The War Over Exit Signs

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

It doesn't take long to figure out there is one over every doorway even if you can't read, chances are you will associate EXIT with a doorway that you can leave through. If I am in another country and there is a fire, I really don't care what the sign says the point is to have light near the door. lol
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
The real improvement would be floor level signage or lighting. In a fire ceiling mounted signs are often obscured by smoke.

The big lighted exit signs are visible from further away than the small "international" style placards.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
I look at the green man sign and see someone running for the bathroom. It may confuse a lot of women in movie theaters. There needs to be some red flames behind him.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
The Green Man sucks like a bucket of ticks. I should burn to death because some illiterate foreigners cannot be troubled to learn our ways? I mean, if a building catches on fire, I would first look for the red exit sign. Not seeing one I would remember that PC forced us to switch to some stoopid green man. I would then see the toilet sign and run into the bathroom by mistake, there to die in the flames.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
I'm sure in the comment thread at the link someone has brought up Ikea pictogram assembly instructions. I don't think anyone can sanely argue that the word for "exit" is easily misunderstood, and I've managed to figure out ones that had strange words such as "sortie" and "ausgang" as well.

As for metric, I've yet to find a country that has adopted it. When laboring in Europe I worked out quickly that the standard 2440 x 1220 mm plywood sheet is really 4 x 8 feet. 2440 x 1220 mm does roll off the tongue better though.
I did have a bit of a pickle in England when tying in new metric pipe into an old house with old plumbing. But when I asked at the "plumbers merchant" they told me that I just needed a 15mm coupling to solder the two together -- 15mm copper pipe is exactly the same size as the old 1/2" copper pipe, it is just measured to the inside diameter rather than the outside...
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
LOL dncucf... that's actually the first thing that came to my mind as well.. someone rushing for a bathroom.

Anyways... meh... I don't care either way. I'm used to seeing the EXIT signs, but I'm sure if the green man were used more often, I'd get used to associating it w/ an exit as well.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
First, MissC, thanks for the link.

In my office, we've gravitated to the green "EXIT" signs, which is a little like splitting the baby in half as a compromise.

When I was in England a few years back, that was the first time I had encountered the green man sign. It took me a while to first notice it, and then a little while longer to understand what it meant. Once I did, it made perfect sense.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
A native Californian, I went to bake a chicken once in Moscow, and set the oven for 350 without thinking. Since the oven was calibrated in Celsius, I had actually set the temperature at about 176F.

I slapped my forehead about ten minutes later, recalculated, and a good dinner was had by all.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
why the resentment for change? if evryone uses a clear pictogram for some universal uses, it might make stuff a little easier. Somehow we did manage it on freaking VCR remotes. (arrow for play/double for fast play ect.)
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
The green man, to me, does not make me think "exit," but rather "run through doorways."

My mother said, "If they can't read it, they deserve to be burned alive."
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
If someone doesn't know what EXIT means, then they shouldnt be in that building.

I agree, first and foremost, EXIT signs should be placed closer to the floor as well.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
here's a very telling difference:

people elsewhere in the world look at their exit signs written in kanji/hiragana/hanja/greek/cyrillic/etc and realized that there may be people out there who didn't understand these writing systems. so rather than let people who didn't know die in a fire, they tried to come up with a universally recognizable sign for an exit.

people in america (judging by the slate comments) don't recognize that there may be a problem, or if they do realize that there may be a problem think that other people should just adapt to the existing sign. in either case, the general attitude is "you should understand our way of doing things or you could DIAF".

sad.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
What's the problem with having BOTH?
Or would there still be people complaining that red and green don't look nice next to each other?

As for the metric system, DOuglas2, adopting it as a standard way of measuring things doesn't imply chopping bits off plywood and replumbing the whole country so that stuff becomes easier to say.
It just means: using a ruler that has centimeters on it.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
If you can't rudimentarily speak or understand the language, don't visit the country.

I've backpacked Europe and learned a lot of basic sayings and customs to make sure I was prepared and kept an open mind about where I traveled, including different signage and just accepted them.

