Project Details:
Everyday we encounter signs that guide us through society. These signs direct us in traffic, help us navigate a new environment, and provide instructions for how to be law-abiding citizens. Beyond solely the physical, literal signage we’re used to seeing on the street, signs also take the form of signals and symbols. Whether permanent or temporary, signs undoubtedly play a role in shaping human interaction. Street signs have become a cultural phenomenon of sorts -- engaging individuals to search for spelling mistakes and when traveling internationally, faulty translations. Specifically in the United States, I researched street signs, signals, and symbols to determine how they impact American society. I proposed a deep visual analysis looking into the border division and / or order caused by such signage. Grounded in research that pulls data from the United States Department of Transportation, in conjunction with a theoretical understanding with regards to negotiating space and spatiality, I can now present a cohesive review of my findings.
Attempting to display how signs influence society is no easy task but early on in my research I made the executive decision that the final product must take a visual format because we’re conducive to visualizing such signs on a daily basis. To begin I needed to define what a sign entails. Defined by Merriam-Webster, a sign is: “An object, quality, or event whose presence or occurrence indicates the probable presence or occurrence of something else.” Once knowing this, I used my web scraping knowledge from my class titled Telling Stories in Visual Data Sets, where I accumulated a set of 500+ signs. However, I knew that in order to tell a compelling story with the data, I needed to narrow the focus to signs that imposed a “no” or “prohibited” message. In order for the final graphic to be visually stunning, it was critical for the last round of images to be positioned with the same shape. Thus, I chose to create a catalog of similar shaped prohibited signs. It was important to display everyday scenarios without signage and then over time I added the signage in to elevate the importance. I had to reformat the images to fit into a digital quilt -- a collection of sign. The next step was to upload them to Keynote where I animated them against a black background to create a Gif-esque graphic that acted as a puzzle board and one would pop-up every second but the rest of screen would be black and bounce around from one picture to another. The theory behind such a project was to accurately depict the sheer size of signs that affect society and illustrate the act of being prohibited from seeing other signs -- a symbolic motion.
Everything about the video was methodical, even the song choice had meaning. I used "One Tribe" by the Black Eyed Peas which is a song about unity in times of division. I chose for the instrumental version but some powerful lyrics are below:
"One tribe, one time, one planet, one race
Its all one blood, don't care about your face
The color of your eye
Or the tone of your skin
Don't care where you are
Don't care where you been
'Cause where we gonna go
Is where we wanna be
The place where the little language is unity
And the continent is called Pangaea
And the main ideas are connected like a sphere"
On the theoretical front, I knew once all of the data was collected, it was now time to interpret my findings. To accomplish this I took the chosen images and searched for patterns, themes, or any correlation between signage and society. One of the first resources I investigated was a document titled Characteristics and Guidelines of Great Public Spaces -- a baseline that serves as a point of reference when developing public spaces. Formulated by The American Planning Association, the organization provides leadership in the development of vital communities by advocating excellence in planning, promoting education and citizen empowerment, and providing members with the tools and support necessary to meet the challenges of growth and change. The APA defines great public spaces with the following characteristics:
Additionally, I wanted to dig deeper to understand how signs, signals, and symbols could offer a diagnosis for division caused in society. To accomplish this task I read Fábio Duarte’s book: Space, Place, and Territory: A Critical Review on Spatialities. Duarte highlights Space, Place and Territory -- concepts that lie at the core of geography and urban planning, environmental studies, and sociology. Duarte is scholar and research lead at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology – Senseable City Lab, and professor at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica, Curitiba, Brazil. Although space, place and territory are similar, they have particular characteristics that distinguish them from each other. They are interdependent but not interchangeable, and the differences between them explain how we simultaneously perceive, conceive and design multiple spatialities. The book concludes by focusing on spatial practices that challenge the status quo of how urban spaces are perceived and understood, from famous artists to anonymous interventions and even hackers of urban technologies. Understanding spatiality is beneficial to my research because street signs are a fundamental physical element in negotiating space. I learned there is severe division created in society, attributed to how space, place, and territory influence a border.
Finally, it was important for me to conclude with emotional feedback from individuals in one of the most sign-heavy populations in the country: New York City. I asked a random group of 20 individuals the same question: Do you think the amount of signs in society create borders or division? Participants overwhelmingly stated they feel the amount of signs is a two-edged sword -- bringing order to society but also creating borders in the process. For example: age discrimination can be viewed by signage at amusement parks, on special airplane seats where you have to meet age requirements, and even particular nightlife establishments. However, these signs are a reflection of safety and legal precautions in place. Most New Yorkers feel that although there is an oversaturation of signs (even spray paint on sidewalks!), it’s not negatively dividing society. Taking the logic behind social division as constructing a border, street signs only brighten societal differences -- disability vs. able-bodied (mobility), height / weight, gender, etc. Through something as simplistic as street signs -- an everyday occurrences -- I learned the power of borders and the division a sign brings to a given situation.
