The Worst of Road Signs

[myosh_tino]

It's not the default in every program.  Some programs default to Times (New Roman).  New versions of MS Office default to some of those newer Windows 7 fonts whose names all start with a C.

I believe the font you are thinking of is Cambria.  It's the default font for the 2011 version of Office for Mac.  It's not a bad font but characters are definitely narrower than Times.  My font of choice is Verdana.

[Scott5114]

Like vtk said, Helvetica is highly likely to be around in some form on a designer's workstation, and some form of Helvetica is usually present and Arial absent outside of Windows (most Linux distros ship with Nimbus Sans, which is a good Helvetica clone, even though they generally don't default to it, instead preferring DejaVu Sans, which supports a wider set of characters).

I would think that most of the sign design software we hear about (GuidSIGN/SignCAD) would default to some permutation of FHWA Series, but if you are the sort of person who already doesn't know which is the correct road sign font and you're tasked with making one, chances are good that you would probably not try to figure out SignCAD (or know it exists!) and instead fire up Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop or something, which might default to Helvetica instead.

(If we're posting our favorite non-road fonts I'm going with Adobe Garamond for serif and Futura for sans)

[Quillz]

Ugly shields in Annandale, Virginia (northbound Ravensworth Road at VA-236). I suppose, to be fair, that the numbers ARE quite easy to read from a distance. But these are hideous, and the crooked numbers on the center shield don't help either. (The black stuff around the center arrow is graffiti.)

I wonder who devised that font.  It looks essentially like a thinner-stroke Series D.  I've seen it in Kentucky, and I just saw it in - of all places - the Netherlands, which uses Highway Gothic in general.

Remember that guy who sent us the Dutch variations of the FHWA series? Perhaps that's being used on the shields.

[Duke87]

outside of Microsoft Windows, there's no reason to expect Arial to be present versus Helvetica.  Besides, since designers generally consider Helvetica to be the superior font, expensive workstations used to design road signs may very well default to Helvetica (or a better imitation than Arial, anyway) even if that workstation is Windows-based.

Ah. I'd guessed it might be a Windows versus Mac thing (I confess to knowing next to nothing about Macs, I refuse to use them on principle).

It's not the default in every program.  Some programs default to Times (New Roman).  New versions of MS Office default to some of those newer Windows 7 fonts whose names all start with a C.

I believe the font you are thinking of is Cambria.  It's the default font for the 2011 version of Office for Mac.  It's not a bad font but characters are definitely narrower than Times.  My font of choice is Verdana.

For office 2007 and 2010 (Windows versions at least), it's Calibri. Which I guess is a little less bland than Arial.

Verdana's alright, but so far as alternative fonts go... I've become rather enamored with Trebuchet. Why? Well other than that it just looks nice (though it would be horrible on a road sign), it has a few features that I appreciate which are common criticisms I have of many other fonts:

- uppercase I and lowercase l do not look identical
- numeral 1 has a pronounced hat, so it doesn't look too similar to I or l
- lowercase g is stylistically different so it isn't ever confused with lowercase q

[hbelkins]

Ah. I'd guessed it might be a Windows versus Mac thing (I confess to knowing next to nothing about Macs, I refuse to use them on principle).

Why? Being a user of both, I much prefer the Mac. It's a lot easier to use, and less prone to crashes and virii.

[Duke87]

Ah. I'd guessed it might be a Windows versus Mac thing (I confess to knowing next to nothing about Macs, I refuse to use them on principle).

Why? Being a user of both, I much prefer the Mac. It's a lot easier to use, and less prone to crashes and virii.

I despise Apple as a company and refuse to buy, own, or use any product of theirs.

I despise how they make everything proprietary and uncustomizable.
I despise how they intentionally make it a pain in the ass to interface with non-Apple products.
I despise how they pointlessly limit user freedom (not supporting flash, only allowing you to use their headphones, etc.).
I despise how they overcharge for everything.
I despise how their designs are all flashy fancy sparkly.
I despise how they release new versions of their products more often than necessary just to make people want to buy a new one more often than they need to just so they can have the latest and greatest.
I despise how they've become "cool" and have idiots drool over their gadgets.
I despise how people who use their computers are obnoxious and snobbish about it.


...that said, Apple's older stuff (pre-iMac) is free of many of these issues and I have no objection to. Macs were better back in the days when they were boxes.

[yakra]

Seconded, OMG seconded. If I want something more bulletproof than Wintel that's easy to use, Ubuntu please&thankyou.
Re: the first few comments, Richard Stallman's comments upon Jobs' death, "...the pioneer of the computer as a jail made cool..." were inflammatory but insightful, right on the money IMO.