So if someone cam to the United States from anywhere, Europe, Asia, Africa, Middle East, Pacific, South America, anywhere, and can't be bothered to learn the rules, customs, and language, zero sympathy for you, sorry. Not every country on the planet kowtows to other country's customs, so this exit sign thing is silly, understand and accept differences in countries and move on.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
I agree with the comments saying people should learn some of the language of the country they're in, but this is about an emergency situation where people could lose lives, not merely an inconvenience where they can't eat for a day or they lose their jewelry. Yes, I think it's stupid not to learn anything of other languages, but I don't think it's a level of stupidity punishable by death.

I personally love the idea of pictographic symbols being used worldwide, a sort of rudimentary universal language that everyone can understand. It's a great way to spread basic information to everyone without worrying about the dominance of one language over another.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
It is NOT that the US wants foreigners to die, it is that we have had a standard for well over 90 years that has been proven to be effective.
There is a regular consultative process that will allow change to the standard if change is warranted. Oddly, this process seems to be driven by data generated in the real world. Change to the color green and addition of the running man symbol may well be appropriate, and are not disallowed.
Because the USA was 50 years ahead of most of the world in this it has a preexisting standard. Because the signs have been in use for the entire lifetime of most of the population, they are more easily recognized in the near-term future than any replacement will be.
New Jersey is inventing a symbol to mark the back of the car for new drivers that have recently passed the driving test. THAT is a stupid action, ignoring the existing "p-plate" symbol already in use in most of the English-speaking world and elsewhere, to come up with a new one that won't be recognizable to anyone from outside your jurisdiction. But replacing a proven symbol just because a new ISO standard exists is not a good reason by itself.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
Forget the language barrier - if you're too dumb to figure out that the ONLY doors with lighted signs on them in a emergency is the WAY OUT then let Darwinism do it's thing.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
I read this very interesting article on Slate a week ago and was going to put it on the Upcoming Queue but didn't, knowing that it was most likely going to get 'thumbed down.'
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
Weird that no one has mentioned that red has a longer wavelength and is actually harder to pick out in darkened environments because it isn't easily seen by rod's photoreceptors... especially if it's smokey... and full of red flames, the contrast is very low. Even with the above image, the lit portion only reads 'cvit'.
Also don't forget about people only on a 2 hour stop off at an airport, or children who can't yet read. Inclusive design isn't something to scoff at. Go progression!
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
No, I don't get it. What if that person doesn't recognize the green man as an exit symbol? Should that person perish?

No, I think every country should hire students to accompany every foreign visitor wherever they travel in that country. That way, there would be no possibility of error.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
I can't believe this is an issue with anyone even non English speakers.

It really takes no time at all to learn the basic repeating signs when you go to a new Country. Things like stop signs, and subway signs aren't that hard to figure out.

Now if we had other signs that looked just like that with different words I might agree, but the EXIT sign is pretty unique.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
What about having the green man going out the door...but in red? When we'd still find a red exit sign and people who cant read English can read the picture.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
But what about people being colourblind especially in the green and red light-spectrum...? For those people, both signs spoken of here just dissapear in all the chaos.

No seriously- I agree with those who say that in fact it doesn't matter what sign is used and that different signs are used in different countries, as long as that sign is used uniformly and as long as is communicated clearly that that sign stands for "When in danger, this is the fastest way to get the hell out". And then I couldn't care less if I see that sign in Japanese, Chinese, Urdu, Jewish, Cyrillic or Sign. As long as somehow is made clear to me that that is where I have to go when disaster strikes and I don't run straight into the toilets or the broomlocker, it's fine with me.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
I personally like the green running man exit signs... If we could get the whole world to agree on one universal exit sign that would be favorable for everyone.

I could see being in a foreign country somewhere and being confused in an emergency if their signs were all in the countries native language.

Call me crazy but I also think it would also promote a little bit of comfort for foreigners who visit our country.... cool article.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
Login to comment.
Click here to access all of this post's 38 comments




Email This Post to a Friend
"The War Over Exit Signs"

Separate multiple emails with a comma. Limit 5.

 

Success! Your email has been sent!

close window
X

This website uses cookies.

This website uses cookies to improve user experience. By using this website you consent to all cookies in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

I agree
 
Learn More