News

Our news posts deliver information about current controversies and pressing social issues. We track the agenda of regulatory entities like OSHA, ANSI, NFPA, ADA and CDC, and analyze new proposals and applications for a vast array of different industries like construction, manufacturing, retail, and education. We share fresh finds and statistics regarding safety and security, current debates involving issues like smoking or gun laws, and new studies about health or job productivity.

SmartSign in the Press
Our signs are everywhere – including in the press. Find articles about our signs and other products.

Better design for more effective warning pop ups

To ensure effective communication, people used to rely heavily on language. Carefully structured, properly punctuated sentences did the important work of conveying messages clearly. Note the difference between, “Let’s eat Grandma,” and “Let’s eat, Grandma.” (It’s the comma, in case you didn’t catch it.) Language usage was once held to the highest standards in order […]

Introducing: The world’s first web-connected bike grips

How cool is this? Boreal Bikes, of Germany and Canada, has come up with what’s basically a bike-based GPS system. Instead of voicing directions, though, or mapping them out visually, this system indicates turns by vibrating direction signals into your bike grips. You don’t have to look away from the road. You don’t even have to […]

U.K. experiencing a black market for lighted Uber signs

Need proof that people care about signs? There’s a black market in parts of the United Kingdom for small, lighted signs featuring the Uber logo. No, it’s not for people to post on their dorm room walls to display their support for the nouveau-taxi brand. Instead, the people buying these illicit signs are Uber drivers […]

Luminous, wearable bike lock solves multiple problems

If you’re one of the millions of people who commute (to work, play, or both) via bicycle, we salute you. There are a lot of good reasons to get around on a bike, but there are also a few noteworthy drawbacks, namely, automobile drivers who seem to be incapable of noticing bicyclists, and people who will happily […]

International artists redesign maps for “Mapping the City” exhibit

What happens when you ask street and graffiti artists to map a city they know intimately through their previous creative endeavors? That’s the question that drove the curators behind Mapping the City, an art exhibit at Somerset House, in London, through February 15. And the answers, as one might guess, are far from conventional. The […]

Washington’s ‘Free Coffee Program’ needs new signs

Free coffee is available at 37 state-run rest stops in Washington state. Remember this now because the signs that advertise the offering have disappeared. The Department of Transportation hasn’t replaced a worn out or damaged sign advertising free coffee since 2012. The problem: Volunteers were charged with manually flipping many of the signs to indicate whether the […]

Missouri’s tourist attraction signs may be history

If you’ve spent any time cruising down America’s highways, you’ve likely passed countless signs directing you to points of cultural and historical interest. You may not have given these signs much thought. (Though if you’re my father, you made a point of stopping at every single one on every single road trip throughout my youth.) […]