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davidw

It's interesting to compare typefaces of road signs across Europe. Frutiger is pretty nice:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frutiger_(typeface)

I like (am used to?) the Italian one too:

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfabeto_Normale (derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_(typeface) )

I don't much care for the Austrian/German ones though:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIN_1451 - apparently it was designed by committee.

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Hey, don't hate on DIN :)

For a font designed in 1931, it's impressively timeless. It doesn't seem to communicate any particular era or emotion, so it suits almost anything especially in digital form.

Both Google's Roboto and Apple's new San Francisco display fonts seem heavily inspired by DIN (just IMHO of course).

> "It doesn't seem to communicate any particular era or emotion"

I'm not wholly sure about that; the strict adherence to line thickness and limited set of curvature angles make me feel like it was adapted from the "font" created by necessity when using road-painting equipment to write asphalt road signs. It which lends the font a "we couldn't do better in one case so let's at least unify on something" feeling that's slightly modernist, similar to logos from the 70s that use unnecessary all-caps to look "digital" because they work with green-screens that don't display lower-case.

I can't give you chapter and verse on this, but when the first autobahns were built, they were composed of straight sections and constant curvature bends. This was perceived by engineers to be the rational way. Landscape designers (who were also involved) eventually convinced the engineers to adopt more sinuous curves, which of course also create transitions (clothoid or Cornu spiral sections) which made the roads easier to drive on.

Found a reference: Driving Germany: The Landscape of the German Autobahn. p.130 onwards.

https://books.google.nl/books?id=Kq_Ys4BlA6cC&lpg=PP1&hl=nl&... (starts on p. 129 really)

True, DIN certainly is a compromise. Of course the version we're accustomed to is never the 1931 standard committee's original take, but a digital modernization.

The de rigueur digital version is FF DIN by FontFont, which was released in 1995:

https://www.fontshop.com/families/ff-din

The changes made in this 1995 version are described thus:

"The shape of the new FF DIN differs from the original mostly by thinner horizontal strokes and by more fluent curves."

So, sounds like you're absolutely right -- line thickness and curvature were reworked to make the typeface more generally useful. (To my taste, all the weights of FF DIN look excellent on a high-dpi screen.)

DIN is timeless! I think that it is beatiful font, with its cold appeal (it's the coldest font I think). I think Conduit also have this feeling a bit...

"Via", used on danish railways, is somewhat famous for it's iconic lowercase "g", saving space on signs which usually don't have much vertical height: http://typedesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Kontrapunkt_D...

That g in type design circles is often referred to as the "Copenhagen" or "Danish" g because of its prevalence there... it seems like the Danes just don't like writing the last part of the g!

For instance, this sign from 1897 [1] contains many examples of it, even on the street sign on the top right corner.

For more examples, I suggest a browse through http://www.copenhagentype.dk/

[1] http://www.lundwp.lamp.magnifik.dk/wp-content/uploads/2013/1...

Actually, DIN looks pretty well IMO. Its unusual x-height means it's not suited for all uses (I don't think it would really work for body copy), but every now and then I see it used on some sites and it looks surprisingly good. I think genius.com uses it for song titles.

My favorite in the U.S. that I hope catches on is ClearView, which I first noticed in Madison, Wisconsin: https://promega.wordpress.com/2009/09/21/better-living-throu...

It's not going to happen in the US[1]:

> In April 2014, FHWA indicated it expects to rescind Interim Approval to use Clearview.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clearview_%28typeface%29

I wonder how much the DIN font is optimized for longer german words. While I don't like it as much as the others, Frutiger would be much wider than it, which in practical terms might be bad.

German is pretty common in Switzerland, too...

For long place names, they often use a narrower variant, which is a bit ugly when mixed with normal width on signage.

The US and a variety of other [EDIT: countries] use the FHWA Series fonts (aka Highway Gothic) which, in their original form, date to 1948.

Tobias Frere-Jones came up with a typeface called Interstate in 1990s that's quite similar but adapted for print and screen. It's a nice typeface. Red Hat released a FOSS variant called Overpass. https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Overpass_Fonts

Sweden: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tratex

Is the sample from wikipedia indicative of the typical kerning for Tratex? If so, that'd be unfortunate...

The kerning is quite wide, yes.

Real life example: http://www.trelleborg.se/files/Centralt/Bilder/Historiskt/By...

Not just wide, but off balance.

Not the most beautiful font, but I love the handwriting-style lowercase a.

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