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Everyone has noticed open signs in the door or window of a store or restaurant. They are a normal part of the world and you expect to see them when you head into town. They play an important role. They inform the passerby as to whether or not the store or restaurant in question is open or closed. While this may seem to be a rather arbitrary function that does not exactly have the fate of humanity in its hands, it is important nonetheless. All signs, no matter how small or insignificant to most people, are important.
The open signs are perhaps one of the simplest signs that are out there in the world. After all, all they do is to inform someone as to whether or not a particular establishment is open. The design is often simple. The word 'open' is somehow inscribed on the sign often in a bold color on top of a complementary color. On the other hand, a neon open sign may use light and electricity to get the message across instead of simple color. In this case it is the brightness of the neon light that draws attention to the sign. This characteristic is but one of the important characteristics that all signs have. These are color, shape, and information.
As noted above, color is rather self-explanatory. Color is an important aspect of most signs. Traffic signs often use the same colors to mean certain things. Red is used for danger, yellow is used to denote caution, and blue often seeks to draw attention but not for danger. The colors used on signs will differ from country to country since not all countries have the same meaning attached to colors. In China, for example, white is often attached to death, not black. That is a simple example, but colors have a range of meanings all over the world. Open signs obviously do not have the color problemâusually.
The shape of a sign can also have an important meaning. Again traffic signs serve as the best example here. The triangular signs used for 'yield' signs are identifiable all over the world. The same applies to the hexagonal 'stop' sign that almost everyone in the world will recognize. While the word or picture in the center of the sign may differ, the shape of the sign will ensure that someone in France who cannot speak or understand a word of French will still understand what the stop sign is trying to tell them. Open signs can have all sorts of shapes depending on what the owner of the store is trying to do.
The information on a sign goes back to the simple word 'open' on open signs. It is simple and easy to understand. At the end of the day that is the most important aspect of all signs. They need to be simple and easy to understand. If they are complex or the information is unclear then all sorts of chaos is bound to occur.
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