My new `86 Volvo has a white Apple logo decal in the rear window. I'm still in the process of finding out how to print out a decal of Tux of some clear sticky plastic... (Obnoxious and snobbish? There's a chance that could be me...)

We now return you to your regularly scheduled ROADS! topic.

[1995hoo]

....

I despise how they pointlessly limit user freedom (not supporting flash, only allowing you to use their headphones, etc.).

....

I'm not sure I follow the part in boldface. My Grado SR60 headphones, my Bose QuietComfort noise-cancelling headphones, and my wife's Sennheisers all work just fine with our iPods and they all sound better and provide way more comfort than the white Apple earbuds. I think the prevalence of those silly white Apple earbuds is simply a matter of those being the headphones that come with the devices, so that's what people use. (Also I suppose in the case of women the earbuds do wrap up into a much smaller package than real headphones, so they're easier to stick in a pocketbook.) The only earbud I ever use regularly is a Bang & Olufsen Bluetooth headset for my mobile phone, and even that only gets used if I'm driving my wife's car or the convertible (my regular sedan has a handsfree link built in).

So I'm curious, what do you mean by "only allowing you to use their headphones"?

[formulanone]

So I'm curious, what do you mean by "only allowing you to use their headphones"?

I'm not an Apple fan in the slightest, but back in 2004, absolutely nothing at the time could approach the capacity of a 60GB iPod, which had a standard 3.5mm output headphone jack, and some oddball oval post that is also marked with a headphone logo. So maybe early on, Apple tried to convert iPod users to their own headphones (the kind of thing Sony was notorious for, although a little less so now); I suppose they still wanted to show some support to those early-adopters?



And on topic:


http://www.yurasko.net/wfy/2007/11/ugliest-i-95-sign.html

It's King Max, from Where the Wild Things Are!

[myosh_tino]

I despise how they pointlessly limit user freedom (not supporting flash, only allowing you to use their headphones, etc.).

Then here's a headline that should interest you... Adobe killed Flash for Mobile last week.  Apparently, Steve Jobs was right! 

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-57321321-92/adobe-were-ditching-flash-player-for-mobile/?tag=mncol;4n

[agentsteel53]

[ugliest 95 shield ever]

It's King Max, from Where the Wild Things Are!

I see that, and raise you this.

[roadman]

So I'm curious, what do you mean by "only allowing you to use their headphones"?

I'm not an Apple fan in the slightest, but back in 2004, absolutely nothing at the time could approach the capacity of a 60GB iPod, which had a standard 3.5mm output headphone jack, and some oddball oval post that is also marked with a headphone logo. So maybe early on, Apple tried to convert iPod users to their own headphones (the kind of thing Sony was notorious for, although a little less so now); I suppose they still wanted to show some support to those early-adopters?



I'm not an Apple expert.  However, my best guess is that the 'oval' socket is for a special headphone that also incorporated a remote control.  Several Sony minidisc players (still my digital music format/player of choice) have similar 'dual' connectors that allow one to connect standard headphones either directly to the unit or through a special remote-control attachment.

Sorry for the interruption.  Now back to our regularlly scheduled roadfanning ....

[Takumi]

Wat

[formulanone]

I get the idea if I was tricked into following that route, I'll crash into a cliff face that's been hastily painted to look like a tunnel.

[Duke87]

So I'm curious, what do you mean by "only allowing you to use their headphones"?

I don't know if they ever actually went through with it, but there was at least a plan for an iPod that was too small to fit controls on the device itself... instead all the controls were on the headphone cord. And the device was to be programmed so as to only work with the Apple headphones plugged in. Headphones made by a third party designed for use with the device would not be allowed.

I see that, and raise you this.

www.aaroads.com/shields/img/CT/CT19580951i1.jpg

Okay, what braindead municipality is responsible for this one.

It's an I-95 shield, so it can't be one of the too-yokely CT towns...

[Stratuscaster]

I despise how they make everything proprietary and uncustomizable.

Dell, Gateway, Packard Bell, eMachines - just a few that have also made things proprietary and "uncustomizable". I was a service tech for years; this is a fact.

I despise how they intentionally make it a pain in the ass to interface with non-Apple products.

At work I have HP printers, Epson scanner/printers, Motorola scan guns, Synology NAS boxes, HP SAN arrays - all connected to and working with my various Macs. Most are plug-and-play, some require a driver. No more difficult than a Windows box.

I despise how they pointlessly limit user freedom (not supporting flash, only allowing you to use their headphones, etc.).

Flash was proven to be a source of reduced battery life as well as a potential security hole. You could install it yourself on a Mac if you needed it. No, the iOS devices didn't support it - and any company that wanted their stuff to work on those devices figured out a way to do it without Flash. As far as headphones, I have several non-Apple headphones that I use on my Apple devices regularly - I don't care for Apple's standard earbud headphones.

