Typefaces used for signage in public areas, such as roads and airports, often share characteristics of, or are chosen for, their readability.
| Typeface | Used by | Notes | Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| SNCF, France | Created in 2008 to improve station accessibility | ||
| Italy | Alfabeto Normale is a bolder variant of the British Transport typeface.[1] Alfabeto Stretto is a condensed version of Alfabeto Normale. Both fonts have their own positive (for dark-coloured text on light backgrounds) and negative (for light-coloured text on dark backgrounds) versions. | ||
| Some regulatory signs | |||
| Austria | Being phased out since 2013 | ||
| KAI Commuter rail network in Indonesia (before 2018) | Now gradually replaced with Circular in 2018, with remaining old signages still in place. | ||
| Macau Light Rapid Transit Dublin Airport Minneapolis–Saint Paul Metro Transit[2] | |||
| Brussels's public transport company | |||
| Tyne & Wear Metro, United Kingdom.[3] [4] | |||
| France | Used for road signs in France and in some countries in Africa. In France it is used in four variants known as L1, L2, L4, L5. Its usage is mandated by the Interministerial Instruction on Road Signs and Signals (Instruction Interministérielle sur la Signalisation Routière)[5] | ||
| Directorate-General for Traffic Road signs in Spain | Proprietary typeface commissioned for this purpose, used on intracity road signs. Derived from the Transport typeface. | ||
| Singapore MRT (since 2019) | Used by Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation until its merger with MTR in 2007. Being gradually replaced by Myriad, which is used by MTR on its networks. | ||
| Cast[6] | Most Taiwanese urban rail systems (since 2022) | Designed by Dominique Kerber | |
| Transport for West Midlands (since 2018)[7] Kereta Api Indonesia (since 2020)[8] | |||
| U.S. National Park Service road signs[9] | Used by Public Transport Company in Poznań as the typeface for its fleet vehicles numbering | ||
| Developed to replace U.S. FHWA (Federal Highway Administration) typefaces | |||
| Road signs in Denmark[10] | Derived from the Transport typeface | ||
| Deutsche Bahn WLS | Deutsche Bahn station signage[11] | Developed in close reference to Helvetica | |
| Road signs in Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo Counties Road signs in Germany Road signs in the Czech Republic Road signs in Latvia SADC road signs Road signs in Brunei Road signs in Syria Bengaluru Metro (Namma Metro) signage Kansai International Airport (KIX) (since 2022) | The DIN typeface was used for regulatory and warning Signs in Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo counties.Also used in the Greek motorway network The DIN typeface for the Namma Metro is in English and Kannada. The DIN typeface is currently in the process of gradually replacing the Frutiger typeface for Kansai Airport during its renovations in preparation for Expo 2025. | ||
| Polish road signage typeface | One of a few digitalisations; officially the typeface used in Polish road signs has no defined name. | ||
| A modified version of Helvetica Medium used by the Government of Canada[12] | |||
| Used as official font for signage system of all Spanish railway stations owned by the state-owned administrator, ADIF | |||
| Some mile marker signs | |||
| FF Transit | Developed by MetaDesign for Berlin's public transport company BVG and later adopted by other transport systems. Contains many pictograms for signage. Based on Frutiger. | ||
| Los Angeles Metro | |||
| FHWA Series typeface (Highway Gothic) | Road signs in the Americas, Australasia, China, India, Indonesia, Macau, Malaysia, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, and Turkey | Developed for U.S. road signage Formerly used on Spanish motorways Turkey uses two typefaces on road signs based on this typeface – O-Serisi for motorways and E-Serisi for all other roads. | |
| Frutiger | The Frutiger typeface was commissioned for use at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport in 1975. It has also been used for regulatory and warning signs in Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Solano, Sonoma, and Yolo Counties. | ||
| Italian railways[13] | |||
| Giaothong1 and Giaothong2[14] | Vietnam | Modification of DIN 1451 typeface with Vietnamese extension | |
| Also the official font for all the signage system of the Spanish Government. Modified variant of Gill Sans Bold Condensed used on road signs in former East Germany until 1990.[15] [16] | |||
| Used on Victoria PTC railway station signs in the 1990s, replacing the green The Met signs. | The blue Metlink signs replaced these signs in 2003 after a short trial of Connex signs (using Verdana) at Mitcham and Rosanna stations. | ||
| A Hangul typeface designed by Sandoll Communications in 2008, being used on traffic signs throughout the entire South Korea except for some part of Seoul, along with Panno. | |||
| Helvetica | Formerly used the Hong Kong MTR, Stockholm Metro, ÖBB,[17] Deutsche Bundesbahn portions of the LACMTA system and the Melbourne MTA, and some Toronto subway station signage. Less commonly, the typeface is used on street signs in the United States, including in some suburbs of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area, parts of Pennsylvania, and by the Contra Costa County Transportation Authority. Previously used on road signs in Japan and South Korea. | ||
| Metlink/Public Transport Victoria Swiss Federal Railways Street Signs in Pinole Japan Railways (English signage) | Being phased out on the Victorian public transport network in favour of Network Sans, but still commonly seen. SBB uses its own version of Neue Helvetica named SBB[18] and named "Helvetica Semi-Bold Corrected" by its designer Josef Müller-Brockmann in the SBB Design Manual. | ||
