Easily Identified by Children

Fallout shelters.
I remember the one in my elementary school. The hallway walls were painted bad shades of dirty, muted green. Weird, unhealthy blue. Near a caged-off stairwell was a sign: “Fallout Shelter” with that telltale danger graphic symbol.

I found this information about it here:

The following description is taken from a draft version of a fact sheet entitled "National Fallout Shelter Sign."

"In awarding the contract for design of the sign to graphic arts studios it was designated that the services of a psychologist be obtained to recommend a visual symbol that could be easily identified and remembered. The sign had to meet the psychological requirements of simplicity, easy identification, retention and arresting color combination."

"It had to be simple enough to be easily identified by children, non-English speaking persons or others who may not be able to read. The color combination, yellow and black, is considered as the most easily identified attention getter by psychologists in the graphic arts industry. The sign can be seen and recognized at distances up to 200 feet."

"The shelter symbol on the sign is a black circle set against a yellow rectangular background. Inside the circle, three yellow triangles are arranged in geometric pattern with the apex of the triangles pointing down."

"Below the fallout symbol, lettered in yellow against black, are the words Fallout Shelter in plain block letters. Yellow directional arrows are located directly underneath the lettering which will indicate the location of the shelter."

I saw one of these signs yesterday, outside my gym, a YMCA built in 1925. I found myself nostalgic and surprised. I felt about 7 years old again, remembering the potential of nuclear demise as we came off the Cold War.


And then I got on an elliptical trainer.