Toilet Signage as Effective Communication

Abstract

The need for clear cross-cultural signage is related to increasing international business, recreational travel as well as significant world cultural events like the Olympics. Using toilet signage as the occasion for examining cultural diversity and similarity, the author takes an historical approach to sanitary habits, contextualizing cultural habit and its manifestation in signage. Visual documentary evidence from many cultures accompanies the discussion. Analysis and investigation of these images in terms of uniformity within diversity locate the key functional characteristics of toilet signage as identification and segregation. Much consistency in use of male and female images to identify toilets, along with a great diversity in visual treatment, characterize this study.