| Japan Highway Public Corporation (divided into three NEXCO group companies in 2005) used its own JH Standard Text until 2010. Since 2010, Hiragino is used for Japanese text, Frutiger for numbers, and Vialog for English text.[19] | |||
| Transport for London | Some Citybus and New World First Bus route displays in Hong Kong | ||
| Road signs in Malaysia. | Based on the Italian Alfabeto Normale and Alfabeto Stretto | ||
| Mark Pro | Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality[20] | ||
| Singapore MRT[21] | |||
| Custom font for the 1995 rebranding, designed by the Foundry (Freda Sack and David Quay) | |||
| Created in 1973 by Jiří Rathouský | |||
| Moscow Sans | Public transport and wayfinding in Moscow since 2015 | Custom font family by Scott Williams and Henrik Kubel (A2-TYPE) in collaboration with Ilya Ruderman (CSTM Fonts) | |
| Motorway route numbers in Ireland and the United Kingdom. | The numerals are used for exit numbers and route numbers in Portugal. | ||
| Myriad Pro | PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe[22] and PKP Intercity[23] | ||
| Manila MRT signage (since 2016) | |||
| Network Sans[24] | Transport for Victoria Public Transport Victoria | ||
| Transport for New South Wales, Australia | Used for all transport signage around Sydney and New South Wales. | ||
| Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Manila, Philippines | Replacement for Helvetica on airport signage | ||
| News Gothic | NYC Subway (Mid 20th Century) Aena airports in Spain | Used on the NYC Subway in the mid 20th century | |
| Nimbus Sans | |||
| Milan Metro[25] | Variation of Akzidenz-Grotesk with shorter ascenders and descenders | ||
| Developed as a replacement for Clarendon | |||
| United Kingdom railway stations Iarnród Éireann station signage | Primarily major stations managed by Network Rail in Britain, introduced in the mid-1990s | ||
| NS Sans | Nederlandse Spoorwegen[26] | Based on Frutiger typeface | |
| A Latin typeface being used on traffic signs throughout the entire South Korea except for some part of Seoul, along with Hangil. | |||
| Saint Petersburg Metro (since 2002) | |||
| Designed for British Rail in 1964. Still in use on parts of the UK rail network, but mostly superseded elsewhere. | |||
| United Kingdom railway stations | An evolution of Rail Alphabet commissioned by Network Rail and planned for use on new station signage projects from 2020 onwards | ||
| Rodoviária | Road signs in Portugal (prior to 1998) | Typeface very similar to the Transport typeface, combined with FHWA Series | |
| Ukraine | Used in road signage across the country since 2021. Created by Andriy Konstantinov.[27] [28] | ||
| Roadgeek 2000 | Argentina[29] | Based on the FHWA Series typeface (B, C, D and E only) | |
| Used in LRT Jakarta and MRT Jakarta on both physical (before 2021, now replaced altogether with PT Sans under Jak Lingko initiative) and digital signages on existing rolling stock First SEPTA Metro signage installed in 2024 | |||
| Used by its own creator, Otl Aicher, for the corporate design of Metro Bilbao | |||
| Station signs of Sound Transit[30] | |||
| Road signs in Chile[31] | |||
| Seoul Type | Seoul Metropolitan Government | Developed by the Seoul Metropolitan Government in 2008 for usage in official Seoul Metropolitan Government documents and institutions, signage and public transport within Seoul. The structure was designed to resemble the gradual curves of a traditional hanok roof. | |
| Sweden | Designed by Bo Berndal – old Swedish standard (SIS 030011, 1973) for public road signs, displays, etc. | ||
| SL Gothic | Stockholm transit system | [32] | |
| Road signs in Belgium Road signs in Bulgaria Road signs in Luxembourg Road signs in Romania Road signs in countries of the former Yugoslavia Road signs in Switzerland (until 2003) | |||
| Standard (also known as Akzidenz-Grotesk) | New York City subway signs | Sometimes seen on older New York City subway signs. Was sometimes used in place of Helvetica.[33] | |
| Tern | Road signs in Austria Road signs in Slovakia | Developed by the International Institute for Information Design with the aim of unifying the road signage in all of the European Union.[34] | |
| Times New Roman | |||
| Road signs in Mexico[35] [36] | Replaced former typeface based on FHWA Series that was used on Mexican road signs before 2023. | ||
| Used in maps, publications, and most stations of the Toronto subway[37] | |||
| Used for Norwegian road signs and motor vehicle registration plates (until 2006) | |||
| Transport | Also used in Portugal, Greece (for non-motorways) and other countries. An oblique variant is used in Ireland for Irish-language text. | ||
| Created by the DET (Departamento de Estudios Tipográficos, Universidad Católica de Chile) for the Transantiago, the public transport network in Santiago de Chile. | |||
| Also used for the Walt Disney World road system (route numbers are in Highway Gothic). Formerly used by the Nederlandse Spoorwegen, on the destination rolls of Comeng trains in Melbourne prior to refurbishment, as well as Hitachi trains which had their original destination rolls replaced in the 1980s with the Comeng type. | |||
| Universal Grotesk | Road signs in Czechoslovakia | Previously used on road signs in Slovakia until 2015. | |
| Renfe English text on Japanese expressway directional signage | Used in signage and all corporate communications of the state-owned Spanish Railway Operator in a custom-made variant called Renfe Vialog. | ||
| Metro Rio El Dorado International Airport Santa Cruz Kereta Api Indonesia (December 2016–20) | Used in signage for Rio de Janeiro's metro system Metro Rio, El Dorado International Airport, the city of Santa Cruz, California and Indonesian Railway Company. | ||
. 10.21832/9781800414570. The Language of the English Street Sign. Vivian Cook (linguist). 2022-03-01. Multilingual Matters. 9781800414570.