesn't look bad. In the States, prohibition signs are typically square though.

[cl94]

Glens Falls. By far the worst speed limit sign I've ever seen. I'd rather it was one of those wooden speed limit signs you sometimes see developers put up. One font size for words AND numbers, wrong dimensions, wrong font, it goes on and on.

[SignGeek101]

Glens Falls. By far the worst speed limit sign I've ever seen. I'd rather it was one of those wooden speed limit signs you sometimes see developers put up. One font size for words AND numbers, wrong dimensions, wrong font, it goes on and on.

I'd expect to see that maybe in a private parking lot with a speed of 5 or something. Not on a public road. That is potentially the worst speed limit sign I've seen. It definitely beats these, which I thought were pretty bad:

https://goo.gl/maps/MGrmbPCEbtK2
https://goo.gl/maps/eiowNnWxN6y

[cappicard]

Glens Falls. By far the worst speed limit sign I've ever seen. I'd rather it was one of those wooden speed limit signs you sometimes see developers put up. One font size for words AND numbers, wrong dimensions, wrong font, it goes on and on.

I'd expect to see that maybe in a private parking lot with a speed of 5 or something. Not on a public road. That is potentially the worst speed limit sign I've seen. It definitely beats these, which I thought were pretty bad:

https://goo.gl/maps/MGrmbPCEbtK2
https://goo.gl/maps/eiowNnWxN6y

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? 

[dcbjms]

Before Kennedy Plaza got reconstructed, they used to have to those square crosswalk signs.  Which I honestly didn't anything of, since it's primarily used by Peter Pan Bus Lines/Greyhound and RIPTA, but now that I think of it, . . .

[TravelingBethelite]

GEDC1388 by CTRoads, on Flickr

In Fulton County, Arkansas, along US 63.

[WillWeaverRVA]

OK, so we've got Alabama, Kentucky and Tonawanda. Can we narrow it down to certain local sign companies that might be responsible for the horridness?

Don't forget Oklahoma.

God, how could I?

CoNcESSiONS

Don't forget the one that started it all.

[TravelingBethelite]

BoNuS StREEt vieW pOinTS foR thE TrAIN. GUyS help IvE bEEn InfECted with CrAiG CouNtY DiSease. pLeaSe SOMeOne sEnd foR aN AmbulanCE cAll 911 HeLP nOW

[Zeffy]

You know the song "Something in the Water" by Carrie Underwood? She's from Oklahoma. Clearly there must be something in the water there.

[wolfiefrick]

The Old Webster district of Webster Groves, MO, a suburb of St Louis, recently started making street sign blades brown and using not Helvetica, not Arial, but TIMES NEW ROMAN.




Need I say more?

[SignGeek101]

The Old Webster district of Webster Groves, MO, a suburb of St Louis, recently started making street sign blades brown and using not Helvetica, not Arial, but TIMES NEW ROMAN.



Need I say more?

I've seen Times New Roman street blades before. Not a fan of them, but I'll take it over Helvetica. Frankly, I'll take a lot of fonts over Helvetica.



Also notice the Arial on the right.

[wolfiefrick]

I've seen Times New Roman street blades before. Not a fan of them, but I'll take it over Helvetica. Frankly, I'll take a lot of fonts over Helvetica.

They aren't bad fonts by any means; Helvetica and Times New Roman are just overused. There is a myriad of fonts that are much better than Helvetica. It's too generic.

Also notice the Arial on the right.

However, Arial sucks.

[Rothman]

How does one judge a "good" font from a "bad" font?

[freebrickproductions]

How does one judge a "good" font from a "bad" font?

Whether or not it's aesthetically pleasing to them/how much it reminds them of having to write papers in school.

[formulanone]

How does one judge a "good" font from a "bad" font?

It all depends on how much is sits in the corners.

[jakeroot]

How does one judge a "good" font from a "bad" font?

In terms of distance from the text, sans-serif is preferred for long-distance, whereas serif is preferred for close-up reading. The other way around is not necessarily a bad thing (some serif fonts look good on road signs, such as NPS Rawlinson Roadway), but for the most part, serif fonts belong in/on reading material, whereas sans-serif is (primarily) for everything else.

However, there is no right or wrong answer here. Good vs bad is, obviously, very subjective.

[Road Hog]

Serif fonts in small doses are an OK change of pace. Most likely place you'll see them on a traffic sign are on street blades or in historic districts.

[JMAN_WiS&S]

If I ever saw MS Comic Sans on a sign I would die. It must be the only font available on teachers computers since all teachers seem to use it for everything.

[freebrickproductions]

If I ever saw MS Comic Sans on a sign I would die. It must be the only font available on teachers computers since all teachers seem to use it for everything.

I remember seeing a picture posted here (forget if it was in this thread or not) of a sign in Comic Sans.

[SignGeek101]

To be honest, I don't know why there is so much hate for Comic Sans. It seems to be everywhere online at least.

[noelbotevera]

To be honest, I don't know why there is so much hate for Comic Sans. It seems to be everywhere online at least.

It's also used in school papers. Most of my pre algebra papers used comic sans for pretty much everything. It's been everywhere, that it's so overused.

[wolfiefrick]

To be honest, I don't know why there is so much hate for Comic Sans. It seems to be everywhere online at least.

It's also used in school papers. Most of my pre algebra papers used comic sans for pretty much everything. It's been everywhere, that it's so overused.

If you're eleven years old you didn't take pre-algebra... At least not yet.

It's constantly used in my algebra papers and surprisingly it's me who gets the hate for not liking the font.


iPhone

[cl94]

To be honest, I don't know why there is so much hate for Comic Sans. It seems to be everywhere online at least.

It's also used in school papers. Most of my pre algebra papers used comic sans for pretty much everything. It's been everywhere, that it's so overused.

If you're eleven years old you didn't take pre-algebra... At least not yet.

iPhone

He would be. I don't know about PA's standards, but New York now starts in 4th-5th grade. I have a brother his age who has been doing algebra for more than a year.