INTERSTATE Tobias Frere–Jones
INTERSTATE Tobias Frere–Jones
A B C D
Interstate
Efficient and gruff, Interstate has become a favorite for branding, packaging, publications, and more. The family is a reinterpretation of Highway Gothic, which has been the official typeface for American highway signage for decades. Its design is ultimately based on signage alphabets developed in the late 1940s by Dr. Theodore Forbes, assisted by J.E. Penton and E.E. Radek. The family was expanded to include full supportfor Central and Eastern Europe languages, as well as Cyrillic and Greek. — Adobe Fonts (fonts.adobe.com)
Tobias Frere–Jones
Frere-Jones Type is an independent type design practice in New York City, founded and led by Tobias Frere-Jones. With twenty-six years of experience in print and digital environments, we create original typefaces for retail licensing and client commissions. We believe that type exists to solve problems, and beauty is always part of the solution. — Adobe Fonts (fonts.adobe.com)
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ABCD E FGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
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ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQR S TUVWXYZ
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Interstate Interstate Interstate Interstate Interstate Interstate Interstate Interstate Interstate Interstate Interstate Interstate Interstate Interstate Interstate Interstate Hairline Hairline Italic Thin Thin Italic Extra Light Extra Light Italic Light Light Italic Italic Regular Bold Bold Italic Black Black Italic Ultra Black Ultra Black Italic
White on Color
Interstate Highway
Interstate Ultra Black 16pt
Interstate Extra Light 9pt
As on a crowded Interstate the drivers in boredom or irritation speed ahead or lag (taken with suddenenthusiasms for seventy-five), surging ahead a little by weaving between lanes but still
staying pretty much even, so too the seeker in language ranges ahead and behind--exiting and rejoininga rushing multitude so closely linked that, if seen from above, from the height
of the jet now descending, we present onestasis of lights: feeling our freedom thoughwhen seen from above, in the deepening twilight, the pattern we bead is constant.
So we have traveled in time, lying down and waking together, moved illusions, each cubicle withtables and chairs, beds where our cries arose lost in the surging engines.
Yet the roomlight where we made our love still cubes us in amber. Out of the averaginglikeness, Pavlovian salivation at the bellof a nipple, our lives extract their time-thread, our gospel-truth. While Holiday Inn and Exxon populate the stretch between Washington and Richmond with lights, I rewrite our pasts in this present:
recalling your waking, dear wife, to find a nipple rosier, we not yet thinking a child though impossibly guessing her features the feathery, minutely combed lashes
the tiny perfect nails, though not yet the many later trees at Christmas. NowI know only backwardly, inscribing these signings that fade as the ink dries.
Remembering the graphlike beading of darkness,I recall the ways that time once gave us travelers, heavy with ourselves
defining the gift that bodies carry, lighting the one, inner room, womb forour daughter. Seeing from above, I read this love our child embodies.
Interstate Italic 6pt
— James Applewhite, 1935
Interstate Bold 12pt
Interstate Highway
Interstate Thin 8pt
As on a crowded Interstate the drivers in boredom or irritation speed ahead or lag (taken with suddenenthusiasms for seventy-five), surging ahead a little by weaving between lanes but still
staying pretty much even, so too the seeker in language ranges ahead and behind--exiting and rejoininga rushing multitude so closely linked that, if seen from above, from the height
of the jet now descending, we present one stasis of lights: feeling our freedom though when seen from above, in the deepening twilight, the pattern we bead is constant.
So we have traveled in time, lying down and waking together, moved illusions, each cubicle withtables and chairs, beds where our cries arose lost in the surging engines.
time-thread, our gospel-truth. While Holiday Inn and Exxon populate the stretch between Washington and Richmond with lights, I rewrite our pasts in this present:
recalling your waking, dear wife, to find a nipple rosier, we not yet thinking a child though impossibly guessing her features the feathery, minutely combed lashes
the tiny perfect nails, though not yet the many later trees at Christmas. Now I know only backwardly, inscribing these signings that fade as the ink dries.
Remembering the graphlike beading of darkness,I recall the ways that time once gave us-travelers, heavy with ourselves
defining the gift that bodies carry, lighting the one, inner room, womb for our daughter. Seeing from above, I read this love our child embodies.
Yet the roomlight where we made our love still cubes us in amber. Out of the averaging likeness, Pavlovian salivation at the bell of a nipple, our lives extract their — James Applewhite, 1935
Interstate Light 7pt
Black on White
Subheader Header
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Caption
Subheader Header
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Turpis tincidunt id aliquet risus feugiat in ante metus dictum. Id diam maecenas ultricies mi eget mauris pharetra. Eros in cursus turpis massa tincidunt. Pulvinar neque laoreet suspendisse interdum consectetur libero id faucibus nisl. Et egestas quis ipsum suspendisse ultrices gravida. Malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Sed viverra ipsum nunc aliquet bibendum enim facilisis. Semper eget duis at tellus. Lorem sed risus ultricies tristique nulla aliquet.
Caption
Interstate Ultra Black 72pt
Interstate Bold 30pt
Interstate Regular 10pt
Interstate Light 8pt
Interstate Bold 48pt
Interstate Italic 23pt
Interstate Thin 10pt
Interstate Ultra Light 9pt
Interstate Regular 30pt
Interstate Light 14pt
Interstate Extra Light 8pt
Interstate Hairline t 10pt
Why is typography important?
Typography is so much more than just choosing beautiful fonts: it’s a vital component of user interface design. Good typography will establish a strong visual hierarchy, provide a graphic balance to the website, and set the product’s overall tone. Typography should guide and inform your users, optimize readability and accessibility, and ensure an excellent user experience.Let’s delve a little deeper into why typography is so important.
Typography builds brand recognition
Not only will good typography enhance the website’s personality, but your users will subliminally begin to associate the typeface featured on your site with your brand. Unique, consistent typography will help you establish a strong user following, build trust with your users, and help to carry your brand forward .
Typography influences decision making
Typography has a profound effect on the way that users digest and perceive the information conveyed by the text.Eye-catching type is much more persuasive than weak fonts that don’t reinforce the message of the text.
Typography holds the attention of the readers
Good typography could be the difference between someone staying on your website for one minute or half an hour.It’s important that your website is visually stimulating and memorable, and typography plays a huge role in this process
— By Jaye Hannah, CareerFoundry.com
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Interstate by Tobias Frere–Jones
Type Specimin Booklet by Era Mahoney
Academy of Art University
Type Compositions // Spring 2023
I N T E R S T A T E nterstate I terstate In erstate Int rstate Inte state Inter tate Inters ate Interst te Intersta e Interstat
Interstate is based on the font colloquially known as Highway Gothic, the official typeface of the American Federal Highway Administration, designed by Ted Forbes in 1949. Forbes was an engineer not a typographer, and the letterforms in the original Highway Gothic typeface are quirky—the awkward and incongruous descender of the lowercase g is a good example. "It's very American in that way—just smash it together and get it up there," Frere-Jones has said of Highway Gothic. Interstate was carefully designed as homage to Highway Gothic, its naïveté intentional. Interstate has a familiar and recognizable feel, conveying the aesthetic of the American road and the excitement associated with the new interstate highway system of the Eisenhower era. —MoMA.org
Type Specimin Booklet Designed by
Era Mahoney