I despise how they overcharge for everything.

Do you then despise all higher-end brands of product, too? Lexus? Audi? Bose? Do you know the cost of the parts Apple uses? If not, then how can you say they "overcharge?" Is not the primary goal of a business that sells product in retail to make money doing so?

I despise how their designs are all flashy fancy sparkly.

Example? A MacBook is all white plastic. A MacBook Pro is all aluminum, but hardly "flashy, fancy, or sparkly." iPads are black or white with an aluminum back - Android tablets are similar - but with plastic. Motorola's new Droid Razr is made with Kevlar - that's pretty flashy and fancy.

I despise how they release new versions of their products more often than necessary just to make people want to buy a new one more often than they need to just so they can have the latest and greatest.

I only need to point to the smartphone market to demonstrate that this is done by more companies than just Apple - and in fact is done to a greater degree and at a more rapid pace.

PC makers also run on a 6-9 month product window. I see skus of HP and Dell and Lenovo product go end-of-life every quarter.

I despise how they've become "cool" and have idiots drool over their gadgets.

"Become" cool? They've been there for quite some time now. Drool? No. Admire? Most definitely. Good design is quite admirable, be it in a PC, a music player, a phone - even a refrigerator can carry an admirable design.

I despise how people who use their computers are obnoxious and snobbish about it.

I use them and I'm hardly obnoxious and snobbish about it. I will gladly tell you the shortcomings I encounter on a regular basis, and how there are some things that simple work better on Windows or Linux over OS X, and vice versa. For example, Apple's keyboards attract dirt like no other, the key travel stinks, and some keys don't work like you expect them to - something more apparent when one switches between OS X and Windows regularly.

...that said, Apple's older stuff (pre-iMac) is free of many of these issues and I have no objection to. Macs were better back in the days when they were boxes.

Apple still sells a "box" - the Mac Pro. Not sure why it matters, though - short of RAM, I can't think of anything I need to put inside my iMac at work to do what I need it to do. It's got a relatively recent AMD Radeon video chipset, it's got a terabyte of HDD space, and it's got an Intel i3 CPU. I've got a Mac Pro at work, too - and I've never had to crack that box open for anything.

I don't know if they ever actually went through with it, but there was at least a plan for an iPod that was too small to fit controls on the device itself... instead all the controls were on the headphone cord. And the device was to be programmed so as to only work with the Apple headphones plugged in. Headphones made by a third party designed for use with the device would not be allowed.

Yes - they did produce an iPod with controls on the headphone cord - it was the 3rd generation iPod Shuffle. Apple certainly doesn't hit a home run every time they step up to the plate (Apple ///, Lisa, Newton, Mac Cube, 3G Shuffle, etc).

Sorry for the diatribe...back to the roads. (Perhaps the mods will split this off into an Off-Topic discussion?)

[Stratuscaster]

I see that, and raise you this.

At least they put the state name in the shield, right?

[Alex]

From Indiana [click for larger] Um, yeah, "orange outs" with text that looks like it was created with electrical tape. Love the abbreviation and upper/lower combination... 

[Android]

I get the idea if I was tricked into following that route, I'll crash into a cliff face that's been hastily painted to look like a tunnel.

LOL... that does have a Wile E. Coyote look to it, but I don't think his desert was very close to Connecticutt...   

[Ian]

How large is that I-95 shield from Connecticut? Comparing it to the signs above and below it, the shield looks to be about the size of an iPad.

[Central Avenue]

From Indiana [click for larger] Um, yeah, "orange outs" with text that looks like it was created with electrical tape. Love the abbreviation and upper/lower combination... 

For some reason it amuses me that the one word that isn't made of tape is set in Helvetica.

[agentsteel53]

How large is that I-95 shield from Connecticut? Comparing it to the signs above and below it, the shield looks to be about the size of an iPad.

I believe it is 21x18. 

[shadyjay]

[ugliest 95 shield ever]

It's King Max, from Where the Wild Things Are!

I see that, and raise you this.

I want to say I've seen shields like that kicking around backroads in the New London/Groton area years ago...

[mukade]

From Indiana [click for larger] Um, yeah, "orange outs" with text that looks like it was created with electrical tape. Love the abbreviation and upper/lower combination... 

For some reason it amuses me that the one word that isn't made of tape is set in Helvetica.

I think I might seek a copyright on the electrical tape font and then produce some studies that legibility is significantly better than other commonly used fonts.

FWIW, I have seen electrical tape numbers on Indiana state highway markers that contractors create for detours. One I saw for a short closure looked like it was written in magic marker. I don't know what font that was!

[hbelkins]

Found this on the ramp from the Pennsylvania Turnpike to US 15:



This fugly US 11 marker is in Cortland, NY: