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Deutschland

A well designed typeface that manages

to be very clear, yet still has a hint of

personality. It may be Germanically

clinical but it makes you feel like you’re

travelling into a well organised country.

Based on Frutiger and co designed by

Speikermann. All the letter forms are

very similar to one another which adds

uniformity and professionalism but lacks

interest and historicism.

Guten Tag liebliche leser und willkommen in

Deutschland. This is the birthplace of DIN, one

of the most used typefaces on roads throughout

Europe. The name is an acronym for the ‘Deutsches

Institut für Normung’, an institute in charge of

standardisation throughout Germany. The specific

strand of DIN we see today is called DIN 1451

Mittelschrift and is not only used in the road signage

throughout Germany, but also number plates in other

European countries. The typeface was influenced by

a typeface used on the German train network and

was eventually constructed using a grid system.

This made sure all the widths remained consistent

and precise. Interestingly DIN was scrapped in East

Germany in favour of Gill Sans in the 70’s only to be

scrapped again in the late 90’s, presumably when

Russia released it’s grip on Germany. There are

only 2 variations of DIN used in the German Signage

system; DIN 1451 Engschrift and Mittelschrift.

Engschrift is the back-up typeface and is only used

when there isn’t enough space for Mittelschrift.

France

Look at the R, isn’t it fantastic! Almost

as if someones lifted it straight from

Futura and the Art Deco movement.

I still think it’s one of the worst faces,

though it does hold a lot of character.

France Metro

How dull. Paris has successfully removed

all traces of character from their metro

typeface Parisine. The metro is still famous

for the old floral signs posts but this almost

naturalises the appeal .

Bonjour étranger!

We’re in France now,

home to the quick spoken

language of love... and

complicated signage.

Caractères is a typeface

specifically designed for

France and it comes in

three variants: L1, black

letters on white; L2, white

letters on blue and L4,

lowercase italics. What

it really boils down to is

bold, medium and italic.

The main differences

between French and

other European signage

is the use of CAPITALS.

L1 and L2 are caps only,

which means every

lowercase letter must be

set in italics. Caractères

is very similar to the

Frutiger typeface and is

rumoured to be based on

it. Surprisingly there isn’t

much information about

when and who designed

this typeface. What I

can’t get over is what

the designers must have

been thinking. I mean,

you spend all this time

making a typeface that’s

easy to read and then you

mess it all up again with

a mass of complicated

signs (example right).

Compare this to the blue

motorway signs and it

becomes immediately

apparent that someone

wasn’t thinking.

America

FHWA definitely feels American.

Maybe it’s the huge kerning that sepa-

rates each letter from one another.

This gives it a sense of space and

vastness, just like the US. The cut off

letter forms (e & a) don’t flow well.

Subway

Helvetica matches a New York lifestyle

perfectly especially with those thick

letter forms that reflect an American

assertiveness. It’s predecessor;

Standard is very closely related and

adds more historic depth to Helvetica.

You have arrived in America, the land of the free and where the typefaces have

never heard of a diet. Shields are very 1950’s. In theory it’s quite a clever way

to communicate the type of road and which road it is, but us Brits developed

a good system for that: A roads, B roads and Motorways. The typeface used

across the majority of the US is called FHWA, named after the Federal Highway

Administration. America has recently changed it’s typeface to Clearview, a much

easier typeface to read from a distance. The main

change is the X-height (size of letters like a,c,e) which

makes the word much more recognisable. FHWA

might be known as Highway Gothic and is still used in

Canada, Mexico, Australia, Spain, Turkey, Brazil, Chile

and New Zealand probably because it was free.

England

Transport is one of the most curvy

typefaces in this book. It’s im-

mediately recognisable and although

it’s a fairly new sans-serif typeface

it reflects Britons history whilst

remaining friendly and approachable.

Underground

Johnston sans is a very unique type-

face and exudes a sense of historic

importance. Every time I travel in the

tube it feels like I’m travelling back in

time, Johnston is arguably one of the

most pretty faces too.

W onderful to be back home again. These signs just feel so... British. The

typeface used is called, very aptly, Transport and was designed between

1957 and 1963 on behalf of the British transport authority. There are 2 variations:

Medium and Heavy. Technically there are two more; the stretched type we see

on the roads. However the majority of this is hand painted so the typefaces were

never really used as such. The font has a surprisingly large x-height, especially if

you compare the cross bar in the Capital

A and the bottom of the Bowl in the R

and B. Transport was created due to the

advent of the motorways and came into

effect in the late 60’s. The typeface is

also used in Hong Kong, Iceland, Ireland,

Italy, Greece, and Portugal, and in much

of the Middle East.

Nederland

Look at those angles! There are 4

different slants in the word below, which

makes it surprising that the typeface

feels at all coherent. The typeface feels

the more modern than the others and

really reflects the country as a whole.

At last, something different! This is the

first rounded sans-serif typeface in this

book and isn’t it just wonderful. It says

I am here; I am friendly and I am willing

to help whilst still retaining its authority.

The arrows are very

stubby in comparison to

other European signage

and the stroke (white

line) is also very thick

and rounded.

Welkom in Nederland. ANWB-Uu is the typeface of Holland, and I’m sensing a

little De Ja Vu. It’s a typeface based on FHWA from the USA, and if you look at

the ascenders t, k , l and d you can see the distinctive angled top. However there are

many differences that may not be noticeable. The counter size is larger which gives

each letter more breathing space. There is less kerning (space between letters)

which allows the word to feel as one, rather than a few separate letters. The x-height

is higher (smaller letters are taller) which improves legibility, and means the letters

are taller and leaner rather than wider. All these points combine to make the Dutch

typeface much more legible and has created a bespoke feeling about the typeface.

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