Anatomy of a Parking Sign That Actually Makes Sense

Growing up in suburban Ohio, the most complicated parking sign Michael Bierut recalls ever encountering was the classic, two-word prohibition mounted over the rare driveway or fire hydrant: NO PARKING.

Pretty straight-forward. You’ve got your verb, you’ve got your negation. No exceptions, conditions or need for interpretation. "There was no difference between ‘standing’ and ‘parking,’ ‘except deliveries and commercial vehicles,'" says Bierut, who now works in New York as a principal with the design firm Pentagram. He sympathizes with the rest of the city’s drivers – including, hilariously, the comedian Louis C.K. – who’ve been complaining for years about what might be the most byzantine parking regulations on the planet.