Ralf Herrmann: Wayfinding & Typography » Traffic Typefaces

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.

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 [...]

Traffic Sign Typefaces: Tratex (Sweden)

Ralf Herrmann — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 10:14:24 +0000

The swedish typeface for traffic signs is called Tratex and was designed by Karl-Gustav Gustafson and modified by Chester Bernsten. Tratex is available in 4 styles. The first one is called Svart (“Black”): Vit (“White”). It has an increased spacing to compensate the overglow effect. PosVersal (“Positive Caps”): NegVersal (“Negavite Caps”). Identical to PosVersal, but [...]

Traffic Sign Typefaces: Trafikkalfabetet (Norway)

Ralf Herrmann — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 13:51:03 +0000

The typeface on the traffic signs of Norway is called Trafikkalfabetet and was designed in 1965 by Karl Petter Sandbæk. It bears a resemblance to the German DIN typeface, but it also has some unique features, some of them are good, some are bad. Both typefaces share a very simple geometric design and they are [...]