For years, the signs in the New York City subway system were a mixture of lettering styles, sizes, shapes, materials, colors, and messages. The original mosaics, dating from as early as 1904, displayed a variety of serif and sans serif letters and decorative elements. Over the years, enamel signs identifying stations and warning riders not to spit, smoke, or cross the tracks were added to the mix.
Efforts to untangle this visual mess began in the mid-1960s, when the city transit authority hired the design firm Unimark International to create a clear and consistent sign system. The process didn’t go smoothly or quickly. At one point The New York Times architecture writer declared that the signs were so confusing one almost wished that they weren’t there at all.
Legend has it that Helvetica came in and vanquished the competition, but in fact, it didn’t happen that way at all. For various reasons (expense, the limitations of the transit authority sign shop), the typeface overhaul of the 1960s began not with Helvetica but with its forebear, Standard (aka Akzidenz Grotesk). It wasn’t until the 1980s and 1990s that Helvetica became ubiquitous. Today we see crisp, classic Helvetica on white-on-black signs throughout the subway system, displaying station names, directions, and instructions.
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