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Margaret Calvert’s radical road signs

The historical context that influenced the United Kingdom’s beautifully eccentric road signs

Neel Dozome
UX Collective
9 min readNov 28, 2023

Six road signs: 1. Cow (white triangle with a red border 2. Men at work (black logoform man digging; white triangle with a red border 3. Speed limit 50 miles per hour (White circle with a red border) 4. School (two children crossing; triangle with a red border) 5. Caution: Wildlife (Stag with anglers; white triangle with a red border) 6. This way (Blue circle with a white arrow)
British road signs designed by Margaret Calvert

It is near impossible to drive in the United Kingdom and not encounter Margaret Calvert’s work. The signage is neat and spartan but extremely beautiful. The signs blend into the background of the city and the country, and one almost fails to notice that they are there until you need them or they need to make themselves noticed. This Jeeves-like quiet efficiency of the signage is no accident. Rather, it is the result of a subtle British design sensibility that is richly enhanced by Calvert’s eccentric illustrations.

One particular example, first introduced in 1964, is the logoform that takes the shape of a red-bordered triangle with a white field in which a little black logoform girl holding hands with a smaller boy cross a road. This sign has served as a reminder to motorists to slow down near schools for more than half a century.

This is a sign that is a red-bordered triangle with a white field. The logo is  of a girl holding hands with a smaller boy as they cross a road.
The sign for school in the United Kingdom

Scratch under the surface of some of these road signs, wonder why they look a certain way, and a fascinating story emerges about how a designer’s random style choices, experiences and…

Published in UX Collective

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Written by Neel Dozome

I am a London (UK) based blogger interested in graphic culture and technology with a particular focus on type design and UX/GameDev.

Responses (7)

What are your thoughts?

first roadway

We did have roads before that. We call this type motorways. The nearest to it in the US would be an highway, and then mostly the interstates

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Issigonis would also go on to design the Mini (currently still in production by BMW as the Mini Cooper)

Not really. You could probably fit one of Issigonis's original Minis into each seat of the modern one.

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I am from the US, but spend most of my time overseas.

Her work influenced the whole world, outside the US where decisions are STILL often made to prove we aren't British, centuries later.

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