Southern California Sign Blog

Burbank Sign Company | Popular Sign Fonts

Posted by Julie and Chris Ramirez on Mon, Aug 13, 2012 @ 06:08 AM

History of Popular Fonts Used for Signs

“What’s the best font to use on a sign?”

It’s a question that The Sign Studio team members face frequently. While there is no one perfect answer for every situation, there are some fonts that have endured through the years to become staples in visual communications, DIN 1451, Frutiger, Gill Sans and Helvetica are classic fonts that have helped countless people reach their destinations throughout the decades.

DIN 1451 isn’t a promising name for a good communicator, but it has been used since the 1930s for scientific and traffic signs. The name is an acronym for the German Deutsches Institut für Normung (German Institute for Standardization). In 1936 the German Standard Committee named DIN 1451 the official typeface for technology, administration, engineering, traffic and business. The medium version of this font was popular with graphic designers in the 1980’s and today it is frequently used for identification on vehicles and as cast metal lettering for street and building signage.

Frutiger is a typeface commissioned in 1968 by the Charles De Gaulle International Airport for new directional signs. Type designer Adrian Frutiger was told to create a modern font that had excellent visibility at various angles, sizes and distances. This highly legible font with a warm personality is a favorite in the advertising industry. In 2008 it was the fifth best-selling typeface of the Linotype foundry. It is used throughout the public transit network in Norway since the 1980s.

In 1929 Eric Gill was commissioned to produce Gill Sans for the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER). It was first presented in a single uppercase weight and became very popular immediately. It was the standard typeface for all LNER posters, locomotive nameplates, station signage and even the menu on the dining cars. More recently, the BBC adopted Gill Sans for its corporate typeface in 1997. The British Government formally adopted Gill Sans as its standard typeface for use in all communications and logos in 2003.

Helvetica is another classic font, so popular it even inspired its own film. The U.S. Government uses Helvetica for everything from federal tax forms to NASA’s Space Shuttle orbiter. It is also used for the U.S. television rating system. Helvetica was adopted as the official font for all of New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority in 1989. The Chicago Transit Authority uses Helvetica for the city’s elevated train system and Philadelphia’s SEPTA uses it exclusively for all signage.

To learn more about the history of classic fonts, visit this excellent post from the Live Well Collaborative.

If you have any questions or need assistance with anything, please give us a call at The Sign Studio (818) 843-9200 or send us an e-mail at info@signstudiola.com.

Topics: Fonts, Burbank Sign Company, Popular Sign and Banner Fonts

Los Angeles Signs | History of the Most Popular Fonts Used for Signs

Posted by Julie and Chris Ramirez on Sat, Sep 10, 2011 @ 06:09 AM

What is the History of Popular Fonts Used for Signs?  

“What’s the best font to use on a sign?”

It’s a question that The Sign Studio team members face frequently. While there is no one perfect answer for every situation, there are some fonts that have endured through the years to become staples in visual communications, DIN 1451, Frutiger, Gill Sans and Helvetica are classic fonts that have helped countless people reach their destinations throughout the decades.

DIN 1451 isn’t a promising name for a good communicator, but it has been used since the 1930s for scientific and traffic signs. The name is an acronym for the German Deutsches Institut für Normung (German Institute for Standardization). In 1936 the German Standard Committee named DIN 1451 the official typeface for technology, administration, engineering, traffic and business. The medium version of this font was popular with graphic designers in the 1980’s and today it is frequently used for identification on vehicles and as cast metal lettering for street and building signage.

Frutiger is a typeface commissioned in 1968 by the Charles De Gaulle International Airport for new directional signs. Type designer Adrian Frutiger was told to create a modern font that had excellent visibility at various angles, sizes and distances. This highly legible font with a warm personality is a favorite in the advertising industry. In 2008 it was the fifth best-selling typeface of the Linotype foundry. It is used throughout the public transit network in Norway since the 1980s.

