Colour Response - The history of the stop sign

William Eno has been credited with designing the stop sign at the turn of the 20th century. The first stop sign was erected in Detroit in 1915. The sign was square in shape and measured 2 feet by 2 feet.

In 1935, the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices required that all stop signs be yellow with black lettering. However, the 1954 revision called for the stop sign to be red with white lettering.

“Red has always been associated with stopping” Gene Hawkins, professor of civil engineering at Texas A&M University and national authority on the history of the stop sign.

Since we interpret abstract meaning from colour, it becomes a useful perceptual feature of visual communication. It helps us to interpret the world, we propose colour-coding systems to map colours into concepts, it is applied in the domain of recycling and the traffic light system.

Colour triggers different responses and reactions compared to words alone, which makes it the most powerful form of communication that is instantly responded to. Colour jumps out before we even process what we are looking at.

With that in mind, how would you react to the “go” sign if it looked the same as the “stop” sign?

#Colourinference #Visualcommunication #Colourresponse #Colourcoding