Button copy is a type of physical design for

road sign Traffic signs or road signs are signs erected at the side of or above roads to give instructions or provide information to road users. The earliest signs were simple wooden or stone milestones. Later, signs with directional arms were introduce ...

s in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. Round plastic retroreflective buttons made of transparent plastic are placed in rows following the contours of sign legend elements, usually painted white, such as letters, numbers, arrows, and borders. In daylight, the buttons visually blend with the white sign legend elements and so are minimally conspicuous. At night, light from each approaching vehicle's

headlamp A headlamp is a lamp attached to the front of a vehicle to illuminate the road ahead. Headlamps are also often called headlights, but in the most precise usage, ''headlamp'' is the term for the device itself and ''headlight'' is the term for ...

s strikes the retroreflective buttons and is reflected back towards the eyes of the vehicle's driver. Thus the sign is made sufficiently conspicuous and legible for adequately fast and accurate recognition and interpretation by drivers. Button copy is now rarely manufactured. It has been supplanted by a newer technology: retroreflective sheeting made by various manufacturers in numerous colors and grades. As state departments of transportation increasingly stopped specifying button copy signs in favor of signs made with sheeting, it became uneconomical to maintain production of the materials and supplies for making button copy signs. The last state to specify button copy signs was

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, which switched to sheeting in 2000.Farewell to Button Copy
/ref> The advantage of button copy is durability, in that a well-made button copy sign has a service life of around 40 years. In contrast, signs made out of retroreflective sheeting are expected to last only around 15 years. However, at night, retroreflective sheeting is clearly visible and readable at much longer distances than button copy.

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* Road signs in the United States Obsolete technologies {{US-road-stub

See also

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