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Started by Marco Bianchi (@keebs_and_coffee) ·

the Clearview font saga on US highway signs

Clearview was designed to fix how Highway Gothic's letters blur at night in headlights (the holes in letters like e and a fill in with glare). The FHWA approved it in 2004, withdrew the approval in 2016 saying later research didn't show a clear benefit, then restored it in 2018.

6 sources · 46 min down the hole

How I got here

Started with
“why did the us stop using clearview font”
Ended at
DIN 1451

The Trail

  1. “why did the us stop using clearview font” (google.com)
  2. Clearview (typeface) (en.wikipedia.org)
  3. Highway Gothic (en.wikipedia.org)
  4. Transport (typeface) (en.wikipedia.org)

    the UK one, by Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert. in use since the 60s

  5. Margaret Calvert (en.wikipedia.org)
  6. DIN 1451 (en.wikipedia.org)

Keep going