European fonts

In England, until 1933, there weren't any standard typefaces and every manufacturer would choose from a variety of a variety of san serif alphabets at will. In 1933 and following the Mayburu report, the Liewelyn-Smith Alphabet (a capitals only typeface) was adopted for use on the British roads. During the first motorway construction in 1950, signaling legibility came to the foreground and a new font was required. In 1957, Jock Kinnier and Margaret Calvet started designing a new font to be specifically used on British motorways. 

Transport Medium

After 6 long years of research,
testing and development, the
'Transport' font was finally used,
covering the entire road network in 1963. 

Transport Heavy

Special emphasis was given to the font's legibility, in which the 'a', 't', 'l' characters were given distinctive tails, while fractions became bar-less. The only exception in England's road network is the numbering of the motorways, in which another font is used, the motorway typeface. Transport, besides england, is widely used in other countries as well, such as Hong Kong, Ireland (with a little relation on 'a' and 'i'), Greece, Italy, Spain etc.

 (Post signage and use of typography - The new FWHA font / Angelopoulos Paschalis)

Choosing a Typeface

The beginning of the design process is the time to explore type families and select the appropriate typeface to suit a specific site and context. It is difficult to imagine today that in the 1960s and '70s a single typeface, Helvetica, was used almost exclusively for most sign systems. Classically trained graphic designers otherwise relied on a vocabulary of about a dozen "acceptable" typefaces. Evolving tastes, the broadening of cultural and social perspectives, and personal computers loaded with digital type soon changed everything. With type fonts now numbering in thousands, the wayfinding designers has to develop an even more discerning eye to balance issues of form versus function.

  Typefaces have specific personalities and suggest certain associations: Bembo seems traditional, Meta appears crisp and modern, Ziggurat is playful. When selecting a typeface, the designer must consider how it will be used: Will it appear on a carved inscription, as dimensional letters, on an illuminated board, or on a map? Will it guide drivers on a highway, students through a university, or diners to a restaurant? The experienced designer instinctively understands the typographic requirements of a project and selects a font that is both appropriate and communicative.

"The wayfinding handbook" page 77 / David Gibson