British Road Sign Project Book

Size: 210mm x 297mm
Pages: 40

In 1965, one of the most ambitious and effective signing systems was launched in Britain. The new system, relating to Continental protocol, included a set of pictograms and a new letterform named Transport designed by Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert. Despite minor modifications, the system still remains in place today.

The British Road Sign Project was curated by artist and designer Patrick Murphy. It celebrated the 50th anniversary of the signs by inviting over 80 leading artists and designers to transform the familiar circle, triangle and square signs. Participants included Sir Peter Blake, Sir Kenneth Grange, Neville Brody, Jonathan Barnbrook and Sir Terence Conran amongst. The collaborative signs evolved the original signs' function of instructing people about speed limits and directions into a poetic disruption of our everyday. Patrick also invited Margaret to create her own anniversary sign for the project which was titled ‘Bang, Bang’ and involved supplying a sign for Margaret to have a friend shoot 50 gunshots through it.

An installation of signs took place at the Design Museum during London Design Festival 2015. This book looks at the background of the project and features a selection of some of the anniversary signs created.