The Clearview Subject

[NE2]

German fail trombone?

[1995hoo]

German fail trombone?

I assume there's some obvious joke I'm missing there. I have no idea what point you're making!

[NE2]

I assume there's some obvious joke I'm missing there. I have no idea what point you're making!

My foray into the world of memes quickly ended in failure.

http://www.sadtrombone.com/?play=true
and Germans pronounce W like V.

[1995hoo]

I assume there's some obvious joke I'm missing there. I have no idea what point you're making!

My foray into the world of memes quickly ended in failure.

http://www.sadtrombone.com/?play=true
and Germans pronounce W like V.

Ah. The pronunciation part I knew (the one time I visited Germany I had to struggle not to snigger at other Americans who kept sounding out German names with our "W" sound), but I wouldn't have gotten the trombone part.

[Alps]

I actually like Uu.

... *runs away*

Never gonna give Uu up
Never gonna let Uu down

[ethanhopkin14]

Call me Ishmael!  I found a wonderful White Whale on the west side of Houston on south bound Texas State Highway 99 (Grand Parkway)  One of the very few instances of Highway Gothic and Clearview on the same sign.  I recently also found one in San Antonio but didn't get photographic evidence.

[jbnv]

Before I read this thread, I was no fan of the federal government and its bureaucracies. After reading it, I am even less so. Do we really need to have the federal government dictating what font you can or cannot use on highway signs? Geez, give us a national guideline and let each state or jurisdiction set its own standards. Then let the scientists determine which is the most effective. There are plenty of college PhD candidates who need theses.

I personally prefer Clearview over Highway Gothic. Not that there is anything wrong with Highway Gothic; it just evokes a "20th-century" emotion from me. Probably because I work in tech and see fonts like that all the time.

[getemngo]

ethanhopkin14, I see your sign and raise you this:



Both typefaces on the same line. Near Marquette, Michigan, if I'm not mistaken.

[ethanhopkin14]

ethanhopkin14, I see your sign and raise you this:



Both typefaces on the same line. Near Marquette, Michigan, if I'm not mistaken.

Dang!!  That's awesome. The one in San Antonio I found at first I thought it was button copy and Clearview together, but it was not so. That's the only thing I can think of that can top that pictures

[jeffandnicole]

...Do we really need to have the federal government dictating what font you can or cannot use on highway signs? ...

Yes.

In fact, they already let states have a choice.  It's not the variations one can have using MS Word, but there are a few variations.  Otherwise, standards are necessary, not only for font, but size, spacing, etc.  There's a 100+ page thread on bad signage where one can see numerous examples of what happens when those standards aren't followed.

[hbelkins]

...Do we really need to have the federal government dictating what font you can or cannot use on highway signs? ...

Yes.

In fact, they already let states have a choice.  It's not the variations one can have using MS Word, but there are a few variations.  Otherwise, standards are necessary, not only for font, but size, spacing, etc.  There's a 100+ page thread on bad signage where one can see numerous examples of what happens when those standards aren't followed.

Of course, I'm in disagreement with your opinion, and have stated so numerous times. "Bad" signage is often only bad in the eye of the beholder, and not because it violates some standard such as using a font other than the FHWA font.

[Brandon]

ethanhopkin14, I see your sign and raise you this:



Both typefaces on the same line. Near Marquette, Michigan, if I'm not mistaken.

Did the MDOT Superior Region just get bored one day, or did they get told by Lansing to change mid-sign?

[getemngo]

Did the MDOT Superior Region just get bored one day, or did they get told by Lansing to change mid-sign?

I'm not sure if it matters, because that's not all that's weird about this sign. It's for a non-motorized trail, not a road, so it shouldn't even be green. My notes say that the sign in the other direction is brown and white, all caps, and in Highway Gothic.

[PurdueBill]

Speaking of FHWA and Clearview together, there are several signs in Solon, Ohio on US 422 where the tabs with added exit numbers are in Clearview except for one numeral.

This is one of the clearer views; I will have to bring a camera by next time I'm up that way.  EXIT and numeral 1 in Clearview; numeral 6 in FHWA.  Very weird.  (Original signs didn't have exit numbers, but ODOT is adding them to all expressway type roads now.  Gore signs on US 422 do not have numbers though.)

[hbelkins]

Spotted this past weekend in Richmond, Va.:

[formulanone]

Interestingly, the names on top of the revamped service plazas on the Florida's Turnpike are in Clearview. It looks alright...just not so much on a sign.

[roadfro]

Another hybrid: I-580/US 395 NB approaching Exit 65 Plumb Lane / Reno-Tahoe Airport

Interesting thing about this one is that it doesn't involve greenout--a brand new sign was installed with one line of text in standard FHWA font and the rest in Clearview. This sign was installed with the US 395 NB widening project about 3-4 years ago, in which all new signs on the project were done in Clearview--Nevada's first, and still only Clearview BGS signing.

[CrystalWalrein]

Another hybrid: I-580/US 395 NB approaching Exit 65 Plumb Lane / Reno-Tahoe Airport

Interesting thing about this one is that it doesn't involve greenout--a brand new sign was installed with one line of text in standard FHWA font and the rest in Clearview. This sign was installed with the US 395 NB widening project about 3-4 years ago, in which all new signs on the project were done in Clearview--Nevada's first, and still only Clearview BGS signing.

Even here all the numerals remain in FHWA fonts, even though all-caps text is still set in Clearview. Pick one or the other in the same line of text, I say.

[roadfro]

Another hybrid: I-580/US 395 NB approaching Exit 65 Plumb Lane / Reno-Tahoe Airport

Interesting thing about this one is that it doesn't involve greenout--a brand new sign was installed with one line of text in standard FHWA font and the rest in Clearview. This sign was installed with the US 395 NB widening project about 3-4 years ago, in which all new signs on the project were done in Clearview--Nevada's first, and still only Clearview BGS signing.

Even here all the numerals remain in FHWA fonts, even though all-caps text is still set in Clearview. Pick one or the other in the same line of text, I say.

There's no numerals in the sign I linked...

Other signs in this project do have numbers and have numbers in FHWA fonts (at least to the best of my recollection from other discussions).

[TEG24601]

I appreciate both Clearview and FHWA.  However, I have spent a lot of Time in Michigan, where they spent most of the 2000's switching to Clearview, and I can say a few things.


I find that I can read Clearview signs at a greater distance than FHWA signs.  Because of this, I find that Clearview is easier to read at 70+ MPH.  I have no issues with Clearview numbers, as they simply exaggerate the features of the numbers anyway (except the I-69 sign looks explicit).  I can understand peoples dislike of the Clearview numbers, but it doesn't bother me.  FHWA is very difficult to read at 80 MPH, unless the size is larger, which would require larger signs.


Edit - I originally wrote Freeway Gothic instead of FHWA, mainly because the font pack I have calls the FHWA fonts Freeway Gothic.

[sammi]

Freeway Gothic

[vdeane]

Freeway Gothic is used on white on black freeway signs.

[sammi]

Freeway Gothic
Those symbols.

[TEG24601]

You know what I mean.  The FHWA fonts.  The Font pack I have on my Mac calls them "Freeway Gothic (A)", etc.

[jbnv]

Freeway Gothic
Those symbols.

If I ever feel the need to curse at a highway sign, I know which font to use.