I was hoping for your help with something.

[mwichary@mastodon.online]

8.
Modern Germany has a specific license plate font that's designed to be hard to mess with. It is also used to mark parking spots.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FE-Schrift

[grmon@chaos.social]

@mwichary there is a very ugly black letter font here in Annaberg-Buchholz #tourist #workation sometimes with perfect usage of German long-s and for the same street with wrong end-s . Gonna try to snatch some pictures.

[fanf@mendeddrum.org]

@mwichary david kindersley’s lettering, designed for motorway road signs, but rejected, and instead relatively popular for street name signs (especially in his home town cambridge)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/36844288@N00/albums/72157621886573981/

https://wemadethis.co.uk/blog/2022/02/street-name-fonts/

https://thebeautyoftransport.com/2021/11/03/how-serifs-lost-the-road-war-but-won-the-streets/

[mwichary@mastodon.online]

@grmon Thanks in advance!

[jwildeboer@social.wildeboer.net]

@mwichary Munich has a regulation about these blue/white house numbers. While it is not exactly defined which font to use, it almost always is this serif one. @Szescstopni

[grmon@chaos.social]

@mwichary I know. It’s horrible. The font is pretty nice.

[kyonshi@dice.camp]

@mwichary yeah, the specific idea is that one cannot easily change a letter into a different letter by adding stuff (like changing a P into an R, or an F into an E). The letter forms have been designed to be unique to make alterations easier to detect.

[vfig@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@chemlon @mwichary oooh! there were so many interesting typographical forms in signage all over prague when i visited there. i took photos in every metro station i went to—absolutely loved the sleek lines of this face. excited to learn theres a digital version!

[mwichary@mastodon.online]

9.
I linked to this a while back – more quirky enamel house numbers in the Netherlands.

[floy@mystical.garden]

@mwichary DB Neo, corporate typeface of deutsche bahn is quite recognizable for people in Germany. It's not used on station signage or wayfinding, but it is used in advertisements, the app and website and passenger information system on some trains

https://marketingportal.extranet.deutschebahn.com/marketingportal/Marke-und-Design/Basiselemente/Typografie

[me_@sueden.social]

@mwichary And unfortunately made easy to read for automatic license plate readers, increasing the surveillance opportunities - while still causing lots of trouble in parking garages using crappy automatic readers…

[dlx@mastodon.social]

@mwichary @tehabe The O always reminds me of Hobo (and that in turn by its use by Hela Gewürzketchup)

[kallekn@mastodonsweden.se]

@mwichary This is East Berlin 1984. They still had some Fraktur signage.
🧐

[fanf@mendeddrum.org]

@mwichary Kindersley also designed the monumental lettering for the gateway of the new British Library at St Pancras

his wife Lida Lopes Cardozo Kindersley still runs a stonecutting workshop in Cambridge and they have a distinctive italic style that’s common in stone plaques around here https://www.kindersleyworkshop.co.uk

[mwichary@mastodon.online]

@kallekn Wow, this feels much older than 1984.

[mwichary@mastodon.online]

@grmon This is, weirdly, the only form of Gill Sans I can tolerate. Otherwise why not just go for Futura.

[andniz@c.im]

@mwichary the numbers on trams in Wrocław, especially the "2"

[pcherry@hachyderm.io]

@mwichary What is the history of these? I see them *all the time* in SF. There has to be some backstory given their ubiquity.

[u47@mastodon.social]

@mwichary @grmon It was very difficult to locate, but I bought a copy of MacCarthy’s biography about 20 years ago. It’s probably the seminal work on Gill.

It’s becoming more common to see the rejection of his type due to his notoriety. I believe there are some wanting his sculptures at 55 Broadway removed as well.

[u47@mastodon.social]

@mwichary @grmon or Johnston Underground.