 | This list needs additional citations for verification .(November 2008) |
Typefaces used for signage in public areas, such as roads and airports, often share characteristics of, or are chosen for, their readability.
| | This list needs additional citations for verification .(November 2008) |
Typefaces used for signage in public areas, such as roads and airports, often share characteristics of, or are chosen for, their readability.
| Typeface | Used by | Notes | Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| Achemine | SNCF, France | Created in 2008 to improve station accessibility | |
| Alfabeto Normale and Alfabeto Stretto | Italy | Alfabeto Normale is a bolder variant of the British Transport typeface. [1] Alfabeto Stretto is a condensed version of Alfabeto Normale. Carretera convencional, used in Spain, is almost identical to Alfabeto Normale. [2] Both of these two fonts have their own positive and negative versions, based on the text's background. | |
| Antique Olive | California Department of Transportation | Some regulatory signs |  |
| Arial |
|  | |
| Austria | Austria | Being phased out since 2013 |  |
| Avenir | Macau Light Rapid Transit Dublin Airport Minneapolis–Saint Paul Metro Transit [4] |  | |
| Bembo | Smithsonian signage in Washington D.C. |  | |
| Brusseline | Brussels's public transport company |  | |
| Calvert | Tyne & Wear Metro, United Kingdom. [5] [6] |  | |
| Caractères | France | Used for road signs in France and in some countries in Africa. In France it is used in four variants known as L1, L2, L4, L5. Its usage is mandated by the Interministerial Instruction on Road Signs and Signals (Instruction Interministérielle sur la Signalisation Routière) [7] |  |
| Carretera convencional | Directorate-General for Traffic Road signs in Spain | Proprietary typeface commissioned for this purpose, used on intracity road signs. Derived from the Transport typeface. |  |
| Casey | Singapore MRT (since 2019) | Used by Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation until its merger with MTR in 2007. Being gradually replaced by Myriad, which is used by MTR on its networks. |  |
| Cast [8] | Most Taiwanese urban rail systems (since 2022) | Designed by Dominique Kerber | |
| Circular | Transport for West Midlands (since 2018) [9] Kereta Api Indonesia (since 2020) [10] | ||
| Clarendon | U.S. National Park Service road signs [11] | Used by Public Transport Company in Poznań as the typeface for its fleet vehicles numbering |  |
| Clearview |
| Developed to replace U.S. FHWA (Federal Highway Administration) typefaces [11] |  |
| Dansk Vejtavleskrift | Road signs in Denmark [12] | Derived from the Transport typeface | |
| Deutsche Bahn WLS | Deutsche Bahn station signage [13] | Developed in close reference to Helvetica | |
| DIN 1451 | Road signs in Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo Counties Road signs in Germany Road signs in the Czech Republic Road signs in Latvia SADC road signs Road signs in Singapore Road signs in Brunei Road signs in Syria Bengaluru Metro (Namma Metro) signage Kansai International Airport (KIX) (since 2022) | The DIN typeface was commissioned for use at Regulatory and Warning Signs in Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo Counties. Also used in the Greek motorway network The DIN typeface is currently in the process of gradually replacing the Frutiger typeface for Kansai Airport during its renovations in preparation for Expo 2025. |  |
| Drogowskaz | Polish road signage typeface | One of a few digitalisations; officially the typeface used in Polish road signs has no defined name. |  |
| Esseltub | previously used in Stockholm Metro |  | |
| FIP signage typeface | Government of Canada | A modified version of Helvetica Medium used by the Government of Canada [14] | |
| FF Fago | ADIF | Used as official font for signage system of all Spanish railway stations owned by the state-owned administrator, ADIF | |
| FF Meta | Stockholm Metro Caltrans Birmingham Airport TransLink (British Columbia) | Some mile marker signs |  |
| FF Transit | Developed by MetaDesign for Berlin's public transport company BVG and later adopted by other transport systems. Contains many pictograms for signage. Based on Frutiger. [15] | ||
| FF Scala Sans | Los Angeles Metro |  | |
| FHWA Series typeface (Highway Gothic) [11] | Road signs in the Americas, Australasia, China, India, Indonesia, Macau, Malaysia, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, and Turkey | Developed for U.S. road signage Formerly used on Spanish motorways Turkey uses two typefaces on road signs based on this typeface – O-Serisi for motorways and E-Serisi for all other roads. |  |
| Freight Sans | Kempegowda International Airport | ||
| Frutiger |
| The Frutiger typeface was commissioned for use at Regulatory and Warning Signs in Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Solano, Sonoma, and Yolo Counties. The Frutiger typeface was commissioned for use at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport in 1975. |  |
