Design-By-Blur: An Integrated Software Environment for Optimizing the Legibility of Graphical Symbol Signs

Abstract

The capabilities and operation of the Federal Highway Administration's recently developed Design-By-Blur (Version 1.0) software package will be demonstrated. Design-By-Blur is a Windows™ program that provides all of the tools needed to implement the recursive-blur technique. This technique - developed by FHWA sponsored research - provides an iterative set of procedures which can be used to optimize the legibility of graphical symbols used in highway signs and other transportation-related signing systems (e.g., in-vehicle graphical displays). Using this approach, graphics designers can quickly identify elements within a symbol that will contribute to poor legibility. The Design-by-Blur software provides the image processing procedures for evaluating the visual quality of a graphical element as well as the tools for modifying low visibility design features within a single integrated environment. In addition to examining the operation of the software, experimental results verifying the efficacy of the recursive-blur technique will be briefly summarized.