Today I was waiting for the traffic light to change in front of Rochester downtown Java's, and starting to think about designs of traffic light that I've seen. When I traveled to Berlin, Germany, the first thing I recognized was its unique traffic light. (I stayed in my friend's apartment which was located in the east side of Germany.) I instantly fell in love with it. It seems I wasn't the only person who liked its cute look; there were shops called Ampelmann ("Traffic light man" in English) selling bags, t-shirts, posters and other souvenir products using ampelmann as its mascot and the graphic element. I regret that I didn't buy anything besides a poster..yes, I was a cheapstake. Anyway traffic lights seems so ordinary to urban dwellers but there are subtle differences among them which interest me so much. Here are some more examples that I found from Ampelmann's website and The Columnist Manifesto:
Above: Taiwan- We have similar number counting signs in Korea. I get nervous when I see the number counted down. That wobbly green guy seems nervous too!
Above: Holland- Strangely I never noticed this black and white post of traffic lights when I lived there. I guess I jaywalked too much in Holland.
Above: Ampelmann shop in Germany
Bonus story: In Korea, we call green light blue. I don't know why we do that, but we learned to call it that way; Red to stop and blue to go. However what we actually have on Korean streets are green lights. I wasn't aware of this until one of my dutch friend looked at me strangely when I was shouting "blue, blue, blue" in front of traffic light, which actually meant green.:)
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