Foreign users and visitors

Language is the cornerstone of every signage system. Architects often claim that the facilities they have designed will speak for themselves. That might very well have been the intention; how ever, inmost cases, there will be a huge language' they use is only comprehensible to their closest colleagues. Nobody else really understands it. Ultimately the building will have an entirely differently present in the design and construction phase of the project.

Illiterate or foreign users might not completely understand the language used on signs. Research has revealed that this group of users do still use, in some way or other, the written information on sign. A simple written coding system can be understood by most, despite illiteracy or unfamoliarity with a certain language Pictograms try to overcome the limitations of ileracy and langauge. This claim is only true for pictigrams that users have become familiar with. like men's and ladies toilets, phones, wheel chair entrances and information counters.

2.   Visitores, especially first-time visitors, generally have a little knowledge about the environment. They are for the most part entirely relying on the signage to find their way around. General facilities, such as toilets, wasrooms, phones and cloakrooms, should also be made easy to fins for visitors

[signage design manual, Edo Smitshuijzen, Lars Muller Publishers, 2007]