| Futura BSK | Italian railways [25] |  | |
| Giaothong1 and Giaothong2 [26] | Vietnam | Modification of DIN 1451 typeface with Vietnamese extension |  |
| Gill Sans | British Railways (until 1965) Transperth | Also the official font for all the signage system of the Spanish Government. Modified variant of Gill Sans Bold Condensed used on road signs in former East Germany until 1990. [27] [28] |  |
| Goudy Old Style | Used on Victoria PTC railway station signs in the 1990s, replacing the green The Met signs. | The blue Metlink signs replaced these signs in 2003 after a short trial of Connex signs (using Verdana) at Mitcham and Rosanna stations. |  |
| Hangil | Road signs in South Korea | A Hangul typeface designed by Sandoll Communications in 2008, being used on traffic signs throughout the entire South Korea except for some part of Seoul, along with Panno. | |
| Helvetica |
| Formerly used the Hong Kong MTR, Stockholm Metro, ÖBB, [29] Deutsche Bundesbahn [29] portions of the LACMTA system and the Melbourne MTA, and some Toronto subway station signage. Less commonly, the typeface is used on street signs in the United States, including in some suburbs of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area, parts of Pennsylvania, and by the Contra Costa County Transportation Authority. Previously used on road signs in Japan and South Korea. |  |
| Helvetica Neue | Metlink/Public Transport Victoria | Being phased out on the Victorian public transport network in favour of Network Sans, but still commonly seen. SBB uses its own version of Neue Helvetica named SBB [30] and named "Helvetica Semi-Bold Corrected" by its designer Josef Müller-Brockmann [29] in the SBB Design Manual. |  |
| Hiragino | NEXCO East Japan NEXCO Central Japan NEXCO West Japan | Japan Highway Public Corporation (divided into three NEXCO group companies in 2005) used its own JH Standard Text until 2010. Since 2010, Hiragino is used for Japanese text, Frutiger for numbers, and Vialog for English text. [31] |  |
| Johnston | Transport for London | Some Citybus and New World First Bus route displays in Hong Kong |  |
| LLM Lettering | Road signs in Malaysia. | Based on the Italian Alfabeto Normale and Alfabeto Stretto | |
| Mark Pro | Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality [32] | ||
| LTA Identity Typeface | Singapore MRT [33] | ||
| Metrolis | Lisbon Metro | Custom font for the 1995 rebranding, designed by the Foundry (Freda Sack and David Quay) | |
| Metron | Prague Metro | Created in 1973 by Jiří Rathouský | |
| Moscow Sans | Public transport and wayfinding in Moscow since 2015 | Custom font family by Scott Williams and Henrik Kubel (A2-TYPE) in collaboration with Ilya Ruderman (CSTM Fonts) | |
| Motorway | Motorway route numbers in Ireland and the United Kingdom. | The numerals are used for exit numbers and route numbers in Portugal. |  |
| Myriad | Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway Korail (for English signage) Seoul Metro (for English signage) Signage at Istanbul Airport |  | |
| Myriad Pro | PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe [34] and PKP Intercity [35] | ||
| Neris | Manila MRT signage (since 2016) | ||
| Network Sans [36] | Transport for Victoria Public Transport Victoria | Replaced Helvetica Neue | |
| New Frank | Transport for New South Wales, Australia | Used for all transport signage around Sydney and New South Wales. | |
| New Rubrik | Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Manila, Philippines | Replacement for Helvetica on airport signage | |
| News Gothic | NYC Subway (Mid 20th Century) Aena airports in Spain | Used on the NYC Subway in the mid 20th century |  |
| Nimbus Sans | Used for Digital PIDS on the Washington Metro |  | |
| Noorda | Milan Metro [37] | Variation of Akzidenz-Grotesk with shorter ascenders and descenders | |
| NPS Rawlinson | United States National Park Service | Developed as a replacement for Clarendon [11] |  |
| NR Brunel | United Kingdom railway stations Iarnród Éireann station signage | Primarily major stations managed by Network Rail in Britain, introduced in the mid-1990s |  |
| NS Sans | Nederlandse Spoorwegen [38] | Based on Frutiger typeface | |
| Panno | Road signs in South Korea | A Latin typeface being used on traffic signs throughout the entire South Korea except for some part of Seoul, along with Hangil. |  |
| Parisine | Paris Métro Osaka Metro |  | |
| Pragmatica | Saint Petersburg Metro (since 2002) | Currently (2010–11) being replaced by Freeset, Cyrillic variation of Frutiger | |
| PT Sans | Public transport in Jakarta (Jak Lingko) since 2021: TransJakarta, Jakarta MRT, Jakarta LRT |  | |
| Rail Alphabet | British Rail [29] British Airports Authority DSB [29] NHS Road signs in Iran | Designed for British Rail in 1964. Still in use on parts of the UK rail network, but mostly superseded elsewhere. |  |
