It’s almost a cliche at this point to highlight the beauty that can be found in everyday items, like that scene in the movie ‘American Beauty’ where Wes Bentley and Thora Birch stare at a plastic bag waving around on a sidewalk like it’s the Mona Lisa. But sometimes, it just can’t be helped. Have you ever gazed at a traffic light and marveled at the accidental art it was producing? You’re about to.

Being such a humble and unremarkable object, installed at countless intersections in countless cities, the traffic signal is an unlikely subject of the internet’s flighty attentions, but the magic here is really in photographer Lucas Zimmermann’s vision – and in the fog that clings to the town of Weimar, Germany.

Zimmermann first captured his ‘Traffic Lights’ series on a particularly hazy night, noting that the light streaming from the red, yellow and green lamps was stretching out into rainbows. He wondered how the effect would be enhanced by long-exposure photography, and the results show the streams of light almost seeming to take physical form.

“I have been waiting for two long years to finally go out again and progress on my traffic lights series,” says Zimmermann. “It was worth the wait.”

The new addition to the series is just as striking as the first, supporting Zimmerman’s belief that photography can show us things we might otherwise overlook, “such as a simple traffic light on the street.”

You might not be too concerned about how many light cycles go by before you actually get to cross the street if you’re too busy playing pong with the person waiting on the other side of the intersection. The ActiWait project aims to brings ‘street pong’ to intersections around the world, with two functioning games already installed in the city of Hildesheim, Germany.

The concept made its debut on the web in 2012, with the original video (below) getting so much attention that the interaction design students from HAWK University who created it decided to make it real. Designers Amelie Künzler, Sandro Angel and Holger Michel collaborated with traffic experts and fabricators to create a device that can be installed on traffic poles.

“Yeah well… the idea was simple but traffic engineering isn’t,” say the designers on their IndieGoGo page, where they’re currently raising funds to bring the ActiWait to more cities. “So we got us some support from companies and professionals in the traffic technology industry. The prototype is 3D printed and fully equipped, the first game is programmed and we’ve already launched our product in October so we can proudly say: the world’s first smart pedestrian light button is finally here!”

The product needs funding to develop hardware and software for the final stage, a new professionaly-produced case, and to pass safety tests. The designers also intend to make it wifi capable for news feeds, navigation, traffic education and other applications in addition to pong – even speed dating. Learn more at IndieGoGo.

Impatient pedestrians eager to get across the street stop, point and laugh when they realize that the usually-static human figure in the crosswalk signal is dancing maniacally, waving its arms and legs. Not only is the figure dancing, it’s mimicking the real-time movements of passersby in a nearby booth.

The ‘WhatAreYouFOR’ campaign by Smart aims to make intersections safer by providing some attention-getting entertainment.

The people waiting to cross often can’t help dancing right along with the little figure, unaware that a real person is busting moves in an adjacent plaza, their dancing captured on camera and translated into the red pixelated silhouette.

As a result, according to the creators, 81% more people stopped at the red light, increasing safety all around. “And they even had more fun doing so.”

Traffic light signal boxes are found near traffic lights but unlike the latter, the former aren’t designed to attract the eye… unless they’re in Australia.

Something’s Fishy On The Gold Coast

(image via: Burnt Sienna)

If traffic light signal box art is your thing, then you might as well go for the gold. That means checking out this bright and sunshiny signal box appealingly upgraded by artist Sally Evans. Located near the corner of Marine Parade and the Gold Coast Highway just south of Brisbane, this particular box was one of approximately 1,000 chosen by the local municipal council to be decorated by artists. Evans was inspired by local history: the box sits just outside what used to be the Holy Mackeral fish shop.

Lost & Found

(images via: Brisbane Daily Photo and Urban SmART Projects)

Being blank, boxy and prominently located in unguarded urban settings, traffic light signal boxes are magnets for graffiti. What to do? Decorate the boxes before the taggers do! A study commissioned by Brisbane City Council projected that if graffiti removal wasn’t necessary, the potential savings would be in the range of several million dollars.

(image via: Urban SmART Projects)

Artist John Ledingham is one of the most prolific traffic light signal box painters enlisted by Urban SmART Projects to spruce up urban infrastructure across the country. This one’s called “The Lost Traffic Signal Box” due to its partially obscured location just off Waterworks Road in The Gap, Queensland.

Bird Brain

(images via: Urban SmART Projects and Rae Allen)

No solution is perfect, however, and although the incidence of graffiti on Brisbane’s traffic light signal boxes has been significantly reduced, the scourge hasn’t been eradicated completely. Flickr user Rae Allen documented one such defaced artwork: Erin Gregory’s untitled piece at the corner of Waterworks Road and Dorset Street in Ashgrove.

