
America's Sudden U-Turn on Highway Fonts - scarhill
http://www.citylab.com/commute/2016/01/official-united-states-highway-sign-font-clearview/427068/
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mc32
Wayfinding Sans Pro [1] & [2] from Rulf Herrmann looks like it would be good.
It's quirky but with a purpose, to lessen ambiguity by exaggerating unique
qualities of a glyph under harsh visibility [not seen it in action on highways
in the dark] but will say the current Clearview has something to be desired.
In the rain at night letters merge and become hard to distinguish from similar
letters [lower case i looks like it could be lower case l under some lighting
conditions, for example, if there isn't an l to contrast it with]

[1][http://ilovetypography.com/2012/04/19/the-design-of-a-
signag...](http://ilovetypography.com/2012/04/19/the-design-of-a-signage-
typeface/)

[2][http://www.fonts.info/store/index.php/en/fonts/wayfinding-
sa...](http://www.fonts.info/store/index.php/en/fonts/wayfinding-sans.html)

~~~
kazinator
Blurring the sign digitally to simulate how it might looks at night, under
reflection and in bad weather is a darn good idea.

I suspect that the thinner strokes of Highway Gothic would fare better in this
test than the thicker Clearsign. When we look at the "Expressway" image in
your [1] reference, the difference between the top and bottom is reminiscent
of Hwy. Gothic versus Clearsign.

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wyldfire
I prefer Clearview, but it was disappointing to learn that it's [essentially]
a public work and yet it's proprietary and requires jurisdictions to license
the typeface.

~~~
rangibaby
The whole font licensing situation is out of control.

It's a mix of creative interpretations of the law and rent-seeking on typeface
designs that are a hundred years old (Akzidenz Grotesk, the basis for every
Helvetica-like), or 300 years old in the case of Caslon.

Remember that in a lot of countries (the US included) typefaces are
specifically excluded from being copyrightable due to their usefulness to the
public; they can of course, be trademarked, but it's completely legal to trace
any font you like and call it something else. In a nice bit of corporate
welfare, it was decided that _font files_ fall under copyright in 1992.

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tlrobinson
This led me to this interesting Wikipedia page listing public signage fonts:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_public_signage_typefac...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_public_signage_typefaces)

~~~
legulere
Lots of info seems to be missing. This seems a bit better:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_European_road_si...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_European_road_signs#Different_typefaces_in_texts)

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kazinator
> _small change that has huge implications for the nation._

Waaay overstated.

Anyway, they should just pick the fonts out of this:

[http://standardsmanual.com/](http://standardsmanual.com/)

I learned about this via HN some time ago:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8302529](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8302529)
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7809626](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7809626)
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6117593](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6117593)

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throw7
Meanwhile we get huge electronic billboards that switch advertisements every
few seconds. They initially hurt my eyes to even look at them, but it seems
they've "detuned" them in recent years. Sigh.

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kennydude
New Transport Pro in the UK is such a nice font and I'm glad we have it.

Even the government homepage gov.uk uses it

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gcb0
itt and in the article, everyone talks about legibility etc but nobody points
to any study (or even pictures) on how those fonts compare under low
conditions (night, rain, not illuminated, headlight full on)

usability is about the 5% cases. in broad day light the fonts only compare in
a matter of personal taste.

~~~
rawTruthHurts
I don't think low conditions have anything to do with the fonts per se.

~~~
michaelbuddy
yes they would, if a font is more readable, it's more readable. And you can
test it measuring recognition time and distance. And you can test in the sub
optimal conditions mentioned, just like you could test readability on sub
optimal substrates, resolution, degradation etc. It's not easy, but it's
testable. i would like to see these articles accompanied by some in car photos
of the signs being visible, where their conclusion is shown.

~~~
rawTruthHurts
The most readable font on a matte surface won't perfom as good as a not-so-
readable font on a reflective surface during a rainy night. So, again, it's
more an issue with the material, not the type. As long as they don't use, say,
palace script.

