Richard Hora in his Sarasota, FL studio, 2018 Richard Hora, a consummate designer and prolific artist, passed away on Saturday, April 2nd, four days after his 103rd birthday. He died peacefully of natural causes in his Sarasota, Florida home/studio, surrounded by his artwork and family members. A shy, but gregarious and handsome man, Richard touched […]
75th Anniversary of the Normandy Invasion: My Father at War By Mies Hora On this historic day of June 6th, while the world honors the Greatest Generation for their efforts to liberate humanity from Nazi oppression, I wish to spotlight my father, RICHARD HORA. I interviewed the centurion recently to clarify how he managed his […]
Lance Wyman: Process. A proposal for the 1976 USA Bicentennial identityby Unit EditionsThis post is adapted by Mies Hora from a Logo Creative book review. This book is a near reproduction of the one-off, leather-bound ‘sketchbook’ that Lance Wyman made to document his design process for the creation of a logo and identity design for […]
Challenge: Develop nomenclature, symbol content description, and a wayfinding icon/symbol sign that directs ride service customers and driver/operators in public spaces to the proper pickup location(s). This post presents an overview of the process the working group followed to arrive at a recommended standard for airport adoption, with a focus on the nomenclature and icon […]
Posted by Mies Hora (updated from a December 19, 2014 post) I’m a firm believer in the development of new and more powerful ways to visually communicate important messages non-verbally. As a wayfinding professional and symbol designer with a keen interest in all things non-verbal, I say “by all means, let’s move communicating the accessibility […]
The following essay is an excerpt from Paul Mijksenaar’s Foreword for the wayfinding reference work, Official Signs & Icons 3, developed by Mies Hora and published in late 2017 by Ultimate Symbol. Visual Lingua Franca: Characteristics, Limitations & Opportunities by Paul Mijksenaar Around 1895, Touring Club Italiano, an Italian cyclist’s association, introduced the very first […]
This post is based on an excerpt from the recently published wayfinding reference Official Signs & Icons 3 by Mies Hora. Cyclists Deserve Better A consensus formed more than a decade ago that signing standards for cycling in the public right-of-way needed to be more comprehensive, more consistent and clearly readable as a system of […]
A Far-reaching Symbol Based Communications System Unlike many countries, which often rely on international organizations or isolated governmental agencies to lead symbol sign development, the Chinese government has taken an expansive, even aggressive stance regarding the development of pictographic communications and standards. A vast country with many language dialects spoken as well as a burgeoning international […]
HUMANS AREN’T THE ONLY ONES LOOKING FOR A RELIEF AREA Beginning in 2009, the Department of Transportation (DOT) required all airlines to make sure there are animal relief areas at airports, and escorts to those relief areas, for any passenger traveling with a service animal. As a result, airports everywhere have created and expanded animal relief areas […]
At first glance most logos look very simple. This can be a quality or a problem. Albert Einstein once said that “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler”. This is one of my favorite quotes and it certainly applies when designing a logo. Meaningful simplicity is a prime quality. A logo […]
Lance Wyman will go down in history for his Mexico 1968 Olympics design, but he has also completed commissions for a huge variety of other projects. Many of these have been designed for the general public, and exist in the lived environments of cities and institutions. Now, a new monograph, the first major publication devoted to Lance […]
Peeing is Believing. 2016 is proving to be a year overflowing with bathroom and gender issues. Discrimination, confusion and unrest are roiling the politics and restrooms of America, where it has become difficult to merely ‘pee in peace’. Ever since their introduction in the late 19th century, public restrooms, or “water closets”, have been a […]
Suffocation Warning Labels At present, there is pretty broad public awareness of suffocation hazards for infants and small children associated with the use of plastic bags, and most plastic bags used today contain a suffocation warning. These warnings were developed in the wake of suffocation incidents of infants in the 1950s’. Around this time it […]
While driving in Japan you may see a treble clef curiously gracing a road sign or painted right on the asphalt, and then hear a shaky tune resonating through the vehicle. These musical roads can also be found in the United States, South Korea, and Denmark, although Japan is really the hub for humming highways […]
By Mies Hora Significon is a place for designers, enthusiasts and the curious public to come to review important and interesting happenings in the world of non-verbal communications. We target, look at, and discuss symbols, signs, icons and just about any effective (and sometimes ineffective) means of transmitting information via our essential gifts – eyesight and our […]
The salt-shaker symbol will denote high-sodium menu items. New York City to See How High-Salt-Content Labeling Shakes Out A salt-shaker symbol will be required to appear next to chain restaurant menu items that contain more than the recommended daily limit of 2,300 milligrams of sodium. New York City begins a new era in nutritional warnings when […]
FAA WARNS OF INCREASED DRONE SIGHTINGS Model aviation guidelines, published by the FAA, urge hobbyist drone pilots to operate at least 5 miles from airports, and never more than 400 feet above the ground. Despite its recommendations and awareness campaigns, earlier today the FAA released a statement saying that in 2015, helicopter and airplane pilots […]
Upside Down World Republican poll-leading The Donald has turned the GOP upside down with his entertainingly stubborn resistance to following the usual script and GOP talking points. In a way, Trump is the polar opposite of our laid-back, cerebral POTUS. The graphic above (courtesy DesignBoom) does a good job of humorously visualizing that concept. Other […]
Just ask Caitlin. Transgender issues are now in the forefront of a broad range of societal changes, including same-sex marriage, which is long overdue. This raises issues for practical matters such as public facilities usage and signing. In response, there have been a number of new signs proposed to label restrooms appropriately and the […]
Pooper scooper laws have been in effect all over the world for quite some time. But a milestone in the ‘dog doo’ wars was reached on August 1, 1978, when New York City’s Canine Waste Law, referred to as the “pooper-scooper” law, took effect, requiring dog owners to pick up after their pets. In 1978, […]
Barred owl gets own sign. MSNBC host Rachel Maddow inspired Oregon’s capital to post new warning signs in a park where four runners reported attacks from an angry owl likely defending its nest against perceived threats. One jogger, a surgeon, said the owl hit him twice in Bush’s Pasture Park in Salem, and so hard he […]
