Traffic System Typefaces

[Ralf H.]

This topic was imported from the Typophile platform

We started to compile a list of official traffic system typefaces. So far we covered:

FHWA Series Fonts/Clearview - USA/Canada
DIN Mittelschrift/Engschrift - Germany
Transport/Motorway - Great Britain
ANWB-Ee/ANWB-Uu - The Netherlands
Mittelschrift/Engschrift Austria - Austria
ASTRA Frutiger - Switzerland
Tratex - Sweden
Trafikkalfabetet - Norway

Who knows more official typefaces?

Ralf

[jupiterboy]

Metron and Arrival may or may not meet your definition of official.

also

http://www.typophile.com/node/30981

[berga83]

Traffic type spain D - Italy

here are some examples:
-Upper case in interstate signs (blue background)
-Upper case in highway signs (green background)
-Lower case in warning signs
-Color coding for italian direction signs

[Ralf H.]

Italy uses Traffic Type Spain? That's funny! ;-)
Do you know if this is the official name and the official typeface? Or is »Traffic Type Spain« just a similar commercial version of the original typeface? (Like Interstate is for FHWA fonts)

About Spain I just found this statement:
»En España, según la norma 8.1-I.C, se deben usar dos tipografías que se adjuntan dimensionadas con la norma. Para la señalización en autopistas, autovías y vías para automóviles, se utilizará el alfabeto denominado Autopista; mientras que para las carreteras convencionales, el entorno urbano y el resto de vías se usará el alfabeto Carretera Convencional.
Exiten versiones comerciales de las dos fuentes. La versión del alfabeto Autopista es la fuente Highway gotic, y del Carretera Convencional es Traffic Type Spain1 .«

Can anyone help to translate?
I guess it means they use a font called »Autopista« (based on Highway Gothic) and font called »Carretera Convencional« which is equal to »Traffic Type Spain«. Correct?

Ralf

[berga83]

mmm i'm not 100% sure about it (because i couldn't find a specific name for the font used in Italy, only a specimen of it) but i'm pretty sure it is Traffic Type Spain: i'm doing a thesis on a re-design of this typeface and i'm very interested in the subject!

here is the translation of what of the spanish text you posted.
"In Spain, according to the 8.1-I.C law two typographies are to be used. For signage on highways, freeways and normal car-roads (i'm not sure about the technical differences among these kinds of roads) the Autopista font will be used. For conventional streets, urban sorroundings and the rest of the streets the Carretera Conventional font will be used.
Commercial versions of those fonts can be found. Highway Gothic is the Autopista's commercial version of the font, while Traffic Type Spain 1 is the Carretera Conventional's version."

Autopista/Highway Gothic
Carretera/Traffic Type Spain 1

[Ralf H.]

Thank you very much!
Usually, the national traffic authorities publish all the information about signs and typefaces on their websites, but it's hard to research this stuff, when you don't speak the language ... Therefore I couln't figure out Italy, France, Poland and many more.

Let me know how your thesis works out!

Ralf

[dan_reynolds]

Erik Spiekermann showed a whole range of (badly-drawn?) European highway types during his second lecture at the 2006 ATypI Lisbon conference. Perhaps you should get in contact with him?

[joeclark]

No, Jupiterboy, they wouldn’t. And I wish people would stop parroting “Arrival!” whenever they hear any synonym of the phrase “signage font.” Arrival is a mess. (I told K. Tam I didn’t like his font, so I’m not speaking out of church.)
—
Joe Clark
http://joeclark.org/

[jupiterboy]

Thanks for not accusing me of parroting. I've used Arrival on a small wayfinding project. It is limited. I had read it was used for the University of Reading on-campus signs.

Metron was never fully implemented. I didn't know how Ralf was defining official or traffic for that matter. Maybe you could start a thread about the weaknesses of Arrival.

