Clearview: The story of a font

\<!\[CDATA *The New York Times*  has a lovely in-depth story about [the creation of the Clearview font](http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/12/magazine/12fonts-t.html?ei=5124&en=86b63388e4ee637c&ex=1344571200&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink&pagewanted=all)  – a font that is starting to adorn US highway signs. It’s a twisty tale that starts (as many twisty tales do) in the state of Oregon, and winds its way across that country, ultimately ending in a story that will subtly affect the entire place. I never really liked the US highway signs. They looked, in comparison to the Canadian ones, a bit dopey. Their penchant for using the abbreviation “No” for “North” would also lead to such brilliant signs as “Fort Lewis (left arrow). No Fort Lewis (right arrow)”. I’ve got a picture someplace, I’m sure.

I wonder how many people will notice the change. People don’t think about signage systems that much (I think I’m some kind of weird exception), but they permeate our lives, almost subconsciously. I remember when Vancouver changed the font of their street signs, from a rather boring all-caps white-on-black, to a system of mixed-case signs, with individual colour accents depending on the neighbourhood. Very nice indeed. Melbourne’s public transport system re-signed everything about 2 or 3 years ago. Train stations, tram stops and bus stops all got a uniform system of signage. Now if only they could work on the capacity issues…]]>