Font used for airport terminals etc. signs?

KPT

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Oct 10, 2005, 12:14:50 PM10/10/05

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I would like to know what kind of font (or fonts perhaps?) are
used for airport terminal, railway station etc. signs?
There's usually a black background and the lettering is either in
white or yellow (or both).

--
Regards,
KPT

KPT

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Oct 10, 2005, 12:27:30 PM10/10/05

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KPT wrote:

I searched the web and found a few pictures to illustrate the
kind of signs I'm talking about:

http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-603471.html?searchterm=airport+signs&anyorall=all&search_group=all&orient=all&
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-461143.html?searchterm=airport+signs&anyorall=all&search_group=all&orient=all&
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-557619.html?searchterm=airport+signs&anyorall=all&search_group=all&orient=all&
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-557610.html?searchterm=airport+signs&anyorall=all&search_group=all&orient=all&

--
Regards,
KPT

Andreas Höfeld

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Oct 10, 2005, 3:24:11 PM10/10/05

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Also sprach/Thus spake KPT:

> KPT wrote:
>
>> I would like to know what kind of font (or fonts perhaps?) are
>> used for airport terminal, railway station etc. signs?
>> There's usually a black background and the lettering is either in
>> white or yellow (or both).
>
> I searched the web and found a few pictures to illustrate the
> kind of signs I'm talking about:

The English name for this sort of fonts is Sans serif.

Andreas

Message has been deleted

Stuart B. Henlis

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Oct 10, 2005, 10:50:29 PM10/10/05

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"KPT" <----@--.--> wrote in message news:434a937f$1...@news.broadpark.no...

Hi K,

Take a look at Anziegen Grotesk (Standard here in the US) and ITC Shannon,
used as the the Shannon Airport at Dublin

Stu

toby

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Oct 11, 2005, 12:22:45 AM10/11/05

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KPT wrote:
> KPT wrote:
>
> > I would like to know what kind of font (or fonts perhaps?) are

> > used for airport terminal, railway station etc. signs? ...

Spanish airports as above seem to use News Gothic, I remember seeing
the same style in Barcelona. The other example is Helvetica. As another
poster mentioned, the Frutiger typeface found early fame as a bespoke
design for Charles De Gaulle Airport
[http://www.linotype.com/7-1122-7/frutiger.html ,
http://www.linotype.com/7-31-7-12662/charles-de-gaulleairport.html].

The design of type for signage, especially roadside signage, is a very
specialised art. Eye magazine had an excellent article on Jock Kinneir
& Margaret Calvert's UK road signage work (eminent experts in signage
typography)... but I cannot find the article text [abstract
http://www.eyemagazine.com/feature.php?id=17&fid=115]. However some
reproductions from it are here:
http://www.aadownloads.com/web/Kinnear3/Kinnear2.html
Also see their book, "Words and buildings: The art of public
lettering".

Keith Tam is a young designer to watch in this field; his "Arrival"
design is functional and quite beautiful:
http://keithtam.net/types.html

--Toby

>
>
> --
> Regards,
> KPT

toby

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Oct 11, 2005, 12:45:45 AM10/11/05

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toby wrote:
> KPT wrote:
> > KPT wrote:
> >
> > > I would like to know what kind of font (or fonts perhaps?) are
> > > used for airport terminal, railway station etc. signs? ...
>

> ...

> The design of type for signage, especially roadside signage, is a very
> specialised art.

I should also mention Phil Baines' site,
http://www.publiclettering.org.uk/Roadtrafficsigns.php

>
> --Toby
>
> >
> >
> > --
> > Regards,
> > KPT

VidTheKid

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Oct 12, 2005, 12:38:41 AM10/12/05

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What part of the world are you asking about? I can tell you that in
the US, fonts used for these things are not quite the same as shown in
the european examples discussed so far in this thread, and these
typographical conventions probably differ further in other regions of
the world.

Andreas Höfeld

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Oct 12, 2005, 2:54:48 AM10/12/05

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Also sprach/Thus spake Stuart B. Henlis:

> Take a look at Anziegen Grotesk (Standard here in the US) and ITC
> Shannon, used as the the Shannon Airport at Dublin

"An" means "at", "Ziegen" means "goats".
"Anzeigen" means "Ads".
"Grotesk" is the German equivalent to "Gothic" (sans serif):

HTH :-)

Andreas

KPT

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Oct 12, 2005, 6:58:29 AM10/12/05

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VidTheKid wrote:
> KPT wrote:
>> I would like to know what kind of font (or fonts perhaps?) are
>> used for airport terminal, railway station etc. signs?
>> There's usually a black background and the lettering is either in
>> white or yellow (or both).
>
> What part of the world are you asking about?

Actually I thought there was an international standard to this,
but I see I'm mistaken.
I'll see if I can find any freeware equivelants of the commercial
fonts suggested elsewhere in this thread.

I assume that putting the font in the right context with the
right colours has a lot to do with it, in addition to finding the
right font of course.
I would like to add some "airport terminal" and "travel" feel to
a website, which is why I started this thread.

--
Regards,
KPT