Looking out across the endless gray of the Swiss Alps, snow-frosted and stoic, skiers at Laax were perplexed by the sign. It was shaped like a traditional blue square marker, the universal indicator of intermediate terrain, but in 2015 something about this one was different—it was a simple graphic of a skier bombing down an invisible 45-degree slope, a fork and knife for his skis pointed toward a mid-mountain restaurant. Another sign announced “powder,” featuring the curve of both a snowboard and a smile—two legs, two dots for eyes, both imaginary torso and face covered in a cloud of snow.

All across the mountain, simple surreal graphics brought skiers to a halt as people pondered the provocatively funny and undeniably informative indicators.

A black sign that read “halfpipe” showed omnipotent hands reaching down from above to remove the peak of a traditional mountain rendering, leaving behind a semicircular void in place of the triangular top. At Laax, skiers saw signs for twisted-up riders that had carved too quickly in the glades; for two hands and a head, and a body lost in deep and treacherous snow…

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