Signspotting

In 1992, Doug Lansky, now of Signspotting fame, set out to hitchhike from Florida to South America on private yachts. It was a poorly thought-out plan, and he made it only as far as the Virgin Islands. The only reason, truthfully, he even made it that far was because he flew there aboard a commercial jetliner. Once on St. Thomas, he did manage to get crew work on-board a 25-meter custom-made catamaran.

Even though that job didn't last more than a week, Doug's six-month trip turned into a two-and-half-year world tour with detours in the French Alps as a snowmobile guide, in Israel to harvest bananas on a Kibbutz, and in Bali to intern as a DJ at Club Med.

He finally returned home and, to the chagrin of his parents, wanted to keep traveling. He began flipping through a humongous stack of photos from his trip and began conjecturing to whom he could show them. He soon realized that even his closest friends wouldn't have the patience to look through that many photos.

Doug, therefore, whittled the stack down to a much more manageable selection--about the size of a paperback book. He had snapped some shots of funny signs while he was traveling but he didn't think much of it at the time.

When sorting through his pile, Mr. Lansky realized that some of the photos of signage were the most entertaining because he wasn't a particularly good photographer. The sign pictures had turned out better than the others because signs stand still and tend to be bright, with reflective colors.

Now that he looks back, Doug feels that the sign photographs he had taken in that collection weren't extremely impressive. There was a Swedish "Infart" sign, a "Bad+Toilet" sign from Denmark (a formula for disaster), a Scottish "Butts Wynd" street sign, and from Manhattan, a "Don't Walk" sign just beside a light that clearly indicates walking is acceptable.

There were a few less memorable signs as well, but Mr. Lansky realized that even those duds were more entertaining than the pictures featuring him in front of various landmarks. He kept his eye out for more signs on future trips, although, at the time, he had no idea that sign pictures would form the future of his career.

When Doug's first child was born, his world traveling slowed, and he began to submit funny signs in place of the weekly column that he was writing for the Chicago Tribune Syndicate. He thought that would be an acceptable trade as his editors were voicing a demand for much more edgy, fun material. Six newspapers began to run Signspotting weekly, and the signs started coming in. At first, he received about 10 per week, then that increased to 20. For the next five years he downloaded and cataloged signs, paying around $50 per week out of his own pocket. Adding in the costs of site maintenance and web design, Doug's project grew to $20,000 into debt.

By that time, Signspotting, the book proposal, had been informally accepted by the Lonely Planet's United States office. LP's US office thought the idea had potential and wanted to get it pushed through headquarters and released globally. Unfortunately, this corresponded with September 11th, 2001, which put a halt to LP's humor projects. Nearly 18 months later, Tony Wheeler, the co-founder of Lonely Planet, visited Stockholm and Doug interviewed him for an in-flight magazine, of which Doug was serving as travel editor. Doug and Tony had met a few times previously, but this was their first chance to chat without constant interruption. This meeting lead to the publication of the the first Signspotting book, and the increasing success of the Signspotting website and syndicated column.

The Signspotting Project:

• Held in Århus, Denmark (July 1 - 13, 2009)
• Held in Copenhagen, Denmark (May 30 - June 30, 2009)
• Held in Stockholm, Sweden (July 5 - 20, 2008)
• Held in Edinburgh, Scotland as part of the Fringe Festival Event in Princes Mall near the tourism office. (Aug 1 - Aug 30, 2009)
  
• Held in Gothenburg, Sweden at Gustav Adolfs Square. (Aug 11 - Aug 23, 2009)
• Held in Gothenburg, Sweden at the World Culture Museum. (Aug 24 - Sep 30, 2009)

• When you visit Signspotting, you do have to rate each picture to be able to see the next. It is, however, a one-click process, so you'll find it more than worthwhile.
  
• On the site, I recommend visiting: Rate Accidentally R-rated Signs.
• If you enjoy Signspotting, you'll also love Cake Wrecks.