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Clearview


mobilene
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At the end of my Illinois National Road trip I climbed aboard I-70 for the return trip and saw that, near Effingham, most of the signs had been updated with the new Clearview typeface. I haven't gotten out much in the past few years but that's the first time I've seen Clearview that close to home.

 

I read a couple road blogs and misc.transport.road and most of the people I encounter there lament the passing of the old typeface, FHWA Series D (aka Highway Gothic). While that typeface has been a staple of America's roads for over 50 years and has done its job well, I'm not sad to see it go because I find Clearview to be easier to read. I must admit, I'm kind of a typography geek. I've done a fair amount of work with typography for online reading, and I designed the interior of a series of books. I'm not at the height of the typographic art, but I do get kerning and x-heights and m-widths and the size of the bowl in the letter e and why all this stuff matters for readability. For a whole bunch of typographical reasons, I think people will find Clearview crisper and easier to read.

 

The New York Times Magazine has an article about Clearview and its development, with a little history of road sign typography and a couple vintage photos. I think it requires you register if you don't have an account there already.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/12/magazine...amp;oref=slogin

 

Of course, Clearview will spread along the interstates first, but I expect that over time it will slowly trickle down to the two-lane roads, just as Highway Gothic did after its introduction. Do you care? If you care, which side do you fall on -- scourge or welcome change?

 

Peace,

jim

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Interesting article! In the two daytime shots, I can see a slight difference between the two fonts, but to my eyes, the differences are barely perceptible. I'm curious if I will notice a difference in clarity at night, as the article stated.

 

That was my initial thought on the fonts, and the article seemed to confirm it...

 

"Highway Gothic conjures the awe of Interstate travel and the promise of midcentury futurism; Clearview’s aesthetic is decidedly more subdued. “It’s like being a good umpire,” Pietrucha says, suggesting that one of Clearview’s largest triumphs will be how quietly it replaces Highway Gothic sign by sign in the coming years. “It will completely change the look of the American highway, but not so much that anyone will notice.”"

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Hummmm. Fonts on road signs. Seems I recall you turned over the fonts card a bit back.

 

Do I care? I didn’t know I could!

 

BTW, I think the Times “cheated” in the two photos. They claim that Clearview is lighter and brighter, so they lightened the photo of the sign using Clearview!!

 

I could get really interested if your expertise could be applied to dating photos, road guides, maps, and other road ephemera that lack printed dates. Over the years I have developed a sixth sense concerning the age of a document based on the fonts used. It isn’t more than maybe 70% reliable, but it does help when I’m browsing and spot a possible acquisition. And it helps reject some misrepresented stuff.

 

So here is a challenge. Can you identify and describe key characteristics, with examples, for fonts typical of a time period? What I’m thinking is collectors like myself could then quickly determine whether the item is teens, 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, etc.

 

You have established a whole new category of road knowledge all by yourself! Fontography! You are a regular Font of Knowledge! Before you know it, we will be photographing the bowls of e’s as a part of a road report. <_<:D

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

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Here's the whole story from the FHWA. Warning: Serious font geekery.

 

http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/HTM/clearfont/cf-english.htm

 

As I understand it, Clearview's development was prompted to increase legibility of road signs at highway speeds, especially as the average driver's age has crept up. 1 in 5 drivers are over 65, they say. They looked at a number of ways to do it -- including just making the existing signs bigger -- but decided that a more legible typeface was a better solution.

 

One thing I think Clearview does is increase recognition of words by their shapes. If I wrote the name of your hometown on posterboard, went out 100 yards and started walking toward you, you'd "read" the town's name based on its shape long before you could actually make out all of the letters.

 

So at 75 mph on a busy highway, Clearview should let us see that sign in the distance sooner so we can respond to it. "Oh, that's the exit I want. I'd better get over."

 

Most people can't tell the difference between typefaces, or don't care if they do. But typefaces are like colors in the effect they can have. I used to have a couple great reference books here that showed how setting the same paragraph in different typefaces could change the "color" of the text and how you perceived it before you even read it.

