The study compares six typefaces for road signs. These are the typeface designed by Strab, three other Swedish typefaces, a Danish typeface and a British typeface. All the typefaces are upper-lower-case except one of the Swedish which consists exclusively of upper-case letters. The aim of the study was to compare the two types of readability, reading and recognition, of the typefaces in daylight. Readability in vehicle lighting (low beam) has also been studied. The experiment is divided into four parts: (1) Reading of unknown names; (2) Recognition of known names; (3) Ranking of typefaces by readability; and (4) Ranking of typefaces by readability in dipped beam. Part 1 indicates that the Strab typeface and Swedish upper-case letters are significantly better than or equivalent to the other four typefaces. British and SIS typefaces require a shorter or equal reading distance compared to the other typefaces. Swedish upper-lower-case typeface and the Danish typeface are on an intermediate level. Part 2, Recognition, showed no significant difference between the typefaces. If there is any effect, it is probably small. In both Part 3 and Part 4, strong ranking was found. The average order in which the test persons placed the typefaces was, from better to worse: Swedish upper-case, Strab, Danish, Swedish upper-lower-case, British, SIS. The conclusion is that the Strab typeface and Swedish upper-case letters are the best two typefaces concerning readability. However, it is difficult to make a distinction between these. (A)
Abstract