Motorway
K-Type · Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert · 1958
A complete typeface family derived from Kinneir and Calvert's original condensed lettering used on British motorway signs since 1958, expanded from a handful of characters into a full Latin set across three weights with italics.
About
The original Motorway lettering comprised only route-number characters in two weights: a SemiBold 'Permanent' for white-on-blue signs and a Bold 'Temporary' for black-on-yellow temporary signage. K-Type has extended this into a full family with all upper and lower case letters, numerals, punctuation and Latin Extended-A accented characters, adding a new Regular weight and a set of italics. The fonts are spaced for normal typographic use, with tracking adjustable to replicate the generous spacing of the original signage.
Classification
A condensed grotesque sans-serif rooted in British motorway signage lettering from 1958. The original characters were designed by Kinneir and Calvert for directional signage; K-Type has expanded the limited glyph set into a complete typeface family.