[Miguel Sousa]

Ralf, the specifications for traffic signs in Portugal are available here: http://www.estradasdeportugal.pt/docs/norma_sinalizacao/default.asp

The fonts are made available for AutoCAD. I couldn't find an official reference to the typeface's name, but the PDF instruction file mentions 'JAE - Fonte'. Considering the examples available on the website (sample below), this might as well be the same typeface used in other european countries, or an adaptation of it.

[clauses]

The Danish official typeface for road signage is 'Dansk Vejtavleskrift' (Danish road sign typeface). It looks like this:

[Richard Hards]

EDITED: Irrelevance.

Joe, I apologise, it was obviously me who was not paying attention.

[Ralf H.]

Thank you very much Clauses and Miguel!

[Goran Soderstrom]

I kind of like the rough design of Tratex, but the digital version of it is terribly badly digitized unfortunately. Or let me put it like this: it is not digitized by a type designer, and has lot of "bad curves" ;-)

Just to give an example, this is the capital "C":

You can find the fonts at Vägverket:
http://www.vv.se/templates/page3____2789.aspx

[berga83]

Dear Ralf,
I confirm that on the Italian "Street regulations code" the name of the font used for signs is not mentioned.
Only a specimen is available, and the font is always referred to as positive or negative "alphabet".

The font is Traffic Type Spain D.

I also found out that in some rare cases the Transport is used, but that does not happen on highway or freeway signs.
"Transport" on a station sign, Italy

Cheers!
a.

[Alessandro Segalini]

La storia è un po’ complicata e confusa. La segnaletica stradale & autostradale si basa su convenzioni (relativamente) internazionali, che riguardano anche il carattere. L’Italia dagli anni sessanta ha adottato il carattere disegnato (dal 1957 al 1967) appositamente per l’uso stradale in inghilterra. Il progettista che ha disegnato la segnaletica e il carattere in uso è Jock Kinneir (e Margaret Calvert), il carattere è appunto il Transport (URW, 1980).
La normativa della segnaletica italiana (quanto mai deprimente) si trova in qualunque edizione completa del Codice della Strada, che la riporta integralmente con tutti gli alfabeti prescritti. L’avevano fatta certi ingegneri del Ministero dei Lavori Pubblici, dei quali uno forse si chiamava Cecilia.
Il sistema progettato da Kinneir e implementato nel 1963 è un segno di durabilità stilistica. Anthony Froshaug, in un articolo chiamato “Roadside traffic signs” (originariamente pubblicato nella rivista inglese Design No. 178, 1963), provò che non c’era ragione alcuna per un miglioramento del suddetto sistema di segnaletica esistente.
Le targhe automobilistiche italiane sono progettate dall’IPZS, l’Istituto Poligrafico.
Nella primavera del 2003 a Milano la Triennale ha ospitato una mostra molto interessante dal titolo “Asfalto, il Carattere Della Città”.

[Ralf H.]

Damn, I only understand the first sentence. :-(

Ralf

[Alessandro Segalini]

Andrea Bergamini, would you mind translating my 10.07am post in English for Ralf Hermann and the forum ?
Thanks very much.

[berga83]

ok, here is the translation:

"The story is a bit complicated and confused. The road and highway signage is based on relatively international standards, that also involve the fonts to be used. From the beginning of the '60s Italy used the font designed (from 1957 to 1967) specifically for street signs in the UK. The designers of the sign layouts and the of the font in use are Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert, and the font is Transport (URW, 1980).
The laws on Italian signage (quite depressing) are on any complete edition of the Italian "Codice della Strada" -Manual of road laws and rules, that has specimens of all the alphabets to be used. Some engineers from the Public Works Department, one of which maybe was called Cecilia, worked on it.
The system designed by Kinneir and implemented in 1963 is an example of stylistic durability.
In an article called "Roadside traffic sign" (originally published on the British magazine Design No. 178, 1963) Anthony Froshaug proved that there was no reason for an improvement of that signage system.
The Italian license plates are designed by the IPZS, the Istituto Poligrafico.
In Spring 2003 the Triennale in Milano hosted a very interesting show called "Asfalto, the character of the city".

in my researches though, i found that Traffic Type Spain D (from an unknown designer), as it appears here is a lot closer in look to what appears on the Italian highways than Kinneir's Transport, (1957-67), even in its Heavy variant.
what my opinion is, is that the font that is being used took its shape from Kinneir's original design (the similarity with it is out of doubt), but was redrawn and applied without consideration of what were the lighting and optical problems concerned.

i will let you guys (that for sure have a lot more typographical experience than i do) judge these images, but please let me know your opinions!
a.

