Lesson plan
Interstate (typeface)
Interstate is a digital typeface designed by Tobias Frere-Jones between 1993 and 1999. Originally developed for Font Bureau foundry, it has been owned and licensed by Frere-Jones Type since 2020. The typeface is based on the FHWA series of fonts, a series of signage alphabets drawn for the Federal Highway Administration by Dr. Theodore W. Forbes in 1949, assisted by J.E. Penton and E.E. Radek. While optimal for signage, Interstate has refinements making it suitable for text setting in print and on-screen, and gained popularity as such in the 1990s. Due to its wide spacing, it is best suited for display usage in print. The terminals of ascending and descending strokes are cut at an angle to the stroke (see lowercase "t" and "l"), and on curved strokes (see lowercase "e" and "s"), terminals are drawn at a 90° angle to the stroke, positioning them at an angle to the baseline. Counters are open, even in the bold and bold condensed weights, further contributing to legibility. Punctuation is based on a rectangular shape, while official FHWA punctuation is based on a circular shape. Since 2011, Interstate has been held in the [[permanent collection] of Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.
Article summary
Interstate is a digital typeface designed by Tobias Frere-Jones between 1993 and 1999. Originally developed for Font Bureau foundry, it has been owned and licensed by Frere-Jones Type since 2020. The typeface is based on the FHWA series of fonts, a series of signage alphabets drawn for the Federal Highway Administration by Dr. Theodore W. Forbes in 1949, assisted by J.E. Penton and E.E. Radek. While optimal for signage, Interstate has refinements making it suitable for text setting in print and on-screen, and gained popularity as such in the 1990s. Due to its wide spacing, it is best suited for display usage in print. The terminals of ascending and descending strokes are cut at an angle to the stroke (see lowercase "t" and "l"), and on curved strokes (see lowercase "e" and "s"), terminals are drawn at a 90° angle to the stroke, positioning them at an angle to the baseline. Counters are open, even in the bold and bold condensed weights, further contributing to legibility. Punctuation is based on a rectangular shape, while official FHWA punctuation is based on a circular shape. Since 2011, Interstate has been held in the [[permanent collection] of Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.
Key claims
No claims recorded.
Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.