Wayfinding in New York Gets a New Look

With 250,000 street name signs spread throughout New York City, residents may have yet to notice the 11,000 that have been replaced recently to meet controversial new national standards in typography and surface reflectivity.

Rather than just change the case of its street name signs to meet the new standards, the city has gone one step further, by implementing a new typeface. According to Dunlap, "For its new signs, [the New York City Department of Transportation] has chosen to use a typeface called Clearview (licensed as ClearviewHwy)."

"With its crisp, clean design, Clearview represents exactly what its name suggests," the transportation commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan, said in a statement. "Whether through our signs, markings or sidewalks, we're bringing clarity and simplicity to street design."