Gallery: America's Highway Fonts Got More Drama Than The Bachelor
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Clearview, the typeface seen here in white, is an adaptation on the standard font developed for highways in the late 1940s. The Federal Highway Administration recently revoked its approval for states to use it.
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This is the old typeface, colloquially referred to as Highway Gothic.
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Clearview was created by Donald Meeker, a partner at Meeker & Associates. Its letterforms are a little taller, a little roomier, and—it was thought—more identifiable.
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Clearview’s biggest difference is in the interstices of its letters: Meeker and his colleagues opened them up, so that the eyes of letters like b, e, and a are bigger. Lowercase letters were also made a little taller, and some letters’ tails were made longer and more defined.
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The Highway Administration's ban on Clearview applies to new signage only. Those will revert to the standard font, seen here.
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If the decision sounds like typographic dictatorship, consider the HIghway Administration's job. It’s to keep us safe on the roads. That means consistent signage, everywhere.
