This special issue of the Interdisciplinary Journal of Signage and Wayfinding is based on the theme of a recent University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art exhibition and symposium entitled "What's Your Sign?" Hosted by the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, Iowa and on view from August 26 through November 26, 2017, the exhibition mined the permanent collections for art works related to the evolution of signage and explored how have symbols of selling shifted over centuries and cultures. Additionally, the exhibition and symposium questioned the ways retail signs reflect or reject broader visual cultures and technological advancements. The articles included in this special issue (some of which debuted in the symposium) examine the iconography, typography, and materiality of retail signs and spaces as well as the cultural, financial, and geo-political forces that shaped storefronts and retail spaces in the past.

Published: 2018-08-07