Ralf Herrmann: Wayfinding & Typography » Traffic Typefaces

Infographic: Visual Guide to Typefaces used on European Road Signs

Ralf Herrmann — Tue, 22 May 2012 14:01:26 +0000

I started to design this infographic for a conference talk about European road signage typefaces, but I thought this might also be useful to share with everyone. The hi-res version (2000 × 2000 pixels) can be downloaded here: Some notes: Each circle in the image represents a unique design. The rectangular signs show how this [...]

Wayfinding Sans Pro released

Ralf Herrmann — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 06:27:37 +0000

After 6 years, I am happy to announce, that Wayfinding Sans Pro has now been released. You can read all about the development of this typeface in this article on I Love Typography: The Design of a Signage Typeface. Also check out the PDF specimen for more information. Wayfinding Sans Pro is available at fonts.info [...]

Does a large x-height make fonts more legible?

Ralf Herrmann — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:56:26 +0000

It seems to be common knowledge among graphic designers: When you need a legible font, pick one with a large x-height! Here are Bernhard Modern (left) and Adobe Garamond (right) set at the same cap height: Adobe Garamond is certainly more legible, isn’t it? And this is even more important for signage. So here is [...]

Empirical study about the legibility of typefaces used on signs in public space

Ralf Herrmann — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 19:51:46 +0000

At the University of Applied Sciences Berlin an empirical study was conducted by Sven Neumann to test the legibility of nine typefaces, including my own Wayfinding Sans typeface. The use of type in this study was based on the recommendations of the German legibility norm DIN 1450. This ensured that the study reflected a real-world [...]

The Beauty of Road Signs

Ralf Herrmann — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 19:37:12 +0000

Usually, when I do my road trips to take pictures of road sigs for my collection, I am most interested in, how these signs look from the driver’s point of view. But now and then I also get out of the car and take some more interesting photos. Here are some selected images from the [...]

Traffic Sign Typefaces: East Germany

Ralf Herrmann — Tue, 17 May 2011 18:21:39 +0000

In the German Democratic Republic (GDR) the road traffic regulations were revised in the 1970s. The GDR had signed the treaty of the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals (1969) and in the years 1974 till 1978 the official norm for the design and content of road signs was changed significantly. The new, quite remarkable layout also [...]

Margaret Calvert, designer of the British road signs

Ralf Herrmann — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 07:47:22 +0000

Top Gear’s Jeremy May talks to Margaret Calvert, who, along with colleague Jock Kinneir, designed many of the road signs used throughout Great Britain. (You might skip the first 2 minutes of the video to directly jump the interview with Margaret Calvert.) Tweet

Designing the ultimate wayfinding typeface

Ralf Herrmann — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:01:45 +0000

Over the last couple of years I have researched the design and use of typefaces used for signage, especially road signage. While road signs in general are scientifically researched for many decades in western countries, little is known about the parameters that lead to a maximum legibility of typefaces used in signage. And therefore the [...]

Traffic Sign Typefaces: Switzerland

Ralf Herrmann — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:08:28 +0000

The old Swiss traffic sign font is called SNV (“Schweizerische Normen-Vereinigung”). It is a very geometric typeface with obvious legibility problems. The SNV fonts can still be found on older Swiss traffic signs and also in Belgium where it is still the main font on road signs. Since 2003 a new font called ASTRA Frutiger [...]

Traffic Sign Typefaces: Italy

Ralf Herrmann — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 19:03:39 +0000

The main typeface used in Italy is called Alfabeto Normale and is a bolder version of the British Transport alphabet. From its use in Spain it is also known as Carreta Conventional or CCRIGE and it is available as Traffic Type Spain from URW++. A slightly thinner version is available for white letters on dark [...]

Traffic Sign Typefaces: Netherlands

Ralf Herrmann — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 12:31:53 +0000

The Netherlands are a special case when it comes to traffic signs… Until recently the organization being in charge of the traffic signs was the ANWB. It was founded as a Dutch bikers(!) society (“Algemeene Nederlandsche Wielrijders Bond”) in 1883 and later became the royal tourist society. In my opinion these roots are still visible [...]

Traffic Sign Typefaces: France

Ralf Herrmann — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 13:16:55 +0000

In France four fonts are currently used. The main fonts are called L1 and L2. L1 and L2 are caps-only alphabets. L1 is set in black letters on white background and is used for local targets. L2 is set in white on blue (Autoroutes) or green (Routes Nationales) background and is used for distant targets. [...]

Traffic Sign Typefaces: Poland

Ralf Herrmann — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:51:12 +0000

When I first saw a digital version of the Polish traffic typeface, I though I must have gotten a really bad digitization. It had characters which were obviously cut off by mistake … But I later found out that this is the way the typeface is supposed to look like according to the official specifications: [...]

Traffic Sign Typefaces: DIN 1451 (Germany)

Ralf Herrmann — Sun, 18 May 2008 15:56:22 +0000

The official traffic typeface in Germany is called DIN 1451 and has a very long history … It goes back to the beginning of the 20. century when the Royal Prussian Railways (Königliche Preußische Eisenbahn) defined a new master drawing for the lettering for the description of freight cars, The typeface was later adapted for [...]

Traffic Sign Typefaces: Dansk Vejtavleskrift (Denmark)

Ralf Herrmann — Sun, 11 May 2008 11:33:27 +0000

Denmark is very generous with colors. Road sign can be red on white, white on green, blue on white, black on yellow and white on blue. Red (usually reserved for emergency icons) is the main color, because it is the color of the national flag of Denmark. Between 1955 and 1978 a relatively light typeface [...]