U.S. Highway Administration orders return to vintage typeface

boing
41

I missed the 64 vs 65, saw that it was .6, but didn’t catch the mile change. I blame the font.

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42

Switzerland has been adopting it for highway signage. The Swiss surely don’t have less complex character needs than we do.

43

Oh nice! I wasn’t aware. I’m a big fan of Frutiger and the Swiss are some of the best in the world at wayfinding design, so if it’s working well on their highways, I hope it gets more use.

44

Times New Roman, just because that’s what students are forced to use.

I actually love threads about fonts. What I’ve learned from them is that while most dislike Papyrus, their* is an almost universal hatred of everything Comic Sans. (See @TobinL, who had first comment.)

edit to “there”–why my phone goes to their rather than there first, god only knows.

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45

but Switzerland has barely the size of a large airport, so Frutiger is used as intended there : )

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46

I think Highway Gothic looks heller better.

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47

I know how to get there!

It’s in the chemically altered state of Drugachusetts!

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48

yeah. doesn’t everybody have a smart phone anyway!? :wink:

49

Retro Stereo (and Mono):

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50

maybe this is too obvious, but I think the primary motivation is to generate busywork

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51

Clearview must be licensed on a per-user basis

Man, that must have been a nightmare trying to bill all those drivers.

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52

Kerning is when you adjust the space between two particular letters for a better fit, e.g. AV. (Properly-made digital fonts have such kerning pairs built in.) Overall spacing is called tracking or letterspacing.

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53

When I am old I will tell the young that I lived through the dark era known only as ‘2004’.

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54

This thread makes me so happy.

But if I don’t see a monospace sign, I will be disappointed.

Disappointed I say

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55

i bet the change has something to do with spite.

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56

Hellertown does not deserve all this attention, btw.

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57

Gotta confess I love the classic look of Highway Gothic. Wouldn’t look the same without it. Then again, I pretty much only see it in movies, I don’t have to live with it…

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58 
    ---------------------
    |       412         |
    |                   |
    |    Hellertown     |
    |     Bethlehem     |
    |                   |
    |      1 Mile       |
    ---------------------
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59

Don’t you mean Late Stage Capitalism? :wink:

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60

Why overthink it? It’s about money, as it always is.