ABSTRACT
A considerable amount of research has been undertaken on the design of signage and printed material. Signage may be used in conjunction with other means of communication such as tactile information or audible information. Department for Trans (DfT's) 'Manual for Streets' 2007 recommends starting from a position of having no signs and introducing them only where they have a clear function. The general principles are summarised here: Research by TransVision for Transport Canada produced the following table relating viewing distance to symbol size. General recommendations indicate that the attributes of typeface are more distinguishable: Characters on signs should contrast with the background: dark text on a light background, light text on a dark background. Associated with colour contrast, light reflectance value (LRV) is a measure of the amount of light reflected from a surface and is dependent on both the colour and texture of the surface. A rule of thumb within the signage industry suggests a LRV contrast of 70%.