Below is the comparison between:
--

1) what appears on italian road signs (in particular this one is from the highway)
--

2) Kinneir's Transport Bold (preview from myfonts.com)
--

3) Traffic Type Spain D (preview from myfonts.com)
--

[Alessandro Segalini]

Thanks, Andrea. Not much to say about "TTSD" actually.
p.s.
From 2005, node 15516, "1930/40's German street signs," FF City Street Type.
From 2006, “Typeface on US Traffic Signs."
Jeremy Tankard's Wayfarer for Sheffield, UK.
From 1993, Todd Childers' MFA Thesis at CalArts, "Signs for Speed."

[Ralf H.]

Okay, here's the updated list:

FHWA Series Fonts/Clearview - USA/Canada
FHWA Series Fonts (modified) - Australia
DIN Mittelschrift/Engschrift - Germany
Transport/Motorway - Great Britain
ANWB-Ee/ANWB-Uu - The Netherlands
Mittelschrift/Engschrift Austria - Austria
ASTRA Frutiger - Switzerland
Tratex - Sweden
Trafikkalfabetet - Norway
L1/L2, L3/L4 - France
Dansk Vejtavleskrift - Denmark
Autopista, Carretera Conventional - Spain
Transport (Modified) - Island

Spotted, but without official source or official transport authority name:
Traffic Type Spain (AKA Carretera Conventional) - Italy
DIN - Greece, Czech Republik, Latvia
Arial - Estonia
Transport - Hong Kong
FHWA Series - Malaysia

Images (with German texts) here:
http://www.typografie.info/typowiki/index.php?title=Schriften_auf_Verkeh...

New information about typefaces in countries not mentioned are highly welcome!

[eriks]

I am not going to burden you with all the data I have on this – some of it you don’t want to see. Just one example below:
A gentleman called Nathaniel Porter has digitized Transport Heavy, and it is being used by various agencies. The data is even worse than the Swedish Tratex font which must have been done by an amateur on on Ikarus system without corrections. This one here is just a raw scan. Amazingly, it works as a font. Too heavy for signs, but just shows how good font software has become if it can actually make a working font from a scan that looks like a piece of German rye bread.

The other illustration is from a project I have been working on for the European Community. It won't be ready for a while – these things take forever and will be tested by the same people who are using Transport Heavy by Mr Porter. I still have to make different bitmap sizes and, thanks to Bitfonter and Adam Twardoch, these will actually be fairly legible. All the other dynamic signs in Europe use bitmaps that have been generated automatically from DIN, Transport or whatever they use in the countries.

[eriks]

I forgot to mention:
I suspect that this version of Transport Heavy is being used in Italy and Spain. And in Greece as well. Portugal seems to have paid a license for the real fonts from URW, but the others must have preferred the free version. And we all know how good those are...

[eriks]

Another foot note. This is what it says in the Readme:

This font was made by Nathaniel Porter from images in the Department for Transport Proposed Revision of the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions documentation which can be found here: http://www.roads.dft.gov.uk/consult/traffic/regulations/10.htm

This font can be found online at http://www.allan-online.co.uk

It may not be used for commerical purposes.

I suppose a country's road maps are not commercial.

[berga83]

Thank you very much for all the information, Mr. Spiekermann, I would only like to make a remark: the font can now be found at this website http://www.cbrd.co.uk/media/fonts/, the other link seems to not be working.