Don’t Move!

Please don’t move? Why not?

Are the rocks going to…

Oh! Don’t move the rocks!

So many signage style guides seem to insist upon all caps, no punctuation. I’ve never understood that. A consistent style is important, but style and consistency are tools in support of clarity, not ends in themselves.

I find that an occasional exclamation mark does more to provide emphasis than setting all the text in caps. And research suggests that people read text set in mixed case faster than that set in all caps. Mixed case text certainly makes my eyes happier.

Please
don’t move
the rocks!
They are
placed
to make
trout happy.

Ahh, that’s better.