Shitty US Highway shields, and their origin

[ColossalBlocks]

Does anyone know the origin of shitty US Highway shields?

[Alex]

Sign contractors with designers who don't know how to use CAD correctly is my guess.

[PHLBOS]

Sign contractors with designers who don't know how to use CAD correctly is my guess.

IIRC, such existed long before there was CAD.

[Scott5114]

My guess is someone who doesn't have a standard US highway design on hand, because they either don't know how to get one, don't care, or think it's too difficult for some reason. So they end up drawing one from scratch that looks close enough from memory of what they think a US shield looks like.

It's more prevalent now that sign fabrication is computerized because to some people, it's easier to draw a new wonky shield than ask their boss where the US highway file is. (Back in the day, creating custom shitty signage was difficult and expensive–it was easier to use the correct die punch than make your own weird one.)

[Brian556]

Where do you get the files?

[kphoger]

Funny, but Scott isn't your boss.

[Scott5114]

Funny, but Scott isn't your boss.

Yet. I have been thinking about running for public office...

All kidding aside, if you just want them for personal use, Wikimedia Commons has a freely-available SVG for every US route from 0 to 99, and every 3dus above that. They all follow the specs pretty much exactly. If you need to make actual signs, it's probably possible to convert them for that use, but I would imagine most DOTs have a file server with a pre-made, pre-converted file in whatever format the sign making equipment needs.

I'm fairly certain some sign manufacturers go the Commons route, though. I saw a few shields on OK-67 once that clearly used an old version of the SVG shield for that route from Commons. I know this because it was a preliminary version that I drew myself before the official specs were released by ODOT (and therefore identifiable from shields with a more official pedigree).

As an aside, it can't be a coincidence that since USRD created pattern-accurate shields for most every route in the country and uploaded them to Commons, the number of pattern-accurate shields on advertising and other commercial materials has skyrocketed. Why draw your own I-35 shield when the literal first result on Google Image Search is an accurate, free-to-use vector of exactly what you need?

[epzik8]

It depends what your definition of shitty is.

[US-175]

I vote for lazy and don't care.  Otherwise, like the other posters said, the accurate, professional-looking, correctly-fonted, correctly-sized version of any route sign (US or otherwise) is right there in your face for all to look up.  I've seen WAY too many of the lazy/don't-care/ / kinds, I almost want to take a ladder and some tools and replace them myself. >ugh!<  So sick of the overly-skinny fonts and off-off-center number placement!  Looks like a first-grader did them...

[Max Rockatansky]

It depends what your definition of shitty is.

The current design sure is, it strikes me as bulbus and obese compared to the original square blank design.  Its a shame that MUTCD never went to a cut-out similar to the design used for US Route shields in California.  At least the Interstate shield still has some flair to it.

But in response to the OP's original question the Wikipedia article on the US Route Shield is actually pretty fleshed out:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_shield

[US71]

Does OKC still use the "Deviled Ham" interstate shields?