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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.

DSC7878.jpg

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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.

powerplant.jpg

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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