We ‘Font’ to Know: What Typeface is Used on New York Traffic Signs?
How often do you sit around thinking about fonts? Unless you're a typographer, probably not often. And with regards to text arrangement on a street sign, you probably pay more attention to what the sign is telling you rather than the design choices that went into it.
...but me? Well, I just had to know.
Because it's not like it's random. Some thought probably went into it. I have no evidence of this, but I'll bet a lot of thought went into it. Probably more thought than necessary. There was probably a Street Sign Font Committee that burned the midnight oil 7 days a week trying to reach a decision. They probably took more time selecting this font than it took the jury to reach a verdict in the O.J. Simpson trial.
Well, I'm here to tell you that I found out what font it is. Are you ready?
HIGHWAY GOTHIC
The white lettering on all green traffic signs is called "Highway Gothic." Here's what the typography website Typewolf says about it:
Highway Gothic is a sans-serif typeface family created by the United States Federal Highway Administration for use on road signs. It was designed to be easily and quickly readable while driving at high speeds. Officially, Highway Gothic is known as the FHWA Series or Standard Alphabets for Highway Signs. It’s not only used for signs in the United States but for many other countries throughout the world as well.
So, there you have it. Rumor has it that it was between Highway Gothic and Papyrus, but they went with Highway Gothic.
WHERE CAN YOU GET HIGHWAY GOTHIC?
You can download Highway Gothic and start using it for all your angry letters today by downloading it here. It's completely free.
Sidebar: "Highway Gothic" kinda sounds like a Judas Priest album, doesn't it?