一个自由译者的生命记录

Symbol game - symbols in public signs

                                      

We're trying to find our way up to the second floor. We see a sign that says ELEVATOR. Well, not in so many words -- this sign delivers its message with pictures.

Or is that what it means? After all, it doesn't say "elevator.'' We stare at the wordless sign for a minute. We squint. Betsy looks at the sign and laughs. "Decompression chamber. That sign says Warning! This is a Decompression Chamber." Even so, we get in when the doors open. Except for Wendy. As the doors are closing, she waves goodbye to us. "I'm going to look for the stairs. That sign says Purgatory." The goal of international symbols is a noble one -- to create a picture language that can be understood by everyone. Make a symbol that means POLICE everywhere in the world. Make a picture that universally says TRASH CAN.

A huge amount of creative talent is spent in trying to perfect these international icons. Yet the results are so plain, so barren, that ultimately they are confusing. Ponder an international symbol. Ask yourself if it could possibly have another meaning. What would it be when viewed upside down? Perhaps it's only part of a larger picture. This exercise is the true purpose of international symbols.

International symbols used to be confined to international travel and expositons. They were the Esperanto of the jet-set. In the last ten years, they have spread far beyond their useful domain. All kinds Of specifically local messages are being replaced by these minimalist pictograms. Each of the United States used to have its own highway signs and symbols. An interstate trip was a big guessing game -- fun for the kids, high-stakes for the adults. Today all highway signage is officially sanctioned by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Now Alaska looks like Nebraska. While these symbols are spreading across the country, they are also mutating -- becoming boxier, plainer, more sterile.

The National Park Service's old symbols, already quite barren of flavor, texture, and local character, are being further stripped down.

The old sign for canoeing was deemed too complex. According to Meeker and Associates, the redesigners, "The old canoe gives you twice as much information as you need."

Follow Your Boredom

The Hasidic Jews believe that every object in the world has divine sparks trapped within it. This includes roofing nails, mind you, and peanut brittle. The mission of humanity is to release these divine sparks, so that they can ascend to heaven. The best way I know to fulfill this mission is to engage things in play. Find the thing in the world that grates on you with its lifelessness. Then find a way to tickle it, to play with it.

Too much human effort is being spent producing lifeless junk. We need a legion of Doctors Frankenstein -- mad scientists who are anxious to breathe life back into the dead things around us. Consider yourself hereby deputized.

【作者: 翰唐】【访问统计:】【2005年11月30日 星期三 00:39】【 加入博采】【打印】