Posted on 02/05/2016 6:52:45 AM PST by prisoner6
The U.S. Federal Highway Administration is killing the current decade-long test of looking into replacing highway signs with a new “Clearview†font it designed and developed to be more legible because, twelve years later, it turns out the new font actually made sign legibility worse.
Back in 2004, the Federal Highway Administration approved state use of a new font ironically called “Clearview†to be the new face of highway signs around the nation. At the time, testing had “proven†that the new font was more legible to drivers, specifically at night, than the old signs featuring the “Highway Gothic†typeface.
It turns after twelve years of integrating the new font onto select highway road signs around the country, “Clearview†has been proven to not be any more legible than the old highway sign font. Not only that, but the new font is actually worse for legibility on signs with negative-contrast color schemes. That signs with dark letters on light backgrounds—you know, like SPEED LIMITS.
(Excerpt) Read more at jalopnik.com ...
I’m just surprised it isn’t Bi-lingual.
Or, maybe have a notice underneath...
Flash lights for Spanglish.
Ask Juan D. Rection.
(otherwise, the keystone background may be clue.)
Back in the day the NYS Thruway had their entrance and exit signs lettered with little reflective disks.
Do you prefer the font, or the new signage with whiter newer letters? The new clearview font has the letters spaced closer together, which might not be as easy to read when you are actually driving over 40 mph. I think when the clearview signs age, they may be more difficult to read at driving speeds, and not just while you’re at a standstill.
I can’t remember ever having a problem reading highway signs, before or after. But for the past 10 years or so I’ve relied on the “B*tch in the Box” for navigation anyway...
Basically, government is everyone’s ex-wife.
Helvetica Forever! (LOL!)
Try a cursive font. Maybe Obozo’s people will drive on by.
The comparison is invalid because the letters are not the same color.
*ouch*
I agreed until I had to get up. when I came back into the room, and looking at a distance, the old style was clearer and the letters did not blend together. Larger letters as Capitals seemed right too...
That’s the Federal Government in a nutshell for you.
They look only somewhat better, but they made the drive a mile SHORTER!..................
Communities near me are changing street signs from all caps to just the first letter capitalized because some thought the signs were YELLING at them. I kid you not...
Well, they fixed the readin’ part but now they gotta git their cypherin’ down.
The real test is how legible are they when you are driving past a sign at night at 70 MPH?
Of course, they could have easily tested the two fonts with a couple of signs at one or two locations rather than changing countless thousands of signs and making the entire U.S. into beta testers.
Not only less whitespace between the letters (tighter kerning), but the lower-case letters are closer to the height of the capitals and have more internal whitespace, and thus the “new” sign becomes more visually “noisy”.
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