How type design is saving money and lives

OK, I'll confess. I am a type geek. I studied calligraphy in high school, and I had a subscription to the U&lc magazine when it actually was a magazine. I'd devour the esoterica of how lettering and fonts communicated ideas over and above words and I'd dream of the perfect balances of form, content, and white space in words. Of course, being a computer guy made me more interested in the digital versions of the above, but that biweekly issue of U&lc sensitized me to the type in displays, signs, magazines, and newspapers.

So it was with great delight that I spotted the New York Times article this weekend titled The Road to Clarity, which described the seemingly invisible transition of US highway signs to a new typeface called Clearview from the old Highway Gothic. A better title for the story might be "The story of how better type and design are saving millions of dollars a year and possibly lives on US highways." Yes, they really are.

As the article points out, Highway Gothic signs were never tested for readability -- they were simply put up and used. And much to Clearview designers Don Meeker and James Montalbano's amazement, most of the international typefaces hadn't been tested for road signs visibility and usability either. The rest, as they say, is history and a New York Times article. And Joshua Yaffa tells the story compellingly and with charm to boot. It is definitely worth reading, whether you were ever a type geek or not. You will never see highway signs the same way again.

Technorati Tags: Clearview, Don Meeker, Fonts, Highway Gothic, James Montalbano, Type, U&lc