Ampelmännchen is the german for ‘little traffic light men’ and was the original symbol used at pedestrian crossings in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). So you can be sure little Angela Kasner (her first husband was Ulrich Merkel) obeyed the green and red man – going and coming from school when she was growing up in the GDR in the 1960s. The Ampelman first appeared in October 1961 when our Anglea was 7 years old. The idea, of the little green man with the hat,  was the brainchild of Karl Peglau as part of a proposal for a new traffic lights layout. But Karl, a traffic psychologist, was no good with a pencil and it was his secretary Anneliese Wegner who drew the Ampelmännchen per his suggestions. The initial concept envisioned the Ampelmännchen to have fingers, but this idea was dropped, either she couldn’t draw fingers or even if she could they wouldn’t be seen as they’d be so small. However, Anneliese was great at drawing ‘dinky’ hats.  Four decades later, Daniel Meuren of the West German magazine Der Spiegel described the Ampelmännchen as uniting “beauty with efficiency, charm with utility”.  So there you have it.

Markus Heckhausen, a german graphic designer founded the ‘Ampelmann GmbH’ in Berlin, went on to spread Ampelmann all over the world. Heckhausen, among others, has gone on to create all kinds of merchandise using this cool image. Now as well as the Ampelmann there is an Ampelfrau and an Ampelkind. The turnover is about 2m euro per annum – not bad for a traffic light man with Anneliese’s ‘dinky’ hat.

The traffic light man is not the same all over the world and I think in certain cases he/she can embody the personality of a city, for example Walk / Don’t Walk is very New York City, no green man with a ‘dinky’ hat here. Vancouver has just been voted the best city to live in 2011 –  the Vancouver traffic light man (see below) is made up of a dotted white line – and dotted lines are so hot in graphic design right now. Next time you’re on your holidays check out the little traffic light man and you’ll get a good handle on the city. Santiago looks interesting…

You can buy an Ampelmann Lamp here: http://ampelmannshop.com/