Recently the press has informed us about the resolution passed by representatives of the Dutch city of Drachten, in which they agreed to dispose of traffic lights and traffic signs. This idea is the brainchild of Hans Modermann, a Dutch traffic specialist. The aim of this resolution was to reduce the number of accidents and make pedestrians' lives easier. Modermann's idea of a "shared space" [1] is also supported by the European Union.

Is this the beginning of the gradual removal of graphic symbols representing prohibitions and commands, and the removal of information systems and other graphic design from public life - all in the name of democracy and the elimination of state control? Will advertisements become the only implementation of the graphic design? [2]

My article expresses the opposite conviction - I believe graphic design will influence public life even more strongly, but strictly defined symbols will be replaced by the more civil ones, perhaps even by almost invisible forms of visual communication. Perhaps the "human age of design" is approaching, the age Tom Mitchell dreamed up more than twenty years ago. [3] I will try to support my hypothesis by analysing the development of graphic design in Slovakia over the past two decades. Much here is utopian; but utopias that have not come to pass have nonetheless shifted trends at least a little bit forward.

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