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Traffic Sign Typefaces: Tratex (Sweden)

Ralf Herrmann


Some notes on the typeface used on Swedish road signs.

The swedish typeface for traffic signs is called Tratex and was designed by Karl-Gustav Gustafson and modified by Chester Bernsten. Tratex is available in 4 styles.

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The first one is called Svart (“Black”):

svart.jpg

Vit (“White”). It has an increased spacing to compensate the overglow effect.

vit.jpg

PosVersal (“Positive Caps”):

posversal.jpg

NegVersal (“Negavite Caps”). Identical to PosVersal, but with increased spacing:

negversal.jpg

Swedish signs are mostly set in all caps. This seems to be a common practice in all Scandinavian countries.

allcaps.jpg

Signs with lowercase letters seemed to be reserved for local targets and tourist information signs.

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tourist.jpg

You can download the Tratex fonts from here. A better commercial version is offered by URW++, but they only have one style.






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