Thanks to the new communication technologies there are new public signs on the horizon.

“Touch and Travel eliminates the need to purchase tickets prior to boarding a bus or train, making travel faster and less complicated as passengers will be able to use their mobile phone as a ticket. The ticketing information is securely stored on the cell phone’s SIM card and can be checked although the batteries have run down.
The technology behind, Near Field Communications, is a new short-range wireless connectivity technology that evolved from a combination of existing contactless identification and interconnection technologies. Products with built-in NFC will dramatically simplify the way consumer devices interact with one another, helping people speed connections, receive and share information and even make fast and secure payments.”
NFC Project “Touch&Travel”

via Touch by Timo Arnall

“The Virtual Wall provides a barrier made up of plasma laser beams depicting pedestrians doing what they do best and any car that crosses that barrier suffers the consequences. Okay so maybe those lasers aren’t powerful enough to do any harm but the effect is enough to make drivers and pedestrians alike follow crosswalk rules to the tee.”

Designer: Hanyoung Lee
via yankodesign.com

“Icographic (The review of International Visual Communication Design) was founded by John Halas in 1971. It was designed / edited by Patrick Wallis Burke and released quarterly, well atleast for the first year. The journal addressed the broader areas of visual communication such as semiotics, communication theory, ergonomics of visual communication and the psychology of perception.”
Icographic Journal - Isotypes, Icons and Pictograms

“A new temperature-sensitive varnish that can be applied to road surfaces to visually warn drivers about dangerous conditions. the varnish is made of a polymer containing a thermochromic pigment. the same type of coating is already used to make bath thermometers & frozen food packaging that responds to temperature change. however, it is the first time such a coating has been used to monitor road temperatures.”
Intelligent paint turns roads pink in icy conditions
via infosthetics.com

“Research from London Underground found that a third of pregnant women who travel by Tube are never offered a seat, while some can wait for an average of five station stops before being asked to sit down.”

How effective is priority seating signage? by David Airey
photo by Annie Mole