Many people during the Middle ages and Renaissance didn't know how to write, but still had a need for knowing what stores were which. So, they would have symbols - and some of these we still use today!

• Ever see a barber's pole (The spiral thing)? Yup, developed centuries ago! Barbers also would do medical procedures, so the red/white spiral is supposed to look like a limb wrapped in bandage and blood - something easily understandable, memorable and gross (pun intended)!

• The Snake and pole for medicine was from that time period as well - can someone add information on that?

• Pub and Inn signs were like a code. Was there food? Was there drink? Was there sleeping quarters? I like to think of this one as "ye olde hobo symbols"

Speaking of, "Ye Olde Shoppe" is a new thing for cute stores, not everything back then was "Ye Olde" as it would have been then-current at the very least!

And, reading meaning in signage wasn't a new thing - people were used to and knew symbolism in images. For instance, do you think people could read church hymns? Only the educated and the clergy, so the illustrations of bible stories decorating churches were cock full of symbolic elements - from hand/foot position to type of foliage. So people knew to look at an image and derive its meaning.