Why the US has two different highway fonts
The typefaces on highway signs, deconstructed. Subscribe and turn on notifications (๐ ) so you don t miss any videos: http://goo.gl/0bsAjO When you head out on the highway in the United States, youโre probably paying attention to the signs above your car and on the side of the road โ the ones that direct you to your destination. If youโre looking for an exit or a rest stop, chances are youโll see the typeface Highway Gothic. It became the highway standard in the 1950s, born out of an initiative from the California Department of Transportation to develop a clearer and more flexible standard for highway signs. But for the past decade, a new typeface has been trying to take its place: Clearview. This new typeface boasts wider spaces inside of letters and less chunky letterforms, and tries to solve some of Highway Gothicโs readability issues. Learn more in the video above. More from typeface designer Tobias Frere-Jones, who designed the typeface Interstate as an homage to Highway Gothic: https://www.moma.org/collection/works/139305 More information on how the FHWA decided to grant Clearview an interim approval: https://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/resources/interim_approval/ia5/ia5_termtechbrief.htm https://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/SHSe/Alphabets.pdf More on research behind Clearviewโs legibility: https://d2dtl5nnlpfr0r.cloudfront.net/tti.tamu.edu/documents/TTI-2014-3.pdf https://trid.trb.org/view.aspx?id=713768 More on the differences between Highway Gothic and Clearview: https://qz.com/605695/font-designers-response-the-us-governments-has-decided-to-nix-clearview-from-all-highway-signs/ https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-27/the-official-u-s-highway-sign-font-is-changing-from-clearview-to-highway-gothic Subscribe to our channel! http://goo.gl/0bsAjO Vox.com is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what s really driving the events in the headlines. Check out http://www.vox.com. Watch our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/IZONyE Follow Vox on Facebook: http://goo.gl/U2g06o Or Twitter: http://goo.gl/XFrZ5H