| Rail Alphabet 2 | United Kingdom railway stations | An evolution of Rail Alphabet commissioned by Network Rail and planned for use on new station signage projects from 2020 onwards | |
| Rodoviária | Road signs in Portugal (prior to 1998) | Typeface very similar to the Transport typeface, combined with FHWA Series | |
| Road UA | Ukraine | Used in road signage across the country. Created by Andriy Konstantinov. [39] [40] | |
| Roadgeek 2000 | Argentina [41] | Based on the FHWA Series typeface (B, C, D and E only) | |
| Rotis Semi Sans | Metro Bilbao | Used by its own creator, Otl Aicher, for the corporate design of Metro Bilbao |  |
| Rotis Semi Serif | Station signs of Sound Transit [42] | ||
| Rotis Serif | Street signposts in Singapore | ||
| Ruta CL | Road signs in Chile [43] | ||
| Seoul Type | Seoul Metropolitan Government | Developed by the Seoul Metropolitan Government in 2008 for usage in official Seoul Metropolitan Government documents and institutions, signage and public transport within Seoul. The structure was designed to resemble the gradual curves of a traditional hanok roof. | |
| Sispos and Sisneg | Sweden | Designed by Bo Berndal – old Swedish standard (SIS 030011, 1973) for public road signs, displays, etc. | |
| SL Gothic | Stockholm transit system | [44] [45] | |
| SNV | Belgium Bulgaria Luxembourg Romania Countries of the former Yugoslavia Switzerland (until 2003) |  | |
| Standard (also known as Akzidenz-Grotesk) | New York City subway signs | Sometimes seen on older New York City subway signs. Was sometimes used in place of Helvetica. [46] |  |
| Tern | Road signs in Austria Road signs in Slovakia | Developed by the International Institute for Information Design with the aim of unifying the road signage in all of the European Union. [47] | |
| Times New Roman | Station signage for MARTA | ||
| Tipografía México | Road signs in Mexico [48] [49] | Replaced former typeface based on FHWA Series that was used on Mexican road signs before 2023. | |
| Toronto Subway | Toronto Transit Commission | Used in maps, publications, and most stations of the Toronto subway [50] | |
| Trafikkalfabetet | Road signs in Norway | Used for Norwegian road signs and motor vehicle registration plates (until 2006) | |
| Transport | Also used in Portugal, Greece (for non-motorways) and other countries. An oblique variant is used in Ireland for Irish-language text. |  | |
| Tratex | Road signs in Sweden |  | |
| TS Info and TS Mapa | Transantiago | Created by the DET (Departamento de Estudios Tipográficos, Universidad Católica de Chile) for the Transantiago, the public transport network in Santiago de Chile. | |
| Univers |
| Also used for the Walt Disney World road system (route numbers are in Highway Gothic). Formerly used by the Nederlandse Spoorwegen, [29] on the destination rolls of Comeng trains in Melbourne prior to refurbishment, as well as Hitachi trains which had their original destination rolls replaced in the 1980s with the Comeng type. |  |
| Universal Grotesk | Road signs in Czechoslovakia | Previously used on road signs in Slovakia until 2015. | |
| Vialog | Renfe English text on Japanese expressway directional signage | Used in signage and all corporate communications of the state-owned Spanish Railway Operator in a custom-made variant called Renfe Vialog. | |
| Wayfinding Sans | Metro Rio El Dorado International Airport Santa Cruz Kereta Api Indonesia (December 2016–20) | Used in signage for Rio de Janeiro's metro system Metro Rio, El Dorado International Airport, the city of Santa Cruz, California and Indonesian Railway Company. | |
Frutiger is a series of typefaces named after its Swiss designer, Adrian Frutiger. Frutiger is a humanist sans-serif typeface, intended to be clear and highly legible at a distance or at small text sizes. A popular design worldwide, type designer Steve Matteson described its structure as "the best choice for legibility in pretty much any situation" at small text sizes, while Erik Spiekermann named it as "the best general typeface ever".
Gill Sans is a humanist sans-serif typeface designed by Eric Gill and released by the British branch of Monotype from 1928 onwards.
The Chūō Expressway is a national expressway in Japan. It is owned and operated by NEXCO Central.
The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways is a document issued by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) of the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) to specify the standards by which traffic signs, road surface markings, and signals are designed, installed, and used. In the United States, all traffic control devices must legally conform to these standards. The manual is used by state and local agencies as well as private construction firms to ensure that the traffic control devices they use conform to the national standard. While some state agencies have developed their own sets of standards, including their own MUTCDs, these must substantially conform to the federal MUTCD.
