Deciphering Germany's signs
In the street, at the train station and even on appliances, some of Germany's abstract signage leaves us wondering just what those non-verbal icons are trying to say. DW takes a look at perplexing German pictographs.
Collect your top hat, please
Most European countries, including Germany, follow the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals, which unifies traffic signage. But some of Germany's signage still leaves us wondering what those non-verbal icons are trying to say. For the record, this sign is not directing people to pick up their top hats while balancing on one foot, but rather, warns that the risk of stumbling lies ahead.
The art of communicating in pictures
Isotype, or the International System of Typographic Picture Education, is a method of communicating in picture form. It was developed between 1925 and 1934 by Otto Neurath in Vienna. After the Austrian government allied with the Nazis, Neurath fled to Holland and later to England to continue his work on visual communication. In 1936, he published "International Picture Langage" (see above).
Look into my eyes
Otto Neurath's groundbreaking technique of visually communicating social, technological, biological and historical information has flourished throughout the years. But the visual interpretations aren't always obvious. No, this isn't the cover of a new science fiction novel, in which mad scientists wear x-ray glasses. It's an industrial site sign warning workers to wear protective eye gear.
Allowed or not allowed?
In Germany, as in many European countries, a red circle around any sort of sign does not encourage the depicted activity. Oh no, quite to the contrary, the red circles in this case mean no horseback riding, no motorcycles and no cars are allowed - even if there is no slash through the middle. Both variations of prohibitive signs exist, with and without the middle slash.
Welcome to the neighborhood
To the untrained eye, this idyllic scene seems to illustrate a nice neighborhood where you can park your car and play a rousing round of soccer. In 1980, Germany introduced these signs to indicate low traffic areas, also know as "play streets," where children may be playing in the street. Drivers should thus reduce their velocity to walking speed, or around 10 kilmeters per hour (6 mph).
Put on your dancing shoes
As if to enliven a dull commute, the sign seems to tell celebratory travelers: "Do not leave the hot dancing zone near the train!" But in reality, commuters are being warned about getting swept into an oncoming train's draft, should they be standing too close to the edge.
It's a wash
Let's hope you're not in a hurry to do laundry. It may take a while to decipher these hieroglyphics. Is that button a man in a bowler hat and high-collared coat? And is that button forbidding you from being hypnotized? This washing machine model was made in Germany, but because many German appliances are exported throughout the world, little - if any - language is used on its operation system.
Slug invasion?
One of isotype's principles dictates that objects on the sign must remain proportional to each other and shall not be enlarged to indicate greater importance. Good to know, because we might have mistaken this sign's purpose, thinking it tells us: "In case of slug invasion, do not depart from suspended box." Rather than its intended message: "Do not use elevator in case of fire."
Bare it all
Are we to be wary of flashers unsheathing their white towels? Fortunately not, because this sign is telling us: "Do not enter." There is certainly no shortage of "verboten" (forbidden) activities in Germany, and there is a sign for each and every one.
Triplets in tow
Three left-handed guys walk into a bar and are waiting at the sausage-shaped counter to be served. The punchline? This is actually a symbol for the emergency brake on an escalator in Munich's subway.
To avoid any confusion
Sometimes, however, the signs are a bit too detailed in their instructions. This one doesn't need much explaining, as it forbids a dog doing its dirty work, along with a piece of the dirty work itself.
Isotype meets nostalgia
Some pictographs borrow from common icons and add a contemporary twist: at Hotel Berlin Berlin on Lützowplatz, the former East German "Ampelmännchen" - or cross-walk man and woman - have been re-purposed to direct traffic to the toilet.
Art attack
What's really forbidden here? In Berlin's Neukölln district, street artists morph the signs into new meanings. Here, a silhouetted figure saws apart the "do not enter" sign.