The latest Vox explainer video tackles the eminently fascinating topic of highway sign fonts.
The astute observer of fonts probably might have noticed that highway signs in the United States come in two varieties: Highway Gothic and Clearview.
The video explains the origins and details of Highway Gothic and the reasoning behind the slow and steady switch to Clearview. There's lots of interesting nuggets of information in here, including the reasoning behind the angled tops of letters (making Illinois much easier to read, for example) and the definition of the term halation (the reason for the shift to Clearview).
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