Clearview, also known as Clearview Hwy, is the name of a humanist sans-serif typeface family for guide signs used on roads in the United States, Canada, Indonesia, the Philippines, Israel, Brazil and Sri Lanka. It was developed by independent researchers with the help of the Texas Transportation Institute and the Pennsylvania Transportation Institute, under the supervision of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). It was once expected to replace the FHWA typefaces in many applications, although newer studies of its effectiveness have called its benefits into question.
Highway Gothic is a sans-serif typeface developed by the United States Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and used for road signage in the Americas, including the U.S., Canada, Latin America and some Caribbean countries, as well as in Asian countries influenced by American signage practices, including the Philippines, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.
The Jōban Expressway, abbreviated Jōban-dō (常磐道), is a national expressway in Japan. It is owned and operated by East Nippon Expressway Company. It is signed E6 under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism's "2016 Proposal for Realization of Expressway Numbering."
The Ken-O Expressway, or Metropolitan Inter-City Expressway, is a partially completed ticket system toll expressway in Japan. It is owned and operated by the Central Nippon Expressway Company and East Nippon Expressway Company. In conjunction with the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line and the Bayshore Route of the Shuto Expressway, the expressway will form a full outer ring road of Tokyo. It is signed as National Route 468 as well as C4 under the "2016 Proposal for Realization of Expressway Numbering."
Rotis is a typeface developed in 1988 by Otl Aicher, a German graphic designer and typographer. In Rotis, Aicher explores an attempt at maximum legibility through a highly unified yet varied typeface family that ranges from full serif, glyphic, and sans-serif. The four basic Rotis variants are:
DIN 1451 is a sans-serif typeface that is widely used for traffic, administrative and technical applications.
The Kisei Expressway is a national expressway in Japan. It is owned and operated by Central Nippon Expressway Company.
Toronto Subway is a geometric sans-serif typeface designed for the original section of the Toronto Transit Commission's Yonge subway. It is today used at station entrances, fare booths and track level signage throughout the system.
In Japan, road signs are standardized by the "Order on Road Sign, Road Line, and Road Surface Marking (道路標識、区画線及び道路標示に関する命令)" established in 1968 with origins from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's "Order on Standardization of Road Sign" of 1934 and the Home Ministry of Japan's "Order on Road Signs" of 1942. The previous designs have been used since 1986 after several amendments of order.
The road signs used in Mexico are regulated by Secretaría de Infraestructura, Comunicaciones y Transportes's Directorate-General for Roads, and uniformized under a NOM standard and the Manual de Señalización y Dispositivos para el Control del Tránsito en Calles y Carreteras, which serves as a similar role to the MUTCD developed by the Federal Highway Administration. The signs share many similarities with those used in the United States and Canada. Like Canada but unlike the United States, Mexico has a heavier reliance on symbols than text legends.
Road signs in Colombia are regulated in the Manual de Señalización Vial standard, which is developed by the Ministry of Transport and based on the United States' MUTCD. Many regulatory signs are based on European signs, i.e. the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals, while many warning signs are based on U.S. and Canadian signs, i.e. on MUTCD.
Road signs in Chile are regulated in the Manual de Señalización de Tránsito, which is based on both the United States' MUTCD and the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals, to which Chile is a signatory. Therefore, road signs are compliant with international standards. Chile uses yellow diamonds for warning signs in common with most of the rest of the Americas. Speed limit signs are a red circle with a white background and the limitation in black, and are in kilometres per hour. There are also some signs unique to Chile. Chile also currently uses a mixture of both types of mandatory signs: European-style signs with white symbols on a blue background and a white border, and signs with black symbols on a white background and a red border.
LLM Lettering is a set of sans-serif typefaces developed by the Malaysian Highway Authority and used for road signage on expressways in Malaysia. The font was divided into two types: LLM Normal (Standard/Regular) and LLM Narrow (Condensed). The LLM Normal typeface is a modified form of the Italian Alfabeto Normale and Alfabeto Stretto. The lettering is special use for the Malaysian Expressway System.
Montserrat is a geometric sans-serif typeface designed by Argentine graphic designer Julieta Ulanovsky and released in 2011. It was inspired by posters, signs and painted windows from the first half of the twentieth century, seen in the historic Montserrat neighbourhood of Buenos Aires.
Polish road signs typeface – geometrical typeface meant to making text on Polish road signs, according to Attachment 1 of Regulation on detailed technical conditions for road signs and signals as well as road safety devices and conditions for their placement on roads. The regulation defines a construction of digits, all of the letters of Polish alphabet and the letter V, and the punctuation marks: hyphen, round brackets, comma, full stop (period) and exclamation mark.
This article is a summary of traffic signs used in each country.
