The Universal No in Arizona

Just back from our grand tour of Arizona, California, Washington, British Columbia and Alaska. While in Arizona, I began to notice all the "no gun signs." Most show a handgun crossed out.  Nice example of the "universal no" in action.

I began photographing them, but quickly learned that this was a sure fire way to strike up conversations with anyone nearby. I got tired of it and finally stopped after someone at a swimming pool pulled me aside.  Alas, the photo above isn't mine, but looks pretty typical.

Making Things by Hand

I've just been having some edifying discussions on "making" by hand and its role in design and craft. And now I see that the National Association of Swedish Handicraft Societies (SHR) is branding itself to include DIY, Guerilla actions, Craftivism, Recycling and other strands.  Their new poster is meant to sum this up in a wordless fashion:

Knowing Their Space: Signs of Jim Crow in the Segregated South

“They had black, well it was “colored” back then, on one side and “white” on the other, and we had our place on the bus, we had our water fountains for coloreds and our bathrooms for coloreds . . . we figured that’s just the way it’s supposed to be.” -- Sheila Florence

My article on segregation signage in the American South has just appeared in Design Issues. Although "Jim Crow" signs have a complex history and are examined as a social and semiotic form, I interpret  them differently.  These signs are an early, if incomplete, example of wayfinding signage. Design historians have paid scant attention to Jim Crow signs as artifacts, or as parts of processes or systems, but doing so illuminates important aspects of the signs’ function and appearance, examining how their style made them meaningful and authoritative. Even more important, when recognized as a feature of communication design history, they remind us how often design is used to enforce social regulation.