English original 
Automated Translation: 
 
 
METRO BITS - Unearthing the world's subway highlightsMETRO BITS - Unearthing the world's subway highlights







Metro Fonts

Most subways use standard typefaces for their corporate identity, while others don't even care and have used a mixture of different fonts over the years. But some subway systems are stylish enough to communicate with their customers through exclusively designed typefaces for wayfinding signage and paperwork.

Page updated 6 May 2008.





CityFontDesignerYearSampleAvailabilityReference
AmsterdamM.O.L.Gerard Unger1974gerardunger.com
BerlinTransit (based on Frutiger)Erik Spiekermann, Lucas de Groot, Henning Krause1991fontshop.comtypophile.com
BrusselsBrusselineEric de Berranger2006de-berranger.club.fr, de-berranger.club.fr (PDF)
LisbonMetrolisMichael Barbosa, Freda Sack, David Quay1995identifont.com, typophile.com
LondonJohnstonEdward Johnston1916paratype.com, p22.comwikipedia.org
Mexico CityTipo MetroLance Wyman1969haroldsfonts.com (a rough lookalike)Lance Wyman via email, hablamosjuntos.org
MunichVialogWerner Schneider, Helmut Ness2002linotype.comtypophile.com, typeforum.de
New York(tile fonts in several variations)G. C. Heins, C. G. La Farge, S. J. Vickers1901myfonts.com, myfonts.comStookey, Lee: Subway Ceramics. 1992.
NewcastleCalvertMargaret Calvert1980linotype.com, identifont.comdesignmuseum.org, wikipedia.org
ParisMetropolitain (in six variations)Hector Guimard1901
myfonts.com, myfonts.com, dafont.comDescouturelle, Frédéric; et. al.: Le métropolitain d'Hector Guimard. Somogy 2003.
ParisAlphabet Métro (based on Univers)Adrian Frutiger1973stbride.org
ParisParisineJean François Porchez1996typofonderie.com, myfonts.comstbride.org, creativepro.com, typofonderie.com
PragueMetronJiri Rathousky1974magtypo.cz, fonts-online.com
RotterdamRETHenk van Leyden1984Henk van Leyden via email
SeoulKorail/unknown designerca. 2003asiafont.comtypophile.com
SingaporeLTA Identity TypefaceHubert Jocham198?Hubert Jocham via email; LTAFont.PDF
TorontoToronto Subwayunknown designer1954quadrat.com, fontpool.composlfit.com, flickr.com, joeclark.org



Metron in Prague's orientation system was in 1985 replaced by Helvetica; Metron remains only in metal lettering of station names.
RET (Rotterdam) has been officially replaced after a few years when a signage upgrade required a digitized font. Signs of RET remained only in a few places.





Reference

Berry, John D.: Underground Typography. 23 March 2001: creativepro.com.

Clark, Joe: Inscribed in the Living Tile: Type in the Toronto Subway. Presented at the ATypI 2007 conference.

Cleary, Ed; Jürgen Siebert; Erik Spiekermann: Font Book. Digital Typeface Compendium. Volume 1+2. FontShop International 1995.

Designerstalk.com discussion about subway fonts.

Eason, Ron; Sarah Rookledge: Rookledge's International Handbook of Type Designers. Sarema Press 1991.

Subway fonts. myfonts.com.

Typophile.com discussion about subway fonts.

WhatTheFont. myfonts.com. Font indentifier and forum.





This page: http://mic-ro.com/metro/metrofonts.html

Bookmark and Share
Do you want to discuss this page or know of more facts that fit in here? Visit Metro Bits Forum. Thanks to those who have already contributed!



HomeCity PagesWorld Metro ListMetro Arts & ArchitectureMetro LogosResources About