Abstract: A road sign for clearly presenting a customizable message to a driver under direct and back lighting conditions, comprising a background board with an array of mounting holes. Message elements and background elements are placed into the appropriate holes to form a mosaic message. Each mosaic message has a retroreflective portion surrounded by a translucent border. When the sign is illuminated by direct lighting, such as a driver's own headlights, the retroreflective portion will reflect much of the light so that the message will be clearly visible to the driver. When the sign is illuminated by strong back lighting, such as a low sun or oncoming headlights, the translucent border will glow brightly so that the message will be clearly seen by the driver as an outline of the message. The message elements can be rearranged to form a variety of different possible messages and graphical designs.

Abstract: A road sign for clearly presenting an informational legend to a viewer in front of the sign under direct and back lighting conditions, comprising an aluminum background sheet (10) having a cutout (12) in the shape of the legend (11). A retroreflective portion (14) is sized and shaped such that when the retroreflective portion is placed into the cutout, a uniform gap is left between the portion and the cutout. A translucent sheet (13) is mounted behind the background sheet and the retroreflective portion such that a translucent border (15) is visible from in front of the sign. When the sign is illuminated by direct lighting such as a driver's own headlights, the retroreflective portion will reflect much of the light such that the legend will be clearly visible to the driver. When the sign is illuminated by strong back lighting such as a low sun or oncoming headlights, the translucent border of the legend will glow brightly such that the message will be clearly seen by the driver as an outline of the legend.