Fonts for Timetables and Forms

[Claire Bibio]

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Hello dear typophiles. I'm working on a project for which I will have to design a bus schedule and I'm wondering whether there are fonts specifically designed for this kind of jobs or a well designed Myriad or Frutiger like fonts will work just fine. Thanks for your help and suggestions.

[Riccardo Sartori]

It depends on how small it will be printed, there are font (or font cuts) specifically designed for listings and long columns of tiny figures (sometimes called Agates). They’re usually used in newspapers. H&FJ, Commercial Type, and Font Bureau, among others, have them.
One feature you could find useful would be tabular figures with the same metrics in any style or weight (so that, for example, an italic or bold number will still vertically align with the regular one placed above or below).

[Nick Shinn]

Good advice.
Also, look for non-grotesque styles, because 3, 6, 8 and 9 in that genre are too similar.
And, make sure that descenders are short (which is often the case in fonts with large x-heights), this will enable you to minimize leading.
IMO, the lining “one” glyph in tabular fonts should always have a foot crossbar.

Arguably the most legible of such styles is Bell Centennial, so you could use that as a benchmark and see how far away from its hyper readability you are prepared to depart in the name of style.

My best agate-for-tables type: Sense.