Veterans create sign for Design Museum’s 30th
Injured veterans of the Royal British Legion Industries (RBLI) have created a commemorative road sign for the Design Museum’s 30th anniversary.
Friday, 30 Aug 2019 10:57 GMT
The new 30 sign created for the Design Museum’s 30th anniversary
The sign is an artistic take on the original 30 speed limit sign, first designed by Margaret Calvert OBE in the 1960s. Calvert, a graphic designer, was a leading member of the team commissioned to overhaul the UK’s road sign system and created many of the iconic symbols used on roads today.
Almost 60 years on, veterans working in RBLI’s social enterprise, Britain’s Bravest Manufacturing Company (BBMC) have produced a unique sign for Calvert to mark the Design Museum’s 30th year.
The Design Museum was established in 1989 in Shad Thames, London by Sir Terence Conran to promote awareness of design in education, industry, commerce and culture. The museum moved to a new site in Kensington in 2008.
BBMC employs more than 100 ex-Forces personnel to allow them to utilise skills gained in the Forces in a commercial work environment. Part of its signage department is made up of a team of Gurkhas, who produce signs for Network Rail and Highways England.
The team worked alongside Buchanan Computing, a software supplier for the highway and traffic sector, using its SignPlot software specifically for designing and manufacturing road signs.
Colin Pavey, RBLI sign manufacturer and veteran
Simon Morgan, chairman at Buchanan Computing, comments: “We were delighted to be helping both Margaret and the Design Museum again. Last year, we updated the miniature ‘children’ traffic sign on their ‘crowd-sourced’ wall.
“On both occasions the sign was designed in our SignPlot software. This time, we took a standard 30 sign, closed the digits up slightly in accordance with Margaret’s wishes, added the unusual colours, and exported it into an accurate EPS file for RBLI, themselves an active SignPlot user, to digitally print onto reflective material.”
Kate Bull, director of BBMC, adds: “It has been a real pleasure to join forces with both Buchanan Computing and Margaret in what is a special year for ourselves and the Design Museum.
“The veterans working in our signs department were incredibly proud to turn their hands to create such an iconic road sign for the mastermind behind the huge array of signs they produce for British roads on a daily basis.”
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