Launch Recite Me assistive technology
A black sign features four colourful arrows, each shaped like a hand or arm. The arrows are labelled “confusers”, “abusers”, “users” and “producers”.

Steve Powers' New York street signs offer an alternative perspective

—
Date
3 August 2015

Steve Powers is back with these brilliantly colourful signs currently littering the streets of New York. Created as part of the city’s Summer Streets campaign, a celebration of New York’s public streets to encourage sustainable forms of transportation, Steve’s ICY SIGNS are featured on street lights along the seven mile route.

Inspired by traditional hand-painted signs, Steve uses logos, infographics and pictographs to represent his thoughtful, playful and often funny ideas. The relationship they create with the existing street and road signs is lovely, and the interaction provides an alternative guide around the city. Offering emotional direction and insight for those participating in the Summer Streets route, these signs are supposed to be pondered and considered rather than to warn or restrict us. Steve’s artistic interpretation of something normally so informative and practical is interesting, but placing it in such a public context elevates the project completely.

A person in a high-visibility vest and gloves attaches a small black sign to a metal pole. The sign features a red lifebuoy and the words “FOR YOU I’M HERE”.
Above

Steve Powers: ICY SIGNS

A small white sticker on a metal pole features a black illustration of a figure with a basketball for a head. Above the figure, the words “STILL ILL” are written in a curved arc. To the right, a red and white sign reads “NO PARKING ANYTIME”.
Above

Steve Powers: ICY SIGNS

A small white sign is attached to a grey metal pole. It features a colourful poem that reads “I PAID THE LIGHT BILL JUST TO SEE YOUR FACE”.
Above

Steve Powers: ICY SIGNS

A person with curly grey hair and a beard wears a high-visibility vest, standing beside a grey metal pole. A white sign on the pole shows a green figure using a bin and reads “LETS ALL HELP TO KEEP LITTER OFF OUR SYSTEM”.
Above

Steve Powers: ICY SIGNS

A light blue sign is bolted to a dark green ornate lamp post. It reads “Life” followed by “A LOAD OF DARKS” and “A LOAD OF LIGHTS”, separated by illustrations of two laundry baskets.
Above

Steve Powers: ICY SIGNS

A square sign on a black pole features a colourful, overlapping typographic pattern. The word “YES” is repeated in various sizes and orientations, with a large version centered on a teal background.
Above

Steve Powers: ICY SIGNS

A person with a grey beard and a high-visibility vest looks at a pink and blue sign. The sign features a palm tree and reads “WANTED A PLACE TO CRASH”.
Above

Steve Powers: ICY SIGNS

Share Article

About the Author

Rebecca Fulleylove

—

Rebecca Fulleylove is a freelance writer and editor specialising in art, design and culture. She is also senior writer at Creative Review, having previously worked at Elephant, Google Arts & Culture, and It’s Nice That.

It's Nice That Newsletters

Fancy a bit of It's Nice That in your inbox? Sign up to our newsletters and we'll keep you in the loop with everything good going on in the creative world.