Re: Directional arrows

Mark Barratt <[email protected]> Fri, 06 Mar 2009 15:19:32 +0000
Newsgroups gmane.comp.infodesign.general
Message-ID <[email protected]>
Andrew Barker wrote:
> Can the massed knowledge here offer any comment on the subject of arrows 
> on directional signs. Which way should an arrow meaning 'ahead' point? 
> The intuitive answer seems to be that an 'ahead' arrow should point 
> upwards, but what about a suspended sign that one passes beneath - an 
> upwards pointing arrow seems wrong unless people are being instructed to 
> vault over the sign (unlikely and probably inadvisable). The standard 
> texts that I consult seem strangely reticent on the subject.

Opinion only: ceiling-mounted signs should have downward-pointing arrows 
for 'straight ahead'. In a corridor or walkway (or on a gantry you pass 
beaneath) this is not ambiguous.

In free-standing signs, or signs mounted on an object, the down arrow 
means 'here'.

best

-- 
Mark Barratt
Text Matters

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