On display
Image of Gallery in South Kensington

Traffic Sign


A road sign for all-purpose roads (A-roads) for the direction of Nottingham, Newark and Leicester

Object details

Object type
traffic sign
Materials and techniques
Aluminium Alloy
Polyethylene
Brief description
A road sign for all-purpose roads (A-roads) for the direction of Nottingham, Newark and Leicester
Gallery label
(2021)
A road sign that sets standards

Before the 1960s, British road signs were confusingly inconsistent. Over five years, graphic designers Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert developed a standardised signage system comprising fonts, colours, directional arrows and pictograms. Guidelines instructed how to bring these elements together and how to treat destination names. By 1965, this new uniform signage appeared on A-roads throughout the UK and the system is still in use today.

British road sign
1963 (manufactured 2012)
Designed by Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert
Manufactured by Route Signs with Buchanan Computing
Aluminium alloy and retroreflective material
Given by Margaret Calvert
Museum no. CD.3-2020

The object sits in the 'Housing and Leaving' section of the Design 1900-Now gallery opened in June 2021.
Credit line
Given by Margaret Calvert
Collection
Design, Architecture and Digital Department
Accession number
CD.3-2020

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Record createdOctober 6, 2020
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1543687/traffic-sign/
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