Good wayfinding – the methods and landmarks people use to orient themselves – is essential to any world-class transit system. Wayfinding can include maps, symbols, or any markers that intuitively and quickly convey important information to riders.
But wayfinding isn’t just about symbols. It’s about text. Which means typography.
A Kent State study from 2009 found that words were much more effective at quickly communicating directions to drivers than symbols. This led to a complete redesign of the university’s signage, including a new university-wide typeface.
But fonts matter for more than just legibility. Some transit systems are legendary in part because of their fonts. New York’s Helvetica, London’s Johnston – why are these fonts so distinctive and cherished?
Strong wayfinding typography is all about two things: legibility and recognition.
Obviously, transit signs have to be legible, because people need to read them. But people also have to read signs from far away, while in rapid motion, or through heavy rain. They might not speak the language and could be new to the alphabet, or they could be nearsighted, or they might have cognitive differences.
The other half of the battle is recognition: if you’re new to the city, how do you know which sign is the one to follow to the metro? Signs that are branded – recognizable as an official part of the transit system – can ease passengers’ anxieties.
Branding is more than just looking good. It’s about being consistent. “I would say that consistency is more important than cleverness,” says typographer Michael Bierut. “Consistency is actually really hard to achieve. Cleverness is a cheap commodity.”
Airports have long recognized that this consistent branding is key to helping people get around. In fact, 75 international airports around the world use just 3 typefaces between them: Frutiger, Clearview (which was originally designed for the Interstate system), and Helvetica.
The same rules apply, whether designing the wayfinding for an airport or a transit system: whatever change is made, the entire system must remain consistent. “It’s like a spider web,” says Jim Harding, the designer for the Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport wayfinding system. “You can’t touch one spot without making the whole web move.”
Transport for London, which has been using Johnston Sans as its typeface since 1916, implemented a new program – Legible London – that installs map stands on sidewalks to improve wayfinding around the city. Their extensive research showed that these clear signs and maps build confidence in people walking, help create cognitive maps, and increase foot traffic.
A person using a Legible London sign. Photo from Flickr’s Creative Commons.
Clear, legible signage has been shown not only to increase foot traffic, but also to increase the revenue of storefront shops in pedestrian zones. A study in Utah focused on bike traffic as well as transit options, finding a significant positive correlation between clear signage and bike and transit use.
While Helvetica is one of the world’s most popular fonts and is praised for its easy legibility, some cities have improved on the font to make it even better. Paris uses Parisine: the little tails at the end of the “a” are stronger, for example, so that it looks entirely different from the “o.”
Munich uses Vialog, a typeface design that blends together the best elements from dozens of others, based on a comprehensive legibility study. Vialog worked so well in field tests that it soon spread to the entire Munich transit system. This kind of font design is not about looking cool (although it can be an added bonus.) Each letter has to be entirely distinct from the next, so that new, sometimes-weird place names are easier for passengers to comprehend.
A sign in a Munich U-Bahn station in Vialog. Photo from Flickr’s Creative Commons.
Perhaps one of the most famous branding and legibility campaigns, however, is the use of Helvetica by the New York Transit Authority. After three transit authorities were merged into one in the 1940s, the system was a mess of different typefaces. Passengers were confused and disoriented until the MTA implemented “Standard” – a new typeface – all throughout the system. That was until the 1960s, when Helvetica was flooding signage all around the city, and the MTA made the switch. Simple, classic, and highly legible, Helvetica remains in almost every MTA station to this day.
Helvetica was not only popular because it was easy to read: people were (and still are) obsessed with its elegant and “neutral” feel. (It’s a Swiss design, after all!) The design has established itself as a distinct note in the flavor of New York City.
Today, you can even buy a bound volume of the MTA’s design manual, proof that the branding was not only successful for defining transit, but helped establish a distinct feel for the city itself. The shape of a sidewalk, the way residents interact, the signposts, the architecture, and so many other things are all a part of what makes a city unique.
Transit signage that lays on top of the city streets that can have a huge effect on that city’s character. Wayfinding shows that sometimes, it really is the little things that can make all the difference.