 

I used to subscribe to this indie sci-fi magazine until it folded. They used New Century Schoolbook (I could tell just by looking at it) and it was just awful in that publication. It made the words stab at your eyes like daggers. I loved reading the stories, but found the typeface fatiguing. I used to use New Century Schoolbook in software manuals I wrote and it was pretty good -- legible from a distance (e.g., the user's lap), and fatigue wasn't an issue because most readers needed the info in just one or two paragraphs and then they went on with their day.

 

Clearview will not seem that different because it and Highway Gothic have similar goals of communicating critical road information clearly from a distance. Typefaces that do well for a particular application tend to have similar characteristics, and most people can't tell the differences, or just think "Oh, the letters are bigger now."

 

I wish I could date photos by the sign typefaces. As far as I can tell, until the Interstate era, there were certain commonalities, but things varied a lot from state to state. And in some areas an old sign wouldn't be replaced until it fell down or someone hit it. Signage is more homogenous today, to be sure.

 

Based on what I've seen, lower case didn't become common in signs until the Interstate era, so that's a dividing line. Lowercase letters were uncommon before then, if I understand correctly, because signs were hand-painted or stamped and all-caps was easier in both approaches. Honestly, other than that, I tend to look at sign styles to help date photos -- are guide signs text or symbols? are shields cutouts and/or do they include state names? are directional signs white with black text? That sort of thing.

 

jim

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Up until this morning I had never even thought about the font used on roadsigns, now I can't stop looking at it.

 

All the roadsigns on the 5 miles of soutbound Interstate 580 that I drive to work between San Ramon and Dublin are FHWA Series D. I'll check northbound this afternoon.

 

roadhound the easily obsessed

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My apologies; what I called FHWA Series D is actually FHWA Series E (Modified). 40 lashes with the wet noodle for me.

 

To see what all the FHWA sign typefaces look like, go here: http://www.trafficsign.us/signtypeface.

 

Rick, sorry to send you off on a compulsive tear, there, man! Next, look to see whether the signs are reflective or the older button-copy style with the little reflective buttons on the letters. When somebody pointed out the button-copy signs to me, I about drove myself crazy looking at every sign to see what kind it was. Button-copy signs are disappearing as they are replaced with the modern reflective ones.

 

jim

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To see what all the FHWA sign typefaces look like, go here: http://www.trafficsign.us/signtypeface.

I've been hearing about Clearview for a long time and I guess I've seen some of it but I sure didn't notice it at the time. That probably means they've done a good job of keeping it from traumatizing us who aren't all that observant when it come to sign fonts.

 

But now let me assist mobilene in veering off topic. I say assist because he's the one who posted a link to a page that is maintained by Richard Moeur and which has a link to Richard's personal site at it's bottom. If you follow that link, you'll find some more links including one called "Our Big Road Trips". Richard is a Practicing Traffic Engineer (so says his signature) who posts now and then on the Route 66 Yahoo group. He and his wife collaborate on reporting road trips via email and a picture of the day. Those emails then become the trip reports accessed via "Our Big Road Trips".

 

You would probably enjoy the trip reports and Richard can probably tell you plenty about Clearview, too. And remember - mobilene started it.

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You sure never know what you will learn on the AR Forums! The notion that we perceive the name of say our home town in type before we can read the letters is new to me But explains why when I look for certain names on an old post card, I may perceive “Market” (for example) when I can’t really make out the letters. Humm.

 

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

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As a special treat for the legions of fans of this thread, I'm happy to report we've recruited Richard Moeur to the American Road forum! Hopefully within the next couple of days Richard will find his way to the thread and add to the discussion from an insider's perspective. So from all of us here at the AR Garage, :welcome:

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As a special treat for the legions of fans of this thread, I'm happy to report we've recruited Richard Moeur to the American Road forum! Hopefully within the next couple of days Richard will find his way to the thread and add to the discussion from an insider's perspective. So from all of us here at the AR Garage, :welcome:

 

You realize it's going to be rather hard for me to live up to that kind of an introduction. :)

 

I'll participate in the forum as I have the time and ability. Been a subscriber to the magazine for a while as well.

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