A few hand-painted numbers from different parts of Eastern Europe. Number one is the platform number from
a bus station in Riga, Latvia where I often used to stop over on my trips between Warsaw and Helsinki – quite
beautifully rendered in black-on-white and inverse. Number two is from Augustów in north-eastern Poland where
a hand-made sign had to do in lack of official street signage. Number forty-three is same story but from Nowogród
where a lovely folk party takes place once in a year.
Hello Wojtek,
I found the below message (4 yours old!) on the Internet.
Can you please share the Finnish AutoCAD font files with me?
Thanks!
Theo
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Hello all,
I know it is a pretty late reply (1,5 years!) :) but I got quite interested in the subject matter after reading your posts and made a small investigation. (and hopefully someone will read this anyway)
At the Finnish Road Administration office they told me it is some sort of custom design similar to Helvetica Bold (sic!) created in the sixties and they admitted that engineers, not typographers, designed the letter forms.
I heard that probably at some point the Finnish Road Administration will have to consider updating to a new typeface since, apart from not being too handsome, the letters don’t function well on the reflective material used nowadays in traffic signs.
A good article about a similar situation in the US was published in the NY Times.
I was told that the letters don’t exist in a standard font format but the shapes are available in AutoCAD files (which I will receive soon by email).
If I understood correctly every time a sign with altogether new content has to be created it has to be set manually letter by letter since no kerning values exist for the current font.
Jan, if you would like me to send you the files once I receive them leave me a comment on my TypoTrip blog (I don’t want to publish my email here because of spam).
Best,
Wojtek
UPDATE 13:16
I have now received the shapes. If anyone’s interested contact me as mentioned above.
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Comment by Theo Lanen — 18.07.2011 @ 18:00
Hello!
Glad to see that stuff on the internet lasts longer than a few weeks. :)
Font files attached as I received them from the FRA.
Here’s an interesting article about the situation in the US: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/12/magazine/12fonts-t.html
and it seems that the Polish signs (where I live) have the same problem as in Finland: http://fooh.pl/images/n9uz2hegmt3jrrifsk1r.jpg
Best, Wojtek
Comment by Wojtek Mejor — 9.08.2011 @ 18:41