This reminds me of an experiment they did in Boston back in the early 1970s with new street signs (symbol signs) at busy intersections. At one spot they replaced a stop sign with an identical one that read "POTS" instead of "STOP" on it. People stopped at the sign anyway. That shows that people look at shape and color more than words. Another sign was a round "no entry" sign at Boylston and Arlington sts. with no words on it at all. People, who were used to the "DO NOT ENTER" signs, saw the red disk and horizontal white bar and obeyed the sign anyway. Why do we need to have "DO NOT ENTER" on those signs? They don't in Canada or anywhere else.
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Well designed symbolic signs are easier to identify at greater distances
than text. They are not so demanding on acuity or understanding of
official style written English. Even good eyesight can be challenged
under certain conditions.
Also they could increase the use of lower case to increase legibility.
People do not read words character by character, they recognise word
shape.
Sl�n,
John
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
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