Details: Signage

What’s in a name? Quite a lot in northern Europe. Your name is posted proudly outside your door and on your postbox in most cities I have been to so far, something we would not countenance in the UK for mysterious ‘privacy’ reasons. And with flat living comes the discipline of estate plans for wayfinding, something that again does not resonate in the UK; we think of those institutional signs outside estates with their point and slab block plans, the local authority insignia (updating as council leaders come and go), and a few tags lazily daubed on. But this signage can be beautiful, if handled well, creating a sense of identity and pride amongst a community. If we’re going to build more flats in London than houses, let’s get better at (and spend a bit more money on) signage.