Attempting to display how signs influence society is no easy task but early on in my research I made the executive decision that the final product must take a visual format because we’re conducive to visualizing such signs on a daily basis. To begin I needed to define what a sign entails. Defined by Merriam-Webster, a sign is: “An object, quality, or event whose presence or occurrence indicates the probable presence or occurrence of something else.” Once knowing this, I used my web scraping knowledge from my class titled Telling Stories in Visual Data Sets, where I accumulated a set of 500+ signs. However, I knew that in order to tell a compelling story with the data, I needed to narrow the focus to signs that imposed a “no” or “prohibited” message. In order for the final graphic to be visually stunning, it was critical for the last round of images to be positioned with the same shape. Thus, I chose to create a catalog of similar shaped prohibited signs. It was important to display everyday scenarios without signage and then over time I added the signage in to elevate the importance. I had to reformat the images to fit into a digital quilt -- a collection of sign. The next step was to upload them to Keynote where I animated them against a black background to create a Gif-esque graphic that acted as a puzzle board and one would pop-up every second but the rest of screen would be black and bounce around from one picture to another. The theory behind such a project was to accurately depict the sheer size of signs that affect society and illustrate the act of being prohibited from seeing other signs -- a symbolic motion.
Everything about the video was methodical, even the song choice had meaning. I used "One Tribe" by the Black Eyed Peas which is a song about unity in times of division. I chose for the instrumental version but some powerful lyrics are below:
"One tribe, one time, one planet, one race
Its all one blood, don't care about your face
The color of your eye
Or the tone of your skin
Don't care where you are
Don't care where you been
'Cause where we gonna go
Is where we wanna be
The place where the little language is unity
And the continent is called Pangaea
And the main ideas are connected like a sphere"
On the theoretical front, I knew once all of the data was collected, it was now time to interpret my findings. To accomplish this I took the chosen images and searched for patterns, themes, or any correlation between signage and society. One of the first resources I investigated was a document titled Characteristics and Guidelines of Great Public Spaces -- a baseline that serves as a point of reference when developing public spaces. Formulated by The American Planning Association, the organization provides leadership in the development of vital communities by advocating excellence in planning, promoting education and citizen empowerment, and providing members with the tools and support necessary to meet the challenges of growth and change. The APA defines great public spaces with the following characteristics:
- Promoting human contact and social activities.
- Is safe, welcoming, and accommodating for all users.
- Has design and architectural features that are visually interesting.
- Promotes community involvement.
- Reflects the local culture or history.
- Relates well to bordering uses.
- Is well maintained.
- Has a unique or special character.
Additionally, I wanted to dig deeper to understand how signs, signals, and symbols could offer a diagnosis for division caused in society. To accomplish this task I read Fábio Duarte’s book: Space, Place, and Territory: A Critical Review on Spatialities. Duarte highlights Space, Place and Territory -- concepts that lie at the core of geography and urban planning, environmental studies, and sociology. Duarte is scholar and research lead at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology – Senseable City Lab, and professor at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica, Curitiba, Brazil. Although space, place and territory are similar, they have particular characteristics that distinguish them from each other. They are interdependent but not interchangeable, and the differences between them explain how we simultaneously perceive, conceive and design multiple spatialities. The book concludes by focusing on spatial practices that challenge the status quo of how urban spaces are perceived and understood, from famous artists to anonymous interventions and even hackers of urban technologies. Understanding spatiality is beneficial to my research because street signs are a fundamental physical element in negotiating space. I learned there is severe division created in society, attributed to how space, place, and territory influence a border.
Finally, it was important for me to conclude with emotional feedback from individuals in one of the most sign-heavy populations in the country: New York City. I asked a random group of 20 individuals the same question: Do you think the amount of signs in society create borders or division? Participants overwhelmingly stated they feel the amount of signs is a two-edged sword -- bringing order to society but also creating borders in the process. For example: age discrimination can be viewed by signage at amusement parks, on special airplane seats where you have to meet age requirements, and even particular nightlife establishments. However, these signs are a reflection of safety and legal precautions in place. Most New Yorkers feel that although there is an oversaturation of signs (even spray paint on sidewalks!), it’s not negatively dividing society. Taking the logic behind social division as constructing a border, street signs only brighten societal differences -- disability vs. able-bodied (mobility), height / weight, gender, etc. Through something as simplistic as street signs -- an everyday occurrences -- I learned the power of borders and the division a sign brings to a given situation.