Cats Eyes Removed

Cats Eyes Removed is one of my favourite (temporarily) road signs ever. I may even mass produce posters of it – I imagine it will ignite the narrow-minded British imagination the same way ‘Keep Calm And Carry On’ did.

Anyway, it’s possibly not on display at the V&A's new exhibition, British Design 1948-2012 (though Cat's eyes should be: originated in the UK in 1933, they are now used the world over). It does feature, however, Margaret Calvert and Jock Kinneir’s pioneering road pictograms and ubiquitous font Transport, used on every road sign in the UK, devised in the 1950s and 60s and still used to this day. These are such a great example of successful graphic design; as part of the fabric of the landscape they are hardly noticed, yet are possibly Britain's most effective information design system.