It could be argued that the use of the Running Man image does not consider those people with a mobility impairment. Everybody deserves the same rights including knowing where an accessible means of egress is, and where accessible exit paths are provided. A more inclusive approach should be adopted to cater for everyone, including those that can’t negotiate steps, steep gradients and stairs.

The Running Man exit sign has been around for many years now and provides an international graphical indication of where an exit is located within a public facility. Many countries have adopted the use of the Running Man. The Running Man design was introduced into the 1987 international standard on pictograms as a consistent approach, and international approach and a move away from using words in the native language (i.e. “EXIT”). The actual design of the running man was created by Yukio Ota in 1982 and has since been accepted into standards in Australia, Britain, Norway and many parts of Asia. It is now adopted into the 2007 edition of ISO 7001.

It could be argued that the reliance on this sign to designate exits is out-dated and discriminatory, with many countries mandating legislation for disability rights after the year of design (1982) and adoption of the Running Man (1987). In other words – it’s time for a change.

Though we’ve developed alternatives to the traditional use of the Running Man exit sign alone (i.e. those using the Accessible Means of Egress Icon), we’ve also provided some examples below that show our design for the Running Man, with a consistent design to that of the Registered Designs 355564 (Accessible Means of Egress Icon) and 355657 (Accessible Means of Egress Icon with the Running Man).

The Running Man Exit Sign can be made with or without the Accessible Means of Egress Icon. This can be designed to suit any format to comply with local legislation.

When it comes to the color of an exit sign, most countries use a green and white sign, but other countries adopt variations using green, white, black and red also.

For ease of reference, some variations are shown below, with different variations of colour, arrow direction and different direction of movement by the Running Man (i.e. left hand or right hand).

Please note that these images are only low resolution thumbnail compressed .JPG files. Companies entering into a commercial license for use of these images will be provided the Combined Accessible Means of Egress Icon and Running Man exit sign images in various file formats at high resolution (i.e. AI, EPS, GIF, JPG, PDF, PNG, PSD, SVG, TIFF file formats). Inquire about licensing arrangements here.