{"id":1157,"date":"2006-09-20T11:56:46","date_gmt":"2006-09-20T15:56:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=1157"},"modified":"2006-09-20T16:27:18","modified_gmt":"2006-09-20T20:27:18","slug":"new-toronto-street-signs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/09\/20\/new-toronto-street-signs\/","title":{"rendered":"New Toronto street signs"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Tonight, the City of Toronto has its first public meeting about the proposed new street signs.<\/p>\n

In the Winter 2006 issue of Spacing<\/em>, I wrote about the implementation of the City’s street sign replacement program. The Transportation department had begun to replace the old City of Toronto signs<\/a> (white background, black lettering, old time colonial feel, three dimensional) with larger, more reflective signs that mimicked the old style, but seemed like cheap knock-offs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And I wasn’t the only one who thought the new signs were a step backwards, at least from a graphic design perspective. The Transportation department received a number of complaints, as did city councillors. So the Works Committee asked Transportation to go away and come up with a new design. The motivation for change also came from the City’s renewed interest in improving the appearance of the city’s streetscape, specifically the new street furniture program.<\/p>\n

Transportation commissioned Kramer Design Associates, the folks behind the most recent bus shelter and the ad-festooned “info” pillars, to come up with a contemporary design.<\/p>\n

I have to say that I am quite pleased with the mock-ups. Certainly, feedback from the public, BIAs, and neighbourhood residents will shape the final design, but I think they are on the right track. The best elements of the new-old signs were their reflectivity and legibility, which have been carried over into the Kramer designs.<\/p>\n

Upper- and lower-case fonts are much easier to read than all-caps. We see words as shapes, not as individual letters. This function allows those with poor eyesight to read street names with much more ease from a greater distance. The trade-off of formality and tradition for function is worth it, I believe.
\nPlacing the street name on a blue background is key, I believe. White, green or metallic backgrounds can easily blend into the background (trees or walls, for example).<\/p>\n

The neighbourhood identifier may be a touchy subject for some. I have already heard from a few designers that it might add clutter to the clean design. Transportation indicated to me that they want the ‘hood or BIA moniker to be a single colour with an sparse design. Some areas, like the Annex, have a complicated street sign design that detracts from its functionality. While it is nice to promote your neighbourhood, it is more important for people to easily see which street they are approaching. I feel as long as the City is strict on this front from the get-go, this shouldn’t much of a problem.<\/p>\n

I also like the modularity of the design. The neghbourhood identifier doesn’t have to be on every sign. If you look at the 3D rendering (above), you’ll see that both the identifier and the street number are thin pieces of metal that can slide into slots on the top and bottom of the sign. That was one of the best aspects of the old signs — that acorn on top was not only decorative, it functioned as a base for another street sign to be placed on top of it.<\/p>\n

If the City were to implement this program and eventually replace all 60,000 street signs it could take up to 30 years. Transportation is hoping that more money will be dedicated to the street sign program than currently available so that the new designs can hit the streets at a quicker rate. Currently, the City replaces about 2,000 to 2,500 signs a year (100 to 200 signs going missing either due to theft or damage, with each sign costing roughly $150 to make).<\/p>\n

Once the feedback cycle is complete, the City will go back and modify the design and hopefully bring it back to Works and then to Council in the late winter or early spring.<\/p>\n

Let’s hear your thoughts on the concept.<\/p>\n

– – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n

UPDATE<\/strong>: I went looking for the dates on the City of Toronto website but couldn’t find them. The resourceful blogger Joe Clark has passed them along to us:<\/p>\n

All meetings will be held from 7:00pm to 9:00pm. A formal presentation will be given at 7:30pm. The meeting dates and locations are as follows:<\/p>\n

Wednesday, September 20
\nEtobicoke Civic Centre
\n399 The West Mall
\nMain Floor Boardroom<\/p>\n

Thursday, September 21
\nNorth York Civic Centre
\n5100 Yonge Street
\nCouncil Chambers<\/p>\n

Monday, September 25
\nScarborough Civic Centre
\n150 Borough Drive
\nMain Floor Rotunda<\/p>\n

