New Streetsigns Balbriggan

sNarah

So, to celebrate 150 years of Balbriggan, new streetsigns and "welcome to balbriggan" signs have been placed around the town.

They are green, red and grey and I personally think they look hideous from a design point of view. fair enough, it looks a bit tidier - but I'm just not feeling the love

Does anyone else feel the same?

(sorry could find an example online)

Discuss!

_michelle_

Was just discussing them today and I think they really tidy the place up.
Thats just my opinion

NorthDub

i think they are really nice

RobFowl

They certainly are different and I can see how they divide opinion.
Personally I like them.
They add colour and do stand out (for the right reasons!).
Roll on the next 150 years...

Frank Spencer

Here's a few pics.

P_1

I recall that for the first few days they had the "Welcome to Balbriggan" sign by the golf club back to front. Caused a few laughs.

Personally, while they may look good I think they are somewhat a waste of money. Fancy new street signs should not be the priority of the powers that be in Balbriggan.

ParkRunner

I like them. Makes giving directions a lot easier at least up around the newer part of the town. They have done a lot of good work around the town in fairness fixing up the paths and keeping the place tidy. I would prefer if they invested some money in the roads though as some of them are in an awful condition

minikin

I can see why they've chosen the colour scheme (to match the town crest) but from a legibility point of view they are a disaster, they don't function well, background colour should be just that... a colour that doesn't dominate... the text should be the first thing you notice and should be legible from a distance when moving at speed! They don't even take colour blindness into account.

I've worked in signage/display design for years... whoever did these obviously never heard of calvert / kinneir.

they may be 'pretty' but they're damn all use... the third picture in the sequence is a perfect example of what someone with less than perfect vision would make of them... reversing such thin stroked white text out of such a colour is ineffective.

LeoB

Agree with previous post, anyone with vision problems will find them a little challenging. But I do like the Welcome to Balbriggan sign.

sNarah

Thanks for all the comments, that's what I meant, from a design point of view I'm not overly impressed with them.

I think they do brighten up the place and give a bit of "Buzz" for the 150 years celebration. Imho, No, it's not a waste of money. Sure, it could have been spend on other things that might be more important, but I feel that sometimes it is good to celebrate positive things!!

meditraitor

I like them.

wow sierra

I think they are great - they really brighten up the place- and I think they are easy to read.

PurplePrincess

I agree about them being hard to read until you're nearly on top of them. Personally wouldn't be mad on the colour but I see from above its to do with the town crest so that makes sense.
I do think they smarten the place up and makes it look like the town takes a bit of pride in itself.

DubArk

I think they look fantastic and really brighten up Balbriggan….
It really looks as if a lot of thought has gone into it.


Congratulations Balbriggan and Many Happy Returns!!

minikin

I'd agree that a lot of thought has gone into them, unfortunately not by people who know what they're doing... the purpose of a road sign (this goes for all professionally designed items) is not just to be pretty/colourful/make something look nice... it's a whole lot more than that... it's to be functional.

In this case the function is to convey information (the street name) to somebody driving at up to 50km/h from a distance of about 30 metres... if all you see is a red or green blob then it's failed, which leads to people getting the information too late to safely make the turn/locate where they are.

I can't see any competent signage designer coming up with these, has the stink of a 'komiteee decision' about them.

It's not a matter of liking or disliking them... people make that mistake about designed items all the time, the question is does it achieve the goal that it needs to.

Just to clarify: I think what's happening in Balbriggan with the Square etc is a great improvement (particularly the farmers market) and we all know that there is a great deal still to be done with roads etc. I hope I'm not coming across as blindly critical it's just I hate seeing money spent on less than ideal solutions... just the same as if they built a new road that was full of pot holes because it was badly designed/built.

I'm all for progress but Balbriggan and it's people deserve the highest of standards, we shouldn't settle for second rate results because it's only Balbriggan, not Skerries.

electrofrog

Yeah but its only Balbriggan :rolleyes:

DubArk

minikin wrote: »

In this case the function is to convey information (the street name) to somebody driving at up to 50km/h from a distance of about 30 metres... if all you see is a red or green blob then it's failed, which leads to people getting the information too late to safely make the turn/locate where they are.

They'd be over the speed limit in the centre of a town.... Slow down is what I say! Maybe they're supposed read at the right speed limit!

minikin wrote: »

.................. because it's only Balbriggan, not Skerries.

I'm from Skerries and you need to move on.... No one was saying or even indicating that. :rolleyes:

The Hill Billy

Please folks - don't drag this off topic on another 'Balbriggan v Skerries' debate. Stick to discussing the 'interestingly designed' street signage.

Ta,

HB

minikin

Dubark, this is a discussion about the design of road signs, the speed limit in the town IS 50km/h so I don't know what you mean by

They'd be over the speed limit in the centre of a town.... Slow down is what I say! Maybe they're supposed read at the right speed limit!

The issue is not whether the signs are pretty/colourful enough... it's whether they're well designed or not... which they're not.

DubArk

minikin wrote: »

Dubark, this is a discussion about the design of road signs, the speed limit in the town IS 50km/h so I don't know what you mean by



The issue is not whether the signs are pretty/colourful enough... it's whether they're well designed or not... which they're not.

I was completely aware of the discussion from the onset. I can read :rolleyes:

You’re the one who went way off topic! Naughty naughty…. :P

The Hill Billy

minikin & DubArk - Take a 24 hour break for off-topic bickering.

When you come back - if you persist your ban will be for a lot longer.

HB

Eoineo

I'm having problems reading the signs from a distance & that's walking. Maybe I need to get my eyesight checked again.

Something else that I noticed this morning is that all the new streetsigns are placed far closer to the kerb/verge than others are. So for example at the carpark entrance & front entrance to Loreto School the signs have already bent because the installers didn't take the time to see why the other signs are further away from the corner. They must have been bent by a truck or a van turning into the lane. If they bend this easily what will happen in a few months time? How sustainable are they?

I've been getting a real feeling of getting the town spruced up for the Tidy Towns & the Summerfest but what will happen when the momentum for both of these is finished?

blastman

First off, just to clear up any confusion, this is to celebrate 150 years of local government in Balbriggan, not 150 years of the town itself. Nothing like slapping yourselves on the back, eh lads? :rolleyes:

Secondly, I agree with comments about the functionality of the signs. While they're not unattractive from an aesthetic point of view, they're not far off useless as actual signs. The colour scheme and lettering used makes them very hard to read in a hurry. They're also very Americanised in that the arrow has been removed from them. I think this is a pity as it was part of what made our signs distinctive.