Why?

Highway Gothic (above) and Clearview (below), with "halation" and "overglow" (vocabulary words of the day and image from the Federal Highway Administration)

Typography doesn't usually appear in the same sentence as transportation, but an exception is when the Federal Highway Administration recommends a new typeface, Clearview, for the nation's road signs. It's a little weird (and might inspire a little emotion) to see signs with a slightly different font, like when movies create ficticious roads with signs in Helvetica. It's also strange to find signs formerly in all-upper-case (like road work signs) in the same first-letter-upper-case style as all other signs. But this appears that it will work well, because the letters are more distinguished from each other than than in the old FHWA Series A through F, or "Highway Gothic" (notice the letters o and e), and can be more easily discerned from a distance.

I wouldn't expect to see this typeface in California anytime soon, though, since statewide re-signing has been underway for a few years--and maybe because the Highway Gothic originated here. Anyway, perhaps drivers who have trouble with the existing typeface (and other challenging elements of the road) should think twice about driving in the first place?

Michael Patrick 14:07 Pacific | #post |