ksbolduan@amherst.bitnet (03/27/91)
As I was driving from Florida to Massachusetts along the Interstate, I began wondering what font all those green highway signs are in. It's a sans serif,in a bold style, but, though we're used to it, it's not particularly appealing. The lower case letters seem rather clunky, especially the "g". Anyone know if this font has a name? And, if it's possible to get it? Just curious, Kevin Bolduan KSBOLDUAN@AMHERST
tneff@bfmny0.BFM.COM (Tom Neff) (03/29/91)
In article <12539.27f0ac96@amherst.bitnet> ksbolduan@amherst.bitnet writes: >As I was driving from Florida to Massachusetts along the Interstate, I >began wondering what font all those green highway signs are in. It's a >sans serif,in a bold style, but, though we're used to it, it's not >particularly appealing. The lower case letters seem rather clunky, >especially the "g". Anyone know if this font has a name? And, if it's >possible to get it? My great-uncle Andrew invented that font. He actually once promised to will me the rights to it after his death. But my hopes for the inheritance were dashed when... he died interstate.
graham@cs.washington.edu (Stephen Graham) (03/30/91)
In article <12539.27f0ac96@amherst.bitnet> ksbolduan@amherst.bitnet writes: >As I was driving from Florida to Massachusetts along the Interstate, I began >wondering what font all those green highway signs are in. It's a sans serif,in >a bold style, but, though we're used to it, it's not particularly appealing. The >lower case letters seem rather clunky, especially the "g". Anyone know if this >font has a name? And, if it's possible to get it? I may be completely wrong, but I think it's a variant of Helvetica. -- Steve Graham graham@isis.ee.washington.edu (206) 543-8115
horne-scott@cs.yale.edu (Scott Horne) (03/30/91)
In article <12539.27f0ac96@amherst.bitnet> ksbolduan@amherst.bitnet writes:
<
<As I was driving from Florida to Massachusetts along the Interstate, I began
<wondering what font all those green highway signs are in. It's a sans serif,in
<a bold style, but, though we're used to it, it's not particularly appealing.
Speak for yourself. I'm rather fond of it. (Not that I'd set a book in it,
though. :-) )
--Scott
--
Scott Horne ...!{harvard,cmcl2,decvax}!yale!horne
horne@cs.Yale.edu SnailMail: Box 7196 Yale Station, New Haven, CT 06520
203 436-1817 Residence: Rm 1817 Silliman College, Yale Univ
"Pi4 nai3 ren2 shen1 zhi1 qi4, qi3 you3 bu2 fang4 zhi1 li3." --Mao Zedongsw@ (Steve Warner) (03/31/91)
In article <12539.27f0ac96@amherst.bitnet> ksbolduan@amherst.bitnet writes: >As I was driving from Florida to Massachusetts along the Interstate, I began >wondering what font all those green highway signs are in. It's a sans serif,in >a bold style, but, though we're used to it, it's not particularly appealing. The >lower case letters seem rather clunky, especially the "g". Anyone know if this >font has a name? And, if it's possible to get it? > The numerals are closely approximated by Adobe's CARTA font. The letters, I have no idea. - Steve -- ---- Steve Warner - Fremont, CA, USA etc... replies to: sun!indetech!stables!sw (forget what the header says)
balcer@jaguar.siemens.com (Marc J Balcer) (04/02/91)
ksbolduan@amherst.bitnet writes: >As I was driving from Florida to Massachusetts along the Interstate, I began >wondering what font all those green highway signs are in. It's a sans serif,in >a bold style, but, though we're used to it, it's not particularly appealing. The >lower case letters seem rather clunky, especially the "g". Anyone know if this >font has a name? And, if it's possible to get it? I believe that this font is now a Federal standard that dates back to the beginnings of the Interstate Highway System, although its first use was most likely on the New Jersey Turnpike in the early 50's. Some of the old signs are still around, particularly south of Exit 7. You'll notice that they are white-on-black, not white-on-green. Also they use that funny curving arrow to mark exits. Take note of the backlit signs at the end of the Turnpike near the Holland Tunnel (Exit 14C) and southbound at Exit 6 (PA Turnpike). They are true 50's artifacts. The font itself is rather unique in that many of the end caps of lower case letters are angled. Also note that the font contains capitals, lowercase, and small capitals (used for keywords like NORTH and EXIT). I'm sure that a call to a state highway department would yield :-) the correct answer. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marc J. Balcer [mbalcer@siemens.siemens.com] Siemens Corporate Research, 755 College Road East, Princeton, NJ 08540 (609) 734-6531 FAX (609) 734-6565
ross@bmers213.bnr.ca (Ross Brown) (04/02/91)
