Day 2: The 2009 National Signage Research & Education Conference

The second day of the 2009 National Signage Research and Education Conference was highlighted by two significant developments: presentation of the Signage Foundation (SFI) Inc.-funded model sign code and documentation of the dedicated introduction of signage principals to students in the University of Cincinnati’s Business College and the College of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning (DAAP). Cleveland State University law professor Alan Weinstein (who’s also a planner) and David Hartt, a Cleveland-based planning and development consultant, outlined their model sign code, called A Framework for On-Premise Sign Regulation. The full code can be reviewed on the SFI website at www.thesignagefoundation.org.

Weinstein described the code’s goal to "fully respect the comprehensive purposes of signs from the perspective of both community and business interests." He said he hopes the code can combat the too-prevalent notion among some planners that smaller signs are somehow more safe, and the equally illogical belief that public goals are good and business goals are bad.

Some primary distingushing concepts included the division of commercial districts into eight more specific categories (deemed "character areas"). Additionally, instead of measuring signage areas by single rectangles, the code suggests the use of multiple shapes in order to encourage creative design. Otherwise, to maximize letter size, sign design might veer toward all capital letters and insufficient use of negative space (think Dollar General).

In the afternoon, DAAP associate professor Menelaos Triantafillou outlined how, this past summer, his students had inventored the signage on 2.8 miles of commercially saturated Beechmont Ave. in the Greater Cincinnati area known as Anderson Township. On their own, by taking myriad photos of the entire area, the students determined that utility poles and wires created much more clutter than the signage. The students then suggested ways to remedy the nearly impossible task of allowing each business to be identified, but minimizing clutter, armed with what they had recently learned via the Framework model code.

Their specific conclusions are perhaps irrelevant. By far, the more important aspects are simply their exposure to real-world signage concepts, and their purposeful thinking. 

During the lunchtime presentation, School of Business Gemini Chair Prof. James Kellaris outlined how marketing students were surveyed as to their beliefs about signs. Half were queried without having been exposed to signage information, and the other half responded following a brief overview lecture about signage. Kellaris said the results will be presented at an American Marketing Assn. conference in February.

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Although I didn’t see any representatives from the United States Sign Council (USSC), nor were any of their Penn State researchers among the presenters, its research efforts were profusely cited by many presenters with regard to visual acuity, cone of vision and other empirical documentation. 

Those in attendance also profited from the comprehensive conference manual, in which most of the speakers provided ample data, tables and veribage from their presentations. Tomorrow, October 15, will conclude the conference with a half-day session.

Here’s a recap of the first day.