Comments on: Traffic Sign Typefaces: Poland

By: Andreas Søren Johansen

Andreas Søren Johansen — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:18:43 +0000

@Ralf … By the way—I’m also on the look for info on a turkish (maybe actually cypres-turkish) roadsign font called Carretera.. Do you happen to know anything about this?

By: Ralf Herrmann

Ralf Herrmann — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:17:38 +0000

I named and linked the digitizations in my article. I thought you were refering to the official name used by the road authorities.

By: Andreas Søren Johansen

Andreas Søren Johansen — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:14:20 +0000

Actually I just found it. It’s called Drogowskaz … There are downloadable testfiles (for none commercial use) available around the internet—they’re highly recommendable if you’re looking for some inspiration.

So few seem to recognize that this typeface is pretty amazing!

By: Ralf Herrmann

Ralf Herrmann — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:32:06 +0000

I have the official documents as scans but unfortunately I can’t read them.

Not every road signage typeface has a real name. When its the only typeface used, there is no need to differentiate (thus name) it.

By: Andreas Søren Johansen

Andreas Søren Johansen — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:13:09 +0000

Does anyone know the actual name of the polish traffic typeface?

By: Garrett Reil

Garrett Reil — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:47:49 +0000

Thanks for this article, very interesting as usual!

It was, I believe, reasonably common in the past to make very geometric designs to enable ‘draughtsmen’ to reproduce the lettering manually on signs. That way they could use the tools on hand to make consistent letterforms. In a similar way perhaps, DIN resembled the lettering used by architects on drawing slugs, and could be made with compass and rule.

I suspect this s a similar case?

Compliments on the quality of your photographs Ralf, once again!

By: Ed

Ed — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:22:59 +0000

Does this typeface perform poorly using the Legibility Test Tool?

I think this typeface is quite modern and legible, and also has great character (I especially love the “e”) which many designers would find confronting because it doesn’t conform or derive from the bland commercial fonts fashionable these days. I also love the look of this typeface stencilled on countless village entrance signs in Poland. Even with less than perfect kerning, it is very robust and distinctive and should be treasured.

Compared to the examples of other European road signs, which use boring print typefaces that look like they come from the side of a medicine bottle, the Polish traffic sign typeface has much more aesthetic appeal.

By: Jarek Kowalczyk

Jarek Kowalczyk — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 20:52:52 +0000

This typo is a joke…Polish ogoneks and cutes are tragic, but it shows exactly state of our public design. Sometimes I don’t know – cry or laugh.

By: Peter

Peter — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:15:09 +0000

This font became one of inspiration to swiss typographer Ludovic Balland for identity of new polish art museum in Warsaw. It’s a pity that he saw this font in many place at Warsaw

But I saw very first projects and I think the font designed by Ludowic is much better done than original.

By: typografia

typografia — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:28:13 +0000

This is not about the letters, this is about kerning.
But the typeface itself isn’t economical, indeed…

By: nicolas

nicolas — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 08:48:54 +0000

I actually like the typo. It looks cool.

By: zydriusj

zydriusj — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:09:31 +0000

there is nothing more worse than polish signs. most of them are green (easy on eye, too similar with surrounding nature). i had several times to return to sign to see what is written.

By: eF-eM

eF-eM — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 07:23:28 +0000

you might think that the topography has something to do with character of the Polish people.
it could ……

By: Piotr

Piotr — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:42:21 +0000

I haven’t seen that coming! Nice post, and yes, the typeface used for Polish signs is both—unaesthetic and very limiting.