In 1929 Eric Gill was commissioned to produce Gill Sans for the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER). It was first presented in a single uppercase weight and became very popular immediately. It was the standard typeface for all LNER posters, locomotive nameplates, station signage and even the menu on the dining cars. More recently, the BBC adopted Gill Sans for its corporate typeface in 1997. The British Government formally adopted Gill Sans as its standard typeface for use in all communications and logos in 2003.

Helvetica is another classic font, so popular it even inspired its own film. The U.S. Government uses Helvetica for everything from federal tax forms to NASA’s Space Shuttle orbiter. It is also used for the U.S. television rating system. Helvetica was adopted as the official font for all of New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority in 1989. The Chicago Transit Authority uses Helvetica for the city’s elevated train system and Philadelphia’s SEPTA uses it exclusively for all signage.

To learn more about the history of classic fonts, visit this excellent post from the Live Well Collaborative.

If you have any questions or need assistance with anything, please give us a call at The Sign Studio (818) 843-9200 or send us an e-mail at info@signstudiola.com.

Topics: sign fonts, Fonts, Sign Design

LOS ANGELES SIGNS | ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT FONTS

Posted by Julie and Chris Ramirez on Fri, Jan 14, 2011 @ 17:01 PM

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT FONTS AND FONT DESIGN

In typography, a typeface is a set of one or more fonts, in one or more sizes, designed with stylistic unity, each comprising a coordinated set of glyphs. A typeface usually comprises an alphabet of letters, numerals, and punctuation marks. 

Font Characteristics resized 600

MY Top 25 Best Fonts Of  2010 - Below you will find the full list of the best and most popular 25 fonts we used last year.

25 Best Fonts resized 600

Have you ever had the problem of not knowing what typeface to use? Well of course you have, everyone has. This is a guide on how to choose a font.

These pointers have been gathered from Robin Williams great book “The Non-Designers Type Book” that I recommended in the top 5 typography resources of all time.

Think about each of these before choosing your next font.

Choose a category of type

Choose a type face that you think will match your work. ie. Oldstyle, Modern, Slab Serif, Sans Serif, Script, Decorative.

Quality of printer & paper

Where are you getting your piece printed? If you are printing from a low resolution printer, your subtle font characteristics such as delicate serifs or fine lines will not get printed. (eg. fax machines, photo copier). Is the paper going to without the ink and quality? eg. Newspapers will absorb ink and lose finer details.

How much text is there to read? What is its purpose?

Are you designing for a sign, billboard, poster, a book, a report? What is more important – readability or aesthetics? What is the purpose of the text? A serious look, a casual look, a decorative look?

How much space do you need to fill? Or leave unfilled?

Different typefaces take up different amounts of space, even at the same point size. Try comparing two fonts next to each other and see how much difference they take up in room.

Is the project to be skimmed or be really read?

Choose a typeface and layout that suits its purpose.

An exercise method for next time you choose a font…

Know your output method and final reproduction process to narrow down your font choices.

Decide on the look you want to convey.

If you use more than one font, make sure the fonts are very different from each   other. If they are not very different it looks like a mistake. eg. Use an oldstyle font for the body text and and a bold sans serif for the headline.

Don’t be afraid to use wild fonts where they are appropriate and use it sparingly. Don’t be a wimp.

How do you go about choosing a font or typeface?   Many people have asked me which text type is best for a magazine, a newspaper, a poster, a newsletter, a publication, etc. In general, I tell them which to use, but I know that this is not the best answer, because they won't learn to do this by themselves.
Today, I want to take time to analyze how to choose correct text typography design in different cases. It is very important to understand that these tips are not final word, but they can be good help at the moment of choosing a text type. In any case, it depends on what do you want to convey with this type, because many times legibility is as important as the character of the type. Try to be very careful and take in account the following points:

Fonts 3 1 resized 600
Fonts 3 2 resized 600

Topics: Fonts, Custom sign design in Burbank CA, custom fonts, most common fonts used