Signs of many shapes and sizes litter about our metropolis. Whether it’s to govern behavior, advertise a business, or assist in the general wayfinding of the city, our signs serve a significant purpose in how we go about our everyday lives.

A sign, by definition, is a display used to identify or advertise a place of business or a product. It can also be defined as a posted command, warning, or direction. Or, something indicating the presence or existence of something else, which we’ll get to later.  The sizes of the signage all depend on its location and the intent to which it’s supposed to be used. This can take in the form of small-scale street signs, shop signs, sandwich boards, to large-scale banners and painted murals.

As briefly mentioned, a sign can generally be used to provide information, persuade an audience, direct, navigate, help identify, ensure safety, and regulate order.

Useful, aren’t they?

We use informal signage to describe signs that are not issued by the government. In its simplest of terms, it is something that is made DIY by public space users who wish to use the signs for the purposes listed above.

However, regulating the behavior of a shared public space seems like the goal for most of them.

These informal signage are prevalent in our urban landscape–so common that it’s even become an iconic part of our culture! Who would’ve thought a sign banning public urination would be so popular?

Informal signage is one of the many forms of grassroots regulation, in which ordinary people within a community initiate rules to govern and conduct. This episode, or this blog, also mentions this.

As this is an accessible means of communication to the general public, just about anyone from all walks of life can make it. With so many different kinds of people however, it’s impossible that all of them know how to design.

So… how do they do it?

COPY AND PASTE!

Well, how they do it has something to do with social semiotics, but don’t get too scared of the fancy wording.

By definition, social semiotics is the study of how people make meaning through signs in specific social and cultural contexts. It studies how a person makes and understands meaning from the world around them.

To make it a little easier to understand, have you ever thought about why you associate the color red with danger? Social semiotics explains this from its first premise, in which sign makers draw on decisions developed from social interaction. The red caution signs around you may have conditioned your brain to associate these two concepts together.

Signmakers who don’t particularly have a background in design take whatever surrounds them in their every day and apply it to their signs. This makes their decisions more instinctive than intentional, but hey, whatever gets the job done, right?

SHOULD WE BE SETTLING?

Based on our own research, even local government units employ people who aren’t designers. To make the signs, they all just seem to do what is already customary.

Most signmakers, informal or not, all just circle back to design practices as observed around them. While this isn’t exactly bad, we shouldn’t settle with just copy and pasting. We don’t have to be seasoned designers, but knowing what these design principles are for will not only make your design choices intentional, but also train your brain to be a lot more critical.

A critical mind will lead you to seeing beneath the surface. You’ll form thoughts and ideas from the world around you. We can better grasp what our cities are trying to tell us – about our systems, our priorities, and the kind of society we live in.

We highly recommend checking out our three-part series on the topic for a more visually-engaging experience on informal signs.

Or, if you prefer to experience our sign-filled metropolis firsthand, take a stroll and capture photos of fascinating signage yourself. Help us document them through our sign map. Get a chance to check out what other people discovered, too!

REFERENCES

Most of what we say is derived from our own research. If you’re interested in reading more about the socio-spatial analysis of informal signage in Metro Manila’s public spaces, read here.

Bezemer, J., & Cowan, K. (2020). Exploring reading in social semiotics: theory and methods. Education 3-13, 49(1), 107–118. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2020.1824706

Signage. 2025. In Merriam-Webster.com. Retrieved November 21, 2025, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/signage