A Starry Night Is Born

(image via: SkinBird)

Though Brisbane has more than enough traffic light signal boxes to go around, the process of applying to paint one can be complex. Brisbane teen Bella Reboul found that out when she applied to the city-run Art Force project for permission to paint a tribute to Vincent van Gogh’s 19th-century impressionist masterpiece Starry Night.

(image via: SkinBird)

Aspiring artists must first submit a design to Art Force. If approved, applications are added to a waiting list and in Bella’s case it was almost one full year before she was allocated a box. While artists are given a list of specific directions they must follow, at least all their materials and a safety vest are provided at no charge. Bella’s Brisbane’s Starry Night tribute box now stands proudly at the corner of Commercial Road and Ann Street in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley neighborhood.

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Art Brake Ozs Awesome Traffic Light Signal Boxes

We all gaze upon the humble traffic light nearly every time we climb into a car and take a journey, whether it’s down the street for a jug of milk or across the country for a great adventure. Around the world, the design is remarkably standardized, deviating only a little from one continent to the next. But is the familiar design really the best design? Or is the traffic light due for an overhaul? According to the designers behind these concepts, there is a way to improve on that most recognizable of urban landmarks.

The Colorblind-Friendly UNISignal

(image via: Dornob)

For people who have trouble discerning the difference between red and green, stoplights can be daily challenges. Particularly in places where the stoplights are situated horizontally, telling the difference between “stop” and “go” can be far from intuitive. This concept from four innovative designers would use shapes along with colors to give traffic directions, thereby eliminating any confusion about whose turn it is to go.

Control Safety Traffic Light

(image via: Yanko Design)

When traffic lights were invented, there were serious limitations on their functions based on the materials that were available. Today, LEDs can do so much more than the light bulbs of previous generations, giving traffic lights almost unlimited potential. This traffic light concept would give speed limit and road condition information to waiting motorists while displaying a special “emergency” signal for approaching emergency vehicles, telling all other traffic to halt and let the emergency vehicles go by.

The Eko Stoplight

(image via: Yanko Design)

Designer Damjan Stankovic believes that we can go a little way toward saving the world if we stop idling our cars for so long at stop lights. And how would we accomplish this feat? By knowing exactly how long we have to wait at red lights, of course. His timed stop light concept would tell drivers exactly how long remains until the light turns green, giving them time to shut off their engines and wait patiently or prepare to race ahead.

IBM’s Controlling Concept

(image via: Wikipedia)

IBM wants to employ the same concept as the Eko Stoplight, but without relying on drivers to make any decisions. Their recently patented idea would actually control the engines of participating cars, shutting them off at long lights and allowing them to start again once the light changed. In addition to saving on gas at long lights, the system could potentially prevent accidents in people who choose to run red lights or simply get impatient and creep too far out into the intersection while waiting. Of course, not everyone would be excited about the prospect of handing over control of their car engines to stoplights, but for now this patent refers only to a theoretical application.

The Luxofor Traffic Light

(image via: Wired)

Russian design studio Art Lebedev has come up with an elegantly simple redesign of the traffic light, one that doesn’t rely on gimmicks or technology. Their Luxofor Traffic Light would feature square lenses rather than round ones since the round lenses are no longer necessary (they were designed to be used with bulbs, not the LEDs we use today). The shape would allow more visible area for the signal, thereby making the traffic lights easier for motorists to read.

Hourglass Traffic Lights

(images via: Yanko Design)

In the belief that knowledge is power, this traffic light concept tells motorists exactly how long is left before the light changes to its next phase. Cycling through the regular green, amber and red phases, the lights are arranged in an hourglass shape that “empties” from top to bottom to display just how much time remains until the next color in the cycle. This concept would be an absolute disaster for colorblind drivers, but it’s a fun rethinking of this classic design.

Solar-Powered Four-Way Traffic Lights

(image via: The Design Blog)

Pedestrians are often faced with danger when trying to cross the street in busy urban areas, so designer Hojoon Lim devised a new type of solar-powered traffic symbol that would keep pedestrians and cars out of each other’s way. The system consists of four signals at each intersection in the shape of a square. Whichever side has to wait for the moment is greeted with a thin laser signal blocking the way, giving a harmless visual cue that is perhaps a little harder to ignore than the standard red light.

The Marshalite

(image via: Wikipedia)

Of course, many of these fancy electronic designs have a classic design to thank for their inspiration. The Marshalite was invented by Charles Marshall in 1936 and employed a mechanical pointer to indicate what the cars should be doing at any given time. Thanks to the sweeping hand that moved at a predictable speed across the colored segments, motorists knew exactly how long remained until the signal changed. The Marshalite was used in Australia until the 1970s, but its design influence can still be felt today.