Sign (display device)

A sign (pronEng|ˈsaɪn) is a publicly displayed or posted notice, board, or other device bearing letters, symbols and/or designs to convey a designation, name, direction, information, instruction, warning, advertisement, or other message. Signage usually refers to signs collectively, as in a sign system.

History

The French "enseigne" indicates its essential connection with what is known in English as a flag and in France banners not infrequently took the place of signs or sign boards in the Middle Ages. Signs, however, are best known in the form of painted or carved advertisements for shops, inns, etc. They are one of various emblematic methods used from time immemorial for publicly calling attention to the place to which they refer.

The ancient Egyptians and Greeks are known to have used signs, and many Roman examples are preserved, among them the widely-recognized bush to indicate a tavern, from which is derived the proverb "Good wine needs no bush". In some cases, such as the bush, or the three balls of pawnbrokers, certain signs became identified with certain trades and some of these later evolved into trademarks. Other signs can be grouped according to their various origins. Thus, at an early period the cross or other sign of a religious character was used to attract Christians, whereas the sign of the sun or the moon would serve the same purpose for pagans.

Later, the adaptation of the coats of arms or badges of noble families became common. These would be described by the people without consideration of the language of heraldry, and thus such signs as the Red Lion, the Green Dragon, etc., have become familiar, especially as pub signs.

In large towns where many practiced the same trade, and especially, as was often the case, where these congregated mainly in the same street, simple signs of a trade signs did not provide sufficient distinction. Thus a variety of devices came into existence; sometimes the trader used a rebus on his own name (e.g. two cocks for the name of Cox); sometimes he adopted a figure of an animal or other object, or portrait of a well-known person, which he considered likely to attract attention. Other signs used the common association of two heterogeneous objects, which (apart from those representing a rebus) were in some cases merely a whimsical combination, but in others arose from a popular misconception of the sign itself (e.g. the combination of the leg and star may have originated in a representation of the insignia of the garter), or from corruption in popular speech (e.g. the combination goat and compasses is said by some to be a corruption of God encompasses).

Whereas the use of signs was generally optional, publicans were on a different footing from other traders in this respect. As early as the 14th century there was a law in England compelling them to exhibit signs, for in 1393 the prosecution of a publican for not doing so is recorded. In France edicts were directed to the same end in 1567 and 1577.

Since the object of sign boards was to attract the public, they were often of an elaborate character. Not only were the signs themselves large and sometimes of great artistic merit (especially in the 16th and 17th centuries, when they reached their greatest vogue) but the posts or metal supports protruding from the houses over the street, from which the signs were swung, were often elaborately worked, and many beautiful examples of wrought-iron supports survive both in England and continental Europe.

The signs were a prominent feature of the streets of London at this period. But here and in other large towns they became a danger and a nuisance in the narrow ways. Already in 1669 a royal order had been directed in France against the excessive size of sign boards and their projection too far over the streets. In Paris in 1761 and in London about 1762-1773, laws were introduced which gradually compelled sign boards to be removed or fixed flat against the wall.

For the most part they only survived in connection with inns, for which some of the greatest artists of the time painted sign boards, usually representing the name of the inn. With the gradual abolition of sign boards, the numbering of houses began to be introduced in the early 18th century in London. It had been attempted in Paris as early as 1512, and had become almost universal by the close of the 18th century, though not enforced until 1805. Pending this development, houses which carried on trade at night (e.g. coffee houses, brothels, etc.) had various specific arrangements of lights, and these still survive to some extent, as in the case of doctors dispensaries and chemists shops.

ign uses

Different types of sign uses are:
* Commercial signs advertise for or identify a business or similar entity, with the purpose of attracting customers.
* Informational signs
* Directional signs: Directional, increasingly referred to as wayfinding, signs...
* Regulatory signs: Such as traffic signs
* Warning signs
* Accessibility signs: Accessibility, Braille, tactile...

ign technologies

Neon signs

Neon signs, introduced at the 1910 Paris Expo, are produced by the craft of bending glass tubing into shapes. A worker skilled in this craft is known as a glass bender, neon or tube bender.

LED signs

Light-emitting diode (LED) technology used in signs...

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