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Huggie is bothered not only by the decline of his South Philadelphia neighborhood, but also by the numerous signs posted by shady businesses that prey on desperate residents who are strapped for cash.
As a street artist, I decided to fight back against the blight by creating my own humorous bandit signs and posting them up around the city. I am aware that I might be contributing to the blight as well, but I really hope that my signs make people realize how ridiculous these advertisers are and help them take pride in their community. And if that doesn’t work, I hope it makes them laugh.
See more signs at his blog, Gorilla Upskirts. Link
A year ago, we told you about artist John Morse and his Roadside Haiku project in Atlanta. Now his talents have been commissioned for traffic signs in New York City! The New York City Department of Transportation has installed a collection of curbside signs written in haiku along with graphics designed by John Morse. The seventeen-syllable poetry warns drivers, pedestrians, and bikers to watch for safety hazards. Some also have QR codes. See more of them at core77. Link -via Metafilter
You’ll laugh at how well road signs work to illustrate movies we are all familiar with. Unreality magazine has a list of 15 posters that mashup films with common road signs gleaned from the Photoshop masters at Something Awful. Link
On the other hand, maybe trying to figure out where they are will help the residents of this Zürich retirement home will keep their minds active. Anyway, this design by Information Architects is certainly aesthetically appealing.
Link -via Swiss Miss
From Pedobears chasing children to “Stop Hammertime,” some graffiti artists have a great sense of humor. Happy Place has a lengthy collection of these reinterpreted signs for your viewing pleasure.
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Hurricane Irene is causing havoc along the east coast, but some business owners in its path retained their sense of humor, at least long enough to thumb their noses at the storm -just before evacuating. See a collection of such business signs at Buzzfeed. This one is my favorite. Link
I know altering street signs is one of the more dangerous forms of graffiti, but in most cases the changes are minor enough that the sign’s effect is still obvious they’re just a lot more funny now. WebUrbanist has a great collection of some of the funniest altered signs around.
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A Taco Bell marquee in Depew, New York had an unusual message Thursday that was photographed (and censored for the news audience) before it was taken down. Apparently, an employee had quit.
A co-worker of the supposed sign maker at Taco Bell/KFC tells News 4 that apparently Adam is the name of a shift manager at the restaurant who denied the worker the Fourth of July off after they had worked 22 days straight, despite allowing others to have the day off.
This is one of those things that the overwhelming majority of people would never do, but we have all thought about it at one time or another. Link -via Fark
I don’t know where this sign is actually from, but it’s admittedly hilarious. It seems to be saying “don’t put your baby on the crocodile rail where it will become dinner.” Have you guys ever seen this or any of the other hilarious roadsigns from this 11 Points post?
This would be so much fun to play with! Valentin Ruhry made this huge sign for the Austrian Cultural Forum of New York. It will be on display there through September 5.
Link and Forum Website -via Colossal | Photos: Valentin Ruhry
In another example of strangers collaborating to share information online, Minnesotastan asked for an explanation for a confusing passage in the novel Free Air:
She rarely lost her way. She was guided by the friendly trail signs — those big red R’s and L’s on fence post and telephone pole, magically telling the way from the Mississippi to the Pacific. (p.69)
At first glance, “L” and “R” would seem to mean “left” and “right”, but that wouldn’t help someone drive across the country. A commenter knew that “L” stood for the Lincoln Highway. With the help of reddit, we find out that “R” designates the Yellowstone Trail. Why they chose that letter instead of a “Y” is still a mystery. Link
Shaun Sanders leads us through the different way US cities treat pedestrians, illustrated with pedestrian crossing signs. See the rest at Hipmunk Link -via Laughing Squid
We see “missing” and “found” posters all the time, but they usually are a source of sadness as a reminder that someone has lost a loved one or a pet. These nineteen posters featured on sidewalks around the globe are funny plays on the classic signs you’re used to seeing.
Is it just me or does this poster remind you of that old wives tale about the old woman who had a pet sewer rat and thought it was a dog?
Image via Dig Your Own Grave
Here’s a great twist on the poster above.
Image via Babyanimalz
Fans of the classic educational game are sure to recognize these types of options that come at a river (or street) crossing.
Image by Jeff Wysaski, featured on his website Pleated Jeans
I have to admit, this cat is pretty darn awesome. Anyone know what breed it is?
