In the late 1980s there was a realization among highway officials that road signs needed to be improved to accommodate the aging American population. A design team from the Pennsylvania Transportation Institute, with the design firm Meeker & Associates in Larchmont, N.Y., and the digital-type design firm Terminal Design, set out to try to solve this problem. NYT Mag
3 Comments
I've always thought the sign program for the US Highway System is one of the great graphic design solutions of all time - it accomodates an unknown (at the time of design) range of different names, situations, directions; it simply communicates multiple types of information - directions (in green), heritage sites (in brown), information (in blue), and warnings (in orange); it works in various climates and weather conditions (from Florida to Montana, rain, sleet, snow, sun); and no one ever bothers to notice that someone DESIGNED it.
According to the book "Divided Highways" the white-on-green look was chosen over a European white-on-blue because the director of highways was color-blind and the European system appeared sickly yellow to him.
The accompanying slide show is incredibly informative showing the steps leading to the creation of Clearview font style for contemporary signage. I especially found the comparison of the old and new fonts in the highly reflective sign material the most compelling argument for design in everyday life.
tiny thing to add:
the eye reads lowercase letters faster then uppercase. which is good cause you probably speeding.
nice work.
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