Hasta La Ideas

A crosswalk sign with the people standing apart and warnings not to shake hands are among the series of conceptual signs designer Dylan Coonrad reinterpreted to fit with the coronavirus‘ social distancing guidelines.

Cannon Design creative director Coonrad has reimagined 10 street signs, road markings and building notices found around New York City to advise the public on how to stay safe and healthy amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Among the designs is a reinterpretation of the yellow school zone sign. It shows the two people on the sign no longer standing next to each other on the crosswalk, but instead walking far apart, referencing the need to social distance from one another.

Coonrad has also replaced the plastic yellow Caution Wet Floor stand with text that reads Celebrate Healthcare Workers. The notice imagines the person icon waving its arms in celebration instead of slipping on a wet surface.

The designer said he came up with the idea for the project after passing empty streets and vacant businesses on a run through Brooklyn, New York. He found himself paying more attention to the road signs on the route.

“These were the rules of the road just weeks ago,” he said. “Now they’re less important. Today, society needs constant reminders to socially distance, stay home, protect our elders, and much more.”

While the designs are only idealistic, Coonrad still hopes they can be short and simple messages that unite everyone even when asked to be apart.

“Conceptual in nature, we’re not suggesting actual street signs be modified,” he added. “Our hope is these images serve as a love letter to the places we live (NYC for me). The people we miss. And all that unites us, even when we have to keep at least six feet apart.”

To encourage the use of hand sanitiser, Coonrad redesigned the fire extinguisher placard to feature a soap bottle instead of the extinguisher symbol. Rather than reminding the public not to block the equipment the text instructs passersby to not hoard the hygienic product.

In his version, the red placards placed around New York subways that warn the public not to cross the train tracks advise people not to shake or hands or touch others.

The designer has also placed a black face mask across the New York Parks and Recreation’s white leaf logo, referencing the CDC’s recommendation that people wear protection when out.

Cannon Design is an international architecture firm with offices in cities including New York City, Los Angeles and Mumbai. Its projects include a sculptural glass hospital building in Southern California and high-rise medical facility in Montreal.

Other designers have redrawn logos and created graphics that express social distancing including Jure Tovrljan who redesigned the logos for companies such as Starbucks and Nike and several artists shared informative graphics on their Instagrams.

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