Update: Thank you to Miss C and Sir P-S, who have pointed out it is a Palla’s Cat.
Image created by Running Amok Zine via Lizzy Stewart [Flickr]
How cool is this? We don’t post a lot of iPhone apps, because so many people do not have iPhones (myself for one). However, this is the first app I’ve seen that actually makes me want an iPhone (not that I’m going to buy one). The Word Lens app is a free download, but the dictionaries are $5 each. So far, English to Spanish and Spanish to English are the only dictionaries available. It works with short phrases like signs, not with large blocks of text, like books. Link -via reddit
The Seattle-based design firm Lead Pencil Studio created this installation at the US-Canadian border. It’s supposed to give the impression of a billboard:
the sculpture is made from small stainless steel rods that are assembled together to create the negative space of a billboard. while most billboards draw attention away from the landscape ‘non-sign II’ frames the landscape, focusing attention back on it.
Link via Dude Craft | Studio Website | Photo: Design Boom
You must admit it’s a name to remember: Young Boozer III. Boozer won the race for Alabama state treasurer, despite a rash of campaign sign thefts early in the campaign. It appears that college students wanted the signs for their dorms and frat houses. Boozer’s campaign manager Glenda Allred said there were still signs left to be picked up after the election.
Allred said the name, and the signs, have led to some odd requests, particularly people from out of state who requested signs even though they had no say in the election.
One request came from a journalist with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. “He came down to cover the BP oil spill and saw the sign as he was going down the interstate,” Allred said. “He called saying how he read about the candidate, saw the website and was following the race.”
The future value of the signs is uncertain. Link -via Arbroath
Restroom signs say much the same thing all over the world, but the way they say it says a lot about how view the differences between men and women. Why are women so often depicted as wearing skirts? And why do we have to use separate bathrooms anyway?
Women’s and men’s washrooms: we encounter them nearly every time we venture into public space. To many people the separation of the two, and the signs used to distinguish them, may seem innocuous and necessary. Trans people know that this is not the case, and that public battles have been waged over who is allowed to use which washroom. The segregation of public washrooms is one of the most basic ways that the male-female binary is upheld and reinforced.
As such, washroom signs are very telling of the way societies construct gender. They identify the male as the universal and the female as the variation. They express expectations of gender performance. And they conflate gender with sex.
Link -via Metafilter
You know how you drive long distances and it always feels good to see a state welcome sign, because it’s another milestone in the journey (or maybe your destination)? Now you can see all of them! Here’s a collection of welcome signs from all 50 of the United States of America (and all on 1 page).
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by 
The list is labeled “Passive Aggressive Library Signs”, but they seem pretty straightforward and useful to me. They clearly communicate the frustration of the sign maker, and some are downright hilarious! I would love to know the story behind the sign pictured here. Link
(image credit: Flickr user rockcreek)
Should the US ditch the classic red “exit” sign and replace it with a green man? There are arguments both for and against. For the red:
The contrast between the letters and the background renders it highly legible, the illumination stresses the importance of the message, and the color is evocative of both fire and fire-safety devices (fire extinguishers, fire engines, fire alarms, and the like).
But in other parts of the world, pictograms rule. The “running man” sign was designed by Yukio Ota and adopted internationally for exits a quarter century ago!
The sign’s wordlessness means it can be understood even by people who don’t speak the local language. And the green color, they argue, just makes sense. Green is the color of safety, a color that means go the world over. Red, on the other hand, most often means danger, alert, halt, please don’t touch. Why confuse panicked evacuees with a sign that means right this way in a color that means stop?
Slate lays out the arguments for both and a history of exit signs in one chapter of a six-part series on signs. Links to all the chapters are found at the top of each. Link -via Simply Left Behind
Getting drugs sure got a whole lot easier for Belleville, Washington Illinois residents. The police there place signs to let everybody know exactly where to buy them!
The police have only two signs, and when they use them at a location, it’ll likely only be for a day, and only during daytime hours. However, the sign will be up again on West H Street today because police used
it for only part of Wednesday. The signs are heavily weighted, which police expect will deter people from stealing them.When asked whether he thinks the signs will advertise where people can buy drugs, Sax said that those buying the drugs probably already knew to get them there in the first place.
