Series E (Modified) font weight

[TheStranger]

www.aaroads.com/shields/show.php?image=CA19580803 1957-era highway sign

www.aaroads.com/shields/show.php?image=CA19581071 1958-era highway sign

Both appear to be Series E modified (definitely the latter, and probably the former) but the script widths are slightly different.  When did the "modern" Series E(M) come into existence?

The first sign doesn't quite appear to be Series D or regular Series E (the latter which hasn't had much use in California over the years for mixed-case legend).

[agentsteel53]

I think the Auburn sign is Series E (not EM) ... is that plausible?  After a DM/EM style introduced in 1950, would they go to E/E?  (D< capitals, EM lowercase and then E capitals, E lowercase)

[TheStranger]

I think the Auburn sign is Series E (not EM) ... is that plausible?  After a DM/EM style introduced in 1950, would they go to E/E?  (D< capitals, EM lowercase and then E capitals, E lowercase)

Playing around with the Roadgeek fonts, that seems to make sense, though it almost seems (and I could be wrong here) as if the capital letters are E(M) and the lowercase was E. 

With those Truetype fonts, the kerning is much smaller by default for E than for E(M).  Raising the kerning on E for 100 gets similar to the default E(M) kerning...creating a look that is much more resemblant of its modified cousin.

[J N Winkler]

Originally (at the dawn of Caltrans mixed-case sign legends), Series D (modified, I think--meaning Caltrans Series D rather than straight FHWA Series D) was paired with Lowercase with the Series D letters being one and one-half times the lowercase loop height (x-height) of the Lowercase letters.  Later on, Series E (modified again, I think--meaning Caltrans Series E rather than straight uppercase-only FHWA Series E) was used in lieu of Series D, at the same height ratio.  The (IMO unpleasing) results are very common on black-background guide signs erected in the mid- to late 1950's.  So far as I know, Caltrans never stipulated that Series E rather than Series D be used for uppercase letters in mixed-case legend.  I have seen spec art with both and I think the choice of Series D versus E was left to the designer, with no formal control through specification.

What we now know as Series E Modified is a mixed-case alphabet with the uppercase letters (old FHWA Series E Modified, or old Caltrans Series E) being one and one-third the lowercase loop height of the lowercase letters (old FHWA/Caltrans Lowercase).  The one-and-one-third ratio was promulgated nationwide by the AASHO Interstate signing and marking manual, which Caltrans adopted more or less immediately, but photos I have seen in mid-1950's issues of Traffic Engineering suggest that turnpike agencies in the Eastern states were using mixed-case lettering (same glyphs as on the California guide signs with mixed-case legend) but with Series E Modified uppercase only, no Series D (modified or otherwise) for the uppercase letters, and in the one-and-one-third height ratio.

In regard to the pictures, I think the mixed-case legend in the Auburn/Colfax signs use Caltrans Series E and Lowercase, at the one-and-one-half ratio.  My guess would therefore be mid- to late 1950's.

[agentsteel53]

is there any difference between Lowercase and the Series EM lowercase letters other than the relative size (3:2 vs 4:3)?

Cal Div Hwys adopted the 4:3 aspect ratio before they went to the great sign modernization, with rounded corners on the white rectangle borders, distances in fractions, etc.  I've seen 4:3 signs with the older style white border.

but a lot of the changes came very close together, in 1958.  Including the first green signs at the end of that year.

[J N Winkler]

The lowercase letters in present Series E Modified are the old Lowercase letters.  The difference in capital letter height affects only the capital letters.

[agentsteel53]

The lowercase letters in present Series E Modified are the old Lowercase letters. 

okay, that's what I thought.

as for Caltrans using the modified, as opposed to regular series (i.e. Caltrans D is federal DM, Caltrans E is federal EM, etc) - was this always done?  I know that on all the shields I've made, I've ended up using BM, CM, DM, EM but I had never thought the repercussions of this through completely. 

in other news, I just saw a stop sign from 1945 with federal EM "STOP".  Previously, the oldest I had seen was a '46.  So this may even predate the formal publication of the federal fonts in December 1945.  The font was around by 1943 on the Pentagon access road network, and Caltrans may very well have adopted it early.