INTERSTATE
TOBIAS FRERE-JONES // FONT BUREAU
SIGNS & LINES
TOPOGRAPHY
Exploring Topography through Interstate
TOBIAS FRERE-JONES // FONT BUREAU
THE ROAD TO INTERSTATE
INTERSTATE
TOPOGRAPHY
The family is a reinterpretation of the typeface Highway Gothic, which has long 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 both J.E. Penton and E.E. Radek. Interstate is a digital sans-serif typeface created by Tobias Frere-Jones in 1993–1999 and licensed by the Font Bureau. Originally, it was created as the official signage alphabet for the United States Federal Highway Administration. The Interstate typeface was purposefully designed as an homage to the Highway Gothic typeface, earlier designed by Ted Forbes in 1949. The type was used in, logos, advertising campaigns, as well as in news broadcasting as it gained more popularity. The versatility and legibility made it perfectly suitable for use on both print and on screen. —fontsinuse.com
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INTERSTATE
TOBIAS FRERE-JONES // FONT BUREAU
LAY OF THE LAND THE ART OF TOPOGRAPHY Topography is a broad term used to describe the detailed study of the earth's surface. This includes changes in on surface such as mountains and valleys as well as features such as rivers and roads. It also includes the surface of other planets, the moon, asteroids and meteors. Topography is closely linked to some practices of surveying, which is the practice of determining as well as recording positions of points in relation to one another. While topography may be a field of Earth Science that is the study of the shape and features of the whole enitre surface of the Earth, topographic art transcends actual boundaries of pre-existing patterns. Hanging between someplace in the physical and emotional geography, is topographic art that can be a huge psychedelic mix of creativity, sciences, as well as culture. It’s beautiful and communicative works deconstruct the natural beauty TOPOGRAPHY
that surrounds us and reveals fragments of endlessness.
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TOPOGRAPHY
INTERSTATE
TOBIAS FRERE-JONES // FONT BUREAU
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
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~!@#$%^&*(-)+=;:”<,.>?/
1234567890
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ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
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~!@#$%^&*(-)+=;:”<,.>?/
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~!@#$%^&*(-)+=;:”<,.>?/
1234567890
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1234567890
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
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~!@#$%^&*(-)+=;:”<,.>?/
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INTERSTATE
TOBIAS FRERE-JONES // FONT BUREAU
TYPE ANATOMY 5
34 2
18
1
17 16 15 14 13
10
n O tHE OA
rd
TOPOGRAPHY
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01. 02. 03. 04. 05. 06. 07.
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VERTICAL STRESS CROSSBAR DIATCRITICS FINIAL STROKE BASELINE CLOSED COUNTER
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20
08. 09. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14.
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APEX LINK ARM LEG ASCENDER CAP HEIGHT APERTURE
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12 11 21
15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21.
X-HEIGHT SHOULDER BRANCH BOWL STEM BAR TIE
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INTERSTATE
TOBIAS FRERE-JONES // FONT BUREAU
TYPE IDENTIFICATION
WHAT TRAFFIC VIOLATON?
1. 2. Officer, I did not roll that stop sign, I simply perfomed a “California stop.”
SPEED
3. 4. They call it “rush hour,” but there’s hardly any “rushing” ever going on 5.
HIGHWAY PATROL CAMPING AHEAD 6. 7.
8.
No, we will not be stopping for direcions
DEER CROSSING AHEAD
ROUTE 93 CLOSED
9. OUTRAGED AND FED UP, I THREW MY KEYS INTO THE FIELD 10.
FOR THE LAST TIME, WE WILL NOT STOP FOR DIRECTIONS
Westbound
11. 12.
I HAVE GONE TO FIND MYSELF
13. IF I SHOULD RETURN BEFORE I GET BACK, KEEP ME HERE
TOPOGRAPHY
01. 02. 03. 04.
BOLD LIGHT COMPRESSED HAIRLINE ITALIC REGULAR
05. 06. 07. 08.
BLACK COMPRESSED LIGHT BOLD COMPRESSED EXTRA BOLD COMPRESSED
09. 10. 11. 12. 13.
REGULAR ITALIC EXTRA LIGHT COMPRESSED REGULAR COMPRESSED ULTRA BLACK BOLD COMPRESSED
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INTERSTATE
TOBIAS FRERE-JONES // FONT BUREAU
HOW CONTOUR LINES
DESCRIBE TERRAIN WHAT YOU SEE ON YOUR MAP 1440
1440
1840°
1840°
1760°
1760°
SIDE VIEW OF LANDMARK
1680° 1600° 1520°
1680° 1600° 1520°
1440°
1440°
STEEP SLOPE
GENTLE SLOPE
Simple trail maps are useful for trip planning but not for navigation in the field. Topographic maps go further, giving you the power to visualize three-dimensional terrain from a flat piece of paper. The feature that makes this possible is contour lines: Contour lines indicate the steepness of terrain. Contour lines connect points that share the same elevation: Where they’re close together (they never intersect), elevation is changing rapidly in short distance and the terrain is steep. Where contour lines are wide apart, elevation is changing slowly, indicating a gentle slope.
TOPOGRAPHY
WHAT YOU SEE ON YOUR MAP
3-D VIEW OF LANDMARK
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INTERSTATE
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MAP SCALES
The mapâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s scale roughly tells you how detailed your map is. A 1:24000 scale, you could take for example, means one inch converts to around 24,000 inches in length in reality. If it were a larger scale, one such as 1:65,000, it means that a map covers a larger area, but that it would appear to display less detail.
SCALE 1:24000 O N E I N C H E Q U A L S A P P R OX . 0 . 3 8 M I L E S D AT U M I S M E A N S E A L E V E L
0
0.5
1
2 mi
TOPOGRAPHY
Maps also have a representative scale to help you visualize real-world distances. You can use this scale and a string or the edge of your compass to get a rough estimate about hiking distances on your map.
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INTERSTATE
TOBIAS FRERE-JONES // FONT BUREAU
SIGNS & SYMBOLS Topographic maps (as well as other maps) can include both human-made and natural features that are located on Earthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s surface. These features can sometimes be represented by numerous different symbols. The map legend below briefly explains what some of those symbols on a map represent. main road
gully
minor road
boulder
large path
contour
small path indistinct path fence
knoll cliff open water
TOPOGRAPHY
power line form line
boulder field
depression
steep slope
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TOPOGRAPHY
“
TOBIAS FRERE-JONES // FONT BUREAU
”
The map is not the territory... The only usefulness of a map depends on similarity of structure between the empirical world and the map...
—Alfred Korzybski
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TOPOGRAPHY
INTERSTATE
TOBIAS FRERE-JONES // FONT BUREAU
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