Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think.com!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!ai-lab!life!karl From: karl@apple-gunkies.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Karl Berry) Newsgroups: comp.fonts Subject: Re: What Font is Used on Highway Signs? Message-ID: Date: 2 Apr 91 22:09:10 GMT References: <12539.27f0ac96@amherst.bitnet> Sender: news@ai.mit.edu Reply-To: karl@cs.umb.edu Organization: /home/fsf/karl/.organization Lines: 29 In-reply-to: balcer@jaguar.siemens.com's message of 1 Apr 91 16:51:13 GMT ksbolduan@amherst.bitnet writes: >As I was driving from Florida to Massachusetts along the Interstate, I began >wondering what font all those green highway signs are in. It's a sans serif,in >a bold style, but, though we're used to it, it's not particularly appealing. The >lower case letters seem rather clunky, especially the "g". Anyone know if this >font has a name? And, if it's possible to get it? I believe it is a variant of Helvetica, as a previous poster said. I know that the U.S. Army Engineering Corps (or whatever their exact name is) conducted a lot of tests for readability as to type style, size, etc. Other people have commented on the mutilated `g' -- Hermann Zapf, for example. He mentions it in passing in one of his articles in HZ and His Design Philosophy (Society of Typographic Arts, Chicago. 1987. ISBN 0-941447-00-6). I find the biggest lose on the highway signs is the lack of secondary leading, e.g., a sign that has Jonesville Center Smithtown has the same amount of vertical space between `Jonesville' and `Center' as between `Center' and `Smithtown', although the latter should have more. karl@cs.umb.edu