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What the font?

Matthew Chatfield
Latest posts by Matthew Chatfield (see all)

Recently at work The Ranger had his attention drawn by a designer colleague to a remarkable untapped resource – the Tourism Font. It’s been used for years for various purposes, and comprises a set of standard symbols for tourism purposes – like this one, with which you ought to be familiar:

Country Park symbol

Recognise it? Of course you do. There are plenty of other similar emblems on the list that are very handy. But of course, there are a few others, and that’s where the fun starts. A sheet of these fonts has been passed round the office for a while gathering guesses as to what on earth some of these logos can possibly mean. You might hazard a guess at these:

Tourism font

Presumably these would be “Smelly feet ahead” and “Don’t slip on the fallen leaves”. But what about this crop of puzzlers?

Tourism font

These all had everyone scratching their heads – can you do better? The best guesses, in order, are:

  1. Idle padlocks
  2. Beware of pigs
  3. Mondrian ahead
  4. Warning: Obese babies may be beheaded
  5. Christmas is coming

The Ranger would welcome your suggestions…

Matthew Chatfield

Uncooperative crusty. Unofficial Isle of Wight cultural ambassador. Conservation, countryside and the environment, with extra stuff about spiders.

5 thoughts on “What the font?

  • The Virtual Ranger

    Number 5: Mick Jagger Lying in Road

    Reply
  • The Wildlife Gardener

    Number 2 is uncomfortably close to home:
    Beware of the Woodworm

    Reply
  • The Virtual Ranger

    Is number one an aerial view of The Ranger with his hat on?

    Reply
  • James Derounian

    Leaf/foot motif is obviously “man eating plant ahead”; and the ‘smelly feet’ one = in fact “Beware: radiating shepherds ahead”

    Holly pic: “Herbal teas for sale”
    ‘Padlock’ = ‘Warning – cyclops ahead’

    Thanks for silliness on a Friday!

    Reply
  • The Virtual Ranger

    Designers have a hard enough time without smart-alec rangers taking the mickey. However, some of these symbols are obtuse.

    My suggestion for number four is:
    I’m a little teapot, with two spouts,
    Tip me up – and my head falls off!

    Or beware of waddling short-limbed people.

    Reply

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