Funny, Clever, Original Signs Part 2

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Katrín Svana Eyþórsdóttir is a media artist and designer from Iceland. You can follow her on twitter. More about Katrín Eyþórsdóttir ↬

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The topic of this gallery is Funny, Clever and Original signs, that with their portrayal of and often critique on human behavior garner the attention they deserve. Please notice: each photo has a certain license, provided in the description of the photo. Before using the images for private or commercial projects, make sure that the license allows you to do so. Also, you can click on the photos for a larger preview.

This gallery presents the collection of photos submitted for the World Of Signage Photo Contest by the readers of Smashing Magazine. We received over 2,500+ photos from our readers across the globe, and present a selection of the most interesting photos in the overview below.

The topic of this gallery is Funny, Clever and Original signs, that with their portrayal of and often critique on human behavior garner the attention they deserve. Please notice: each photo has a certain license, provided in the description of the photo. Before using the images for private or commercial projects, make sure that the license allows you to do so. Also, you can click on the photos for a larger preview.

Please feel free to take a look at other submissions as well (links to other galleries are listed in the end of this gallery).

Funny, clever, original signs

Jesus News

Jesus News [ large preview ]
“LA Newspaper Machine with Jesus Plaster.” Photo taken by Matthew Tarran from UK.

Wayfinding and Typographic Signs - jesus-news

Bad Luck at the Cross Walk

Bad Luck at the Cross Walk [ large preview ]
“Taken while backpacking in Voss, Norway.” Photo taken by Laura Convesre from USA.

Wayfinding and Typographic Signs - bad-luck-at-the-cross-walk

Talking Tree Sign

Talking Tree Sign [ large preview ]
“tree saying “I LOVE THIS STREET” :).” Photo taken by Dario Meniss from Croatia.

Wayfinding and Typographic Signs - talking-tree-sign

Burn Calories, Not Electricity

Burn Calories, Not Electricity [ large preview ]
“Save Energy :) Photo was taken in 2010 in NYC.” Photo taken by Stefan Vogel from Germany.

Wayfinding and Typographic Signs - burn-calories,-not-electricity

Beach Talk

Beach Talk [ large preview ]
“Shot at Barceloneta beach, Barcelona, Spain. Instead of saying “don’t throw cigarettes in the sand” it says “I’m a beach, not a big ashtray, ok?”: much more friendly and straight to the point..” License: Common Creative. Photo taken by Francesca Silvestri from Austria.

Wayfinding and Typographic Signs - beach-talk

Beautiful Garbage

Beautiful Garbage [ large preview ]
“Garbage cans in valencia’s beach, everyone is recyclabe but the color indicates the kind of materia.” Photo taken by Aquiles Leon from México.

Wayfinding and Typographic Signs - beautiful-garbage

Better Be Careful

Better Be Careful [ large preview ]
“This Photo was taken at the entry of a shopping department in Milan, Italy. It shows a funny image that every client should respect.” Photo taken by David Vera from Colombia.

Wayfinding and Typographic Signs - better-be-careful

Beware, polar bears !

Beware, polar bears ! [ large preview ]
“Photo taken near Longyearbyen in Svalbard (or Spitzbergen), Norway, in October 2009. This photo shows the non attention paid to the sign, as the lady runs towards the land, where the bears are, as the sign says to beware of polar bears “In the entire Svalbard”.” Photo taken by Brian MathÈ from France.

Wayfinding and Typographic Signs - beware,-polar-bears-!

Beware!

Beware! [ large preview ]
“Beware of the dog sign on a rusty garage door.” License: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic. Photo taken by Frikkie Snyman from South Africa.

Wayfinding and Typographic Signs - beware

Heart-shaped Signboard

Heart-shaped Signboard [ large preview ]
“Heart-shaped signboard at Luhuitou Park, Sanya Hainan (China). The heart-shaped signboard complements with the love story behind the park.” Photo taken by Vandra Png from Singapore.

Wayfinding and Typographic Signs - heart-shaped-signboard

Match making

Match making [ large preview ]
”“Good excuse to light someone’s fire? Strike a conversation now and it might be a match made in heaven.” A match box in Palate Palette Bar KL.” Photo taken by Ashley Hau from Singapore.

Wayfinding and Typographic Signs - match-making

Push Button

Push Button [ large preview ]
"Pushing the button, waiting for the signal, crossing the street - somewhere in america." Licensed: © 2009. Photo taken by Florence Schmidfrom Austria.

Wayfinding and Typographic Signs - push-button

Boys not ok

Boys not ok [ large preview ]
“Taken at the sticker photo booths parlour in Tokyo. It’s ok for a guy accompanied by a girl to go in, but not ok when it’s just guys.” Photo taken by Yi Chen from Japan.

Wayfinding and Typographic Signs - boys-not-ok

Breast enlargement by kids

Breast enlargement by kids [ large preview ]
“Seen outside a plastic surgery office in Taipei. Any breast enlargement ad involving kids is just plain weird.” Photo taken by Yi Chen from Taiwan.

Wayfinding and Typographic Signs - breast-enlargement-by-kids

End of cyclepath juist 2005

End of cyclepath juist 2005 [ large preview ]
“Handmade sign for end of cyclepath, photographed on juist, october 2005.” Photo taken by Christoph Ellermann from Germany.

Wayfinding and Typographic Signs - end-of-cyclepath-juist-2005

Thank you!

Thanks to all participants for taking their time for preparing and sending submissions for the contest and creating a unique and diversified gallery presented above. We truly appreciate and respect your efforts and your time, folks!

Further Galleries

You may want to take a look at other contest galleries, too: