Visual communication and the management of passenger conduct: a visual analysis of transit etiquette posters by Japanese railway companies

The visual communication of behavioural expectations plays an important role in the management of contemporary urban spaces. This is evident in mass transit settings where posters and signage promoting good mobility practices are a common sight. Despite the prevalence of such semiotic interventions in passenger conduct in public transport environments globally (see Bissell’s Transit Life: How Commuting Is Transforming Our Cities, 2018; Moore’s ‘Preventing anti-social behaviour on public transport: An alternative route?’, 2010; and Ureta’s ‘Waiting for the barbarians: Disciplinary devices on Metro de Santiago, 2012), their visual structure has only received limited scholarly attention. This article seeks to address this oversight through a visual analysis of ‘manner posters’ issued by Japanese railway providers. Using a two-pronged content analysis approach, the author examines the design strategies employed to problematise passenger misconduct and solicit desirable mobility practices while simultaneously protecting customer sensibilities. Focusing on character figuration, image–viewer relations and the portrayal of misconduct, the article argues that manner posters inscribe behavioural expectations into the physical transport environment by modelling their narrative visual content after actual commuter experiences and using salience-increasing design techniques to highlight etiquette transgressions. As an in-depth visual analysis of transit manner posters, the article thus advances our understanding of the strategic use of visual communication for the management of everyday behaviour and the production and maintenance of public order in contemporary cities.