Tuesday, September 26
\nMetro Hall
\n55 John Street
\nRoom 308<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tonight, the City of Toronto has its first public meeting about the proposed new street signs. In the Winter 2006 issue of Spacing, I wrote about the implementation of the City’s street sign replacement program. The Transportation department had begun to replace the old City of Toronto signs (white background, black lettering, old time colonialContinue reading “New Toronto street signs”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1022,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32,9,6],"tags":[3322,3320,3037,3323,1803,2510,1420,3321,1518,19,391,904],"class_list":["post-1157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-streetscape","category-traffic","category-walking","tag-borough-drive-main-floor-rotunda","tag-etobicoke-civic-centre","tag-joe-clark","tag-kramer-design-associates","tag-metal","tag-metro-hall","tag-new-toronto","tag-north-york-civic-centre","tag-scarborough-civic-centre","tag-toronto","tag-usd","tag-works-committee"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNew Toronto street signs - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/09\/20\/new-toronto-street-signs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Toronto street signs - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tonight, the City of Toronto has its first public meeting about the proposed new street signs. In the Winter 2006 issue of Spacing, I wrote about the implementation of the City’s street sign replacement program. The Transportation department had begun to replace the old City of Toronto signs (white background, black lettering, old time colonialContinue reading "New Toronto street signs"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/09\/20\/new-toronto-street-signs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2006-09-20T15:56:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2006-09-20T20:27:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/street-signs-new-2.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Matthew Blackett\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Matthew Blackett\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/09\/20\/new-toronto-street-signs\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/09\/20\/new-toronto-street-signs\/\",\"name\":\"New Toronto street signs - Spacing Toronto\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/09\/20\/new-toronto-street-signs\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/09\/20\/new-toronto-street-signs\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/street-signs-new-2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2006-09-20T15:56:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2006-09-20T20:27:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/4f3b818d7e3504a6e4626afc774b2574\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/09\/20\/new-toronto-street-signs\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/09\/20\/new-toronto-street-signs\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/09\/20\/new-toronto-street-signs\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/street-signs-new-2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/street-signs-new-2.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/09\/20\/new-toronto-street-signs\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"New Toronto street signs\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Toronto\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Toronto Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/4f3b818d7e3504a6e4626afc774b2574\",\"name\":\"Matthew Blackett\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3eb8fd719ea39ea94dc1b32911c80f51?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3eb8fd719ea39ea94dc1b32911c80f51?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Matthew Blackett\"},\"description\":\"Matthew Blackett is the publisher, creative director and one of the founders of Spacing magazine. He is the author, editor, and photographer of 11 books. He is also a graphic artist, product designer, and deeply-committed advocate for Toronto. TWITTER: @MatthewBlackett INSTAGRAM: @MatthewBlackett\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/author\/matt\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New Toronto street signs - Spacing Toronto","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/09\/20\/new-toronto-street-signs\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New Toronto street signs - Spacing Toronto","og_description":"Tonight, the City of Toronto has its first public meeting about the proposed new street signs. In the Winter 2006 issue of Spacing, I wrote about the implementation of the City’s street sign replacement program. The Transportation department had begun to replace the old City of Toronto signs (white background, black lettering, old time colonialContinue reading \"New Toronto street signs\"","og_url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/09\/20\/new-toronto-street-signs\/","og_site_name":"Spacing Toronto","article_published_time":"2006-09-20T15:56:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2006-09-20T20:27:18+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/street-signs-new-2.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Matthew Blackett","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Spacing","twitter_site":"@Spacing","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Matthew Blackett","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/09\/20\/new-toronto-street-signs\/","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/09\/20\/new-toronto-street-signs\/","name":"New Toronto street signs - Spacing Toronto","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/09\/20\/new-toronto-street-signs\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/09\/20\/new-toronto-street-signs\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/street-signs-new-2.jpg","datePublished":"2006-09-20T15:56:46+00:00","dateModified":"2006-09-20T20:27:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/4f3b818d7e3504a6e4626afc774b2574"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/09\/20\/new-toronto-street-signs\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/09\/20\/new-toronto-street-signs\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/09\/20\/new-toronto-street-signs\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/street-signs-new-2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/street-signs-new-2.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/09\/20\/new-toronto-street-signs\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New Toronto street signs"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/","name":"Spacing Toronto","description":"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Toronto Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/4f3b818d7e3504a6e4626afc774b2574","name":"Matthew Blackett","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3eb8fd719ea39ea94dc1b32911c80f51?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3eb8fd719ea39ea94dc1b32911c80f51?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Matthew Blackett"},"description":"Matthew Blackett is the publisher, creative director and one of the founders of Spacing magazine. He is the author, editor, and photographer of 11 books. He is also a graphic artist, product designer, and deeply-committed advocate for Toronto. TWITTER: @MatthewBlackett INSTAGRAM: @MatthewBlackett","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/author\/matt\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1022"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1157\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}