Numbers in Space: From Symbols to Stories

January 15, 2025

Cybelle Jones

From our earliest years, numbers have shaped how we connect to the world. We learn to trace their shapes and memorize them in sequences—our phone numbers, our addresses—essential lifelines in times of emergency. Count von Count on Sesame Street even made numbers cool, weaving them into early childhood wonder. But numbers aren’t just practical; they’re personal. Many of us have favorite numbers, even attachments to their forms. Mine? Four and eight.

Numbers as art

As kids, we play with the height, width, and curves of numbers before we know the word “font.” Later, we realize their artistic possibilities—how their styles convey identity. The house number on a neighbor’s facade, for instance, speaks volumes. A clean Bauhaus sans-serif whispers of modernist simplicity, while chiseled iron nods to post-war resilience. Backlit pin-mounted numbers? A signal of contemporary luxury. For environmental designers, numbers become an art form—guiding us through spaces while leaving a visual impression.

Numbers as guides

In wayfinding, numbers orient us: from 42nd Street to 112th, from floor directories to parking garages. Yet beyond utility, numbers have the power to transform environments into experiences. Wayne Hunt FSEGD emphasized this in his SEGD Academic Summit talk, where he tasked students with reimagining numbers in three dimensions in a one-week rapid prototyping assignment. The results? Sculptures of shadow and light, cardboard and wire, scale and texture. A “10” became a sectional seating arrangement; a “2” transformed into a theater banner. Numbers in these contexts aren’t static—they invite exploration, provoke thought, and shape interaction.

Numbers as stories

Numbers also tell stories—sometimes poignant, sometimes bold. In this case, the numbers signify moments in time, anchoring history in design. At the 2023 SEGD Conference, Tré Seals, founder of Vocal Type, shared how his typefaces draw inspiration from underrepresented histories. His font family, VTC Tatsuro, honors Tatsuro Matsuda, who displayed a sign reading “I AM AN AMERICAN” outside his Oakland grocery store in 1941—a declaration of identity and resilience amid rising anti-Japanese sentiment.

The dates marking this period, 1942 to 1946, became the foundation for the font, representing the years of Japanese American internment and forced relocation. For Seals, the typography of this protest sign became a vessel for resilience and identity. Through typefaces like VTC Tatsuro, he merges form and history, using design to ensure the stories of marginalized voices resonate throughout the design world.

From playful whimsy to sophisticated nuances, numbers have a way of shaping our spaces and guiding our journeys. Whether they dance across walls or stand boldly in a crowd, their simplicity speaks volumes—and their beauty lies in the balance of form and function. The SEGD Global Design Award winners remind us that even the most straightforward elements, like numbers, can be transformed into artful expressions of space and purpose.

So the next time you glance at a street sign or floor directory, take a moment to appreciate the artistry hidden in the everyday. After all, numbers are more than symbols: they’re stories, guides, and—when designed with imagination—moments of delight.