With apologies to those PrintWeek readers engaged in the business of sign making, I have to say that news of plans to cut the amount of signage and other visual clutter littering our environment caused a whoop of joy in these parts.

Communities secretary Eric Pickles has written to council bosses across the country urging them to cut back on over-the-top signage, as well as other superfluous street furniture such as railings and bollards.

An experiment of this ilk has taken place just around the corner from PrintWeek Towers, in Kensington High Street, where a reduction in confusion-inducing railings and signage has resulted in a big drop in accidents.

There's something deeply damaging to the soul, I think, about being bombarded on a daily basis with a visual assault containing edict after edict, 'don't do this, and don't do that' whichever way one turns. I had an idea a while back to count and photograph the number of such signs encountered during a typical day, but it all became too depressing so I gave up.

This notice-fest is also indicative of what appears to be a nationwide epidemic involving a desertion of common sense. On a recent trip to Arizona the hotel garden and surroundings were filled with wonderful native cacti species, many of an extremely prickly nature. I actually found myself feeling faintly amazed that there wasn't a plethora of signs about the place saying 'warning: sharp points'. If that garden was relocated to anywhere in England, you can bet there would be.

Beyond Pickles' diktat the signs I'd most like to see done away with are those ugly no smoking stickers that sprung up everywhere when the smoking ban came into force. Now that we all know this to be the norm, why can't they be ditched too?

Some signs are of course necessary, and when well-designed can be quite beautiful rather than a blight. By cutting the crap perhaps we might eventually gain a new appreciation of the sign makers' art.