This page last updated February 18, 2014
This page last updated February 18, 2014 |
Highway route markers have gotten boring over time. In the 1940's, there were many varied shapes and colors. Many governments opted for the MUTCD default (circles) or plain blank squares. The justification for those sparse designs is that they provide for increased number visibility and easy recognition. True enough, but nothing says you can't design a useful sign that's graphically attractive. Linked below are many examples of potential re-designs. Inspiration for sign makeovers can be found in Alabama which uses a modified state outline on their official highway sign; Colorado, which uses the state flag, in color and Pennsylvania which uses a state symbol. Since this website was first established, Oklahoma and South Carolina have both adapted new, enhanced, route markers. Louisiana took a step backwards, eliminating color from the official route marker. Submissions are still being added to this collection. If you have a sign you wish to contribute, read the guidelines at the bottom of this page. If you want to see what the existing markers look like, check out James Lin's Highway Route Markers website. If any government agencies want to use ideas shown here to replace or enhance their route markers - permission is granted. | |
| Recent
additions / changes: North Dakota,
Louisiana |
Highway
Makeover is organized as follows, by alphabetical order:
U.S. Highways: From
US 1 to (US 830)
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additions, corrections, suggestions, submissions and
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 "Haven't we been here
before?" - Styx - Kilroy
was hereWebsite History -This website based on an original concept by one of the earliest road geeks on the web - C.C. Slater : "Mr Yamamoto's State Highway Sign Makeover", as part of the website he founded in 1996: "The Virtual Interstate". C.C. left the internet for personal reasons in 1998. As he was not expecting to return, his permission to continue this campaign against monotony was granted at that time. This site was too intriguing to let fade into the Wayback Machine, and the graphic links there generally stink. This place has helped nurture interest and imagination in the infrastructure fan community. Once ensconced in this spot, the website grew like kudzu. When C.C. returned to the net in 2001, resumption of control of this site was offered to him. He decided to leave this mutant beast here and has even contributed more new signs. His next website, "The Yamamoto Experience", left the net as well. I think he's on facebook now, a concept not even conceived of when this all started. The original CCS site was all on two pages, and one of those was for bigger images. Someone tried put this website back on a single page and hotlinked all the images back to MY account. That website was shut down for plagiarism. Mr Slater's work is attributed to him herein as CCS. The host's words are marked RVD. Maine sign background photo from Jonathan E. Ponder of Lakeland, FL. |
| S U B M I S S I O N G U I D E L I N E S : Yes, we are still accepting signs. No signs have been submitted for countries in Africa, yet. Requested size of submissions is 75 x 75 pixels in JPG, GIF or BMP format (roughly 1" x 1" or 25mm x 25mm). Wide-sized (3 digit) sign submittals should be approximately 94 x 75 pixels (roughly 1.25" x 1" or 32mm x 25mm). Oversize submittals will be mercilessly shrunk before posting, no matter how bad it makes them look. New designs will be added as time and space permits. Descriptions of proposed signs will not be posted unless accompanied by a picture. If you are shy or embarrassed about your drawing ability, check out the current submissions. All sign contributions and commentary are assumed to be freely reprintable by the webmaster on this site. Preferred file naming convention: Your initials + postal / internic country code + a number. Please do NOT copy a previous submission by someone else and change the colors and / or slogan. Such ripoff signs are usually rejected. Your commentary on someone else's submittal may be added at my discretion. If you would like your original graphics or commentary that were posted here earlier on your behalf removed or altered, let me know. |
"All persons who created the various highway signs should be hired by all DOT signage businesses. These are great. So unique and colorful that they would more than like have to be made available for purchase to the public. I know I would not mind having one from each of the states." - Tom from KC
More Sign Makeover Sites:
Gene Van's My Land of Misery - Has bigger versions of his submittals here.
(c) 1998-2014 Copyright reserved R.V. Droz. Do NOT reprint, repost or republish any part of this website without express consent of the webmaster. Individual images and commentary assumed (c) Contributors - but - if you are the representative of a city, state or country government and actually want to use them on a real sign, or even borrow the concepts, you can safely assume that the contributors are freely donating the concepts and designs for the geeky pleasure of changing your agency's design. In that specific case, consent for governmental use is given without reservation. Violators will be trespassed by the Samoan twins, Attu and Kippu.
Why is this site Great? Because International Highway Makeover did not boom like Yamamoto's State Highway Makeover. I don't have a cool nickname like him. Also, the older name was misappropriated by a copycat site. So - we are now Great. Also inspired by the original title of the 1980's Texas Instruments "Math on Keys" book.