In article <balcer.670524673@jaguar>, balcer@jaguar.siemens.com (Marc J Balcer) writes: |> I believe that this font is now a Federal standard that dates back to the |> beginnings of the Interstate Highway System, although its first use |> was most likely on the New Jersey Turnpike in the early 50's. Marc is right on both points. It is a US Dept. of Transportation standard, published in the form of a booklet (title escapes me). The booklet contains all six font series (A, the narrowest, rarely used, through F, the broadest, suitable only for "DIP" signs), laid out on graph squares for easy eyeballing. In the back of the booklet are lookup tables for spacing. The fonts were designed for optimum readability and easy fabrication. The letter forms are clearly based on straight lines and circular arcs, though the radii and centers are not specified. I wrote to the Dept. when I was about 12, and they kindly sent me (a Canuck!) the font booklet and a companion volume of highway sign specs free of charge. I imagine you can still get them. ============================================================================== Ross Brown, Dept. 7D76 < Bell-Northern Research > Just the facts, ma'am. ross@bnr.ca < P. O. Box 3511, Station C > We don't care whose awol@awol.on.can.na < Ottawa, ON, Canada K1Y 4H7 > opinions yours aren't. ==============================================================================
karl@apple-gunkies.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Karl Berry) (04/03/91)
ksbolduan@amherst.bitnet writes: >As I was driving from Florida to Massachusetts along the Interstate, I began >wondering what font all those green highway signs are in. It's a sans serif,in >a bold style, but, though we're used to it, it's not particularly appealing. The >lower case letters seem rather clunky, especially the "g". Anyone know if this >font has a name? And, if it's possible to get it? I believe it is a variant of Helvetica, as a previous poster said. I know that the U.S. Army Engineering Corps (or whatever their exact name is) conducted a lot of tests for readability as to type style, size, etc. Other people have commented on the mutilated `g' -- Hermann Zapf, for example. He mentions it in passing in one of his articles in HZ and His Design Philosophy (Society of Typographic Arts, Chicago. 1987. ISBN 0-941447-00-6). I find the biggest lose on the highway signs is the lack of secondary leading, e.g., a sign that has Jonesville Center Smithtown has the same amount of vertical space between `Jonesville' and `Center' as between `Center' and `Smithtown', although the latter should have more. karl@cs.umb.edu
roy@phri.nyu.edu (Roy Smith) (04/04/91)
Just a wild guess, but I wonder if it's any of the Hershey fonts?
Didn't Hershey work for the DOT, or something like that? The Hershey font
set includes symbols like the "US Interstate" shield, etc.
As a bit of trivia, the US Defense Mapping Agency (or whatever they
currently happen to be calling themselves) puts out a variety of universal
plotting sheets used for navigation (plotting sheets are essentailly blank
mercator grids with unlabeled lat/long lines, scales, compass roses, etc,
but no geographic features). The lettering on them is, I'm virtually
certain, one of the Hershey fonts.
--
Roy Smith, Public Health Research Institute
455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016
roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu -OR- {att,cmcl2,rutgers,hombre}!phri!roy
"Arcane? Did you say arcane? It wouldn't be Unix if it wasn't arcane!"ross@bmers213.bnr.ca (Ross Brown) (04/08/91)
[Article resent due to distribution error. Apologies to those hit twice.] In article <balcer.670524673@jaguar>, balcer@jaguar.siemens.com (Marc J Balcer) writes: |> I believe that this font is now a Federal standard that dates back to the |> beginnings of the Interstate Highway System, although its first use |> was most likely on the New Jersey Turnpike in the early 50's. Marc is right on both points. It is a US Dept. of Transportation standard, published in the form of a booklet (title escapes me). The booklet contains all six font series (A, the narrowest, rarely used, through F, the broadest, suitable only for "DIP" signs), laid out on graph squares for easy eyeballing. In the back of the booklet are lookup tables for spacing. The fonts were designed for optimum readability and easy fabrication. The letter forms are clearly based on straight lines and circular arcs, though the radii and centers are not specified. I wrote to the Dept. when I was about 12, and they kindly sent me (a Canuck!) the font booklet and a companion volume of highway sign specs free of charge. I imagine you can still get them. ============================================================================== Ross Brown, Dept. 7D76 < Bell-Northern Research > Just the facts, ma'am. ross@bnr.ca < P. O. Box 3511, Station C > We don't care whose awol@awol.on.can.na < Ottawa, ON, Canada K1Y 4H7 > opinions yours aren't. ==============================================================================