The Westboro Baptist Church {wiki} held a demonstration in front of the Twitter office in San Francisco on Thursday. Even more people showed up for a counter protest, featuring the best protest signs I’ve ever seen. See more signs at Laughing Squid. Link
(image credit: Rubin Starset)
Businesses all over look for memorable names. Many go with puns, since a funny play on words will stick in your mind. Tanks A Lot is a blog full of punny business names, like restaurants named Beau Thai, Thai Ranosaurus, Thai Foon, or Tongue Thai’d (wonder what kind of food they serve?) or eyeglass stores named Specs Appeal or You and Eye. Link
Barbara Heard, from Gretton Road, Winchcombe, said she failed to understand how the signs could have been sanctioned by Tewkesbury Borough Council.
She said: “Does anyone have any idea what these signs mean?
“My husband and I regard ourselves as fairly intelligent but we have no idea.
“What will our overseas visitors will make of these signs?
Chris Pike of the Tewkesbury Borough Council says “ambulant” restrooms are larger than standard, and are “intended for people who may be partially disabled but cannot access the full disabled unit.” Link -via Arbroath
The following is a collaboration with Signspotting, a website dedicated to weird and funny signs by Doug Lansky Somehow we're expected to navigate the road and pick up the traffic nuances - perhaps even adjust to a steering wheel on the opposite side of the car while driving on the opposite side of the road - all before the first lane change. All this is, of course, before you even throw a few wacked-out signs into the equation: the road-side traffic symbols that look more confusing than psych-test ink blots, mangled English, and the occasional screwball posting that almost stops us in our tracks (if we could just locate the brakes fast enough in that rental car!). At least the stickfigures are easy to understand, often suffering miserably so that we might stay safe. 1. Way Off Piste
2. Wheelchair vs. Alligator
How many unattended relatives, you suppose, rolled to their tragic fate before local officials were prompted to put up this sign? 3. Officers Can Get a Little Frisky
4. Messiah Crossing?
5. World's Most Uncomfortable Ski Lift
You decide: uncomfortable chairlift or ski-in/ski-out medical clinic 6. Um, No Lap Dancing? No Red Underwear?
May look like a “no lap dancing” sign, but this is actually asking women not to urinate here. Presumably topless urination is common in this part of Croatia. 7. Warning: Giant Spikes!
C’mon, jump in! It’s not like there are giant spikes in the water specially placed to spear you in the nether regions. 8. It's Raining Men
Location: Mertola, Portugal __________
If you like the funny signs above (and who doesn't?), head on over to
Signspotting website for hundreds
more. Or get the book, Signspotting: Absurd & Amusing Signs From Around The World |
It’s springtime and birds are building nests in commercial advertising signs. Inquiring minds want to know: do birds have a favorite font?
Link – via dinosaursandrobots
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Marilyn Terrell.
The Linden Hill United Methodist Cemetery, located between Bushwick, Brooklyn and Ridgewood, Queens, take themselves very seriously. They’ve got strict rules regulating … well, everything!
It seems that about the only thing you can do at the cemetery is be dead. Oh, wait – they’ve probably got a rule against that too.
I am so obsessed with safety graphics–those little pictographs showing, quite graphically, what will happen to you and your body part if you get too close, operate machinery incorrectly or stand in the wrong place at the wrong time–that I had to start a blog to share them all.
Safety Graphics appear where you might expect them to: on a wood chipper or a cement truck. They also appear where you least expect them: on coffee makers and washing machines.
Look for the warning signs! Crushing, burns, serious injury, electrocution and death are right around the corner at all times.
From the Upcoming Queue, submitted by Kulia.
Ever wonder how to make the construction light signs change their text? Now you can with these handy instructions:
“It will ask you for a password. Try “DOTS”, the default password.
In all likelihood, the crew will not have changed it. However if they did, never fear. Hold “Control” and “Shift” and while holding, enter “DIPY”. This will reset the sign and reset the password to “DOTS” in the process. You’re in”
Am I the only one that thinks maybe, just maybe, these things should be a little harder to change? They usually are protected with a tiny lock, and sometimes that’s not even on there. What if the sign above was trying to warn the whole road was blocked and people laughed and kept driving 65?
Link Via BB Gadgets
and 
, both compiled
by Doug Lansky.
