I can only answer from a practical point of view here (since I live in Switzerland).

The old road signs using another font are being replaced slowly with Frutiger (ASTRA?). I have also spotted Frutiger Condensed on road signs with long town names.

But mostly it’s still the old signs with that no-name font. “VSS” is the name, as I recall from another recent thread (Belgium has the same old road sign font):
http://typophile.com/node/12978

knap

Frutiger Condensed is used extensively in Warsaw, Poland on so called Warsaw City Information System developed in 1995.
http://aquarius.wzks.uj.edu.pl:8080/2004/lha35/towarzystwo.htm

That’s actually quite helpful. Have you noticed which version of Frutiger, exactly, is being used on the new signs in Switzerland?

ASTRA Frutiger is a custom version of Frutiger designed for the Swiss government. I don’t know who designed it. Frutiger gave his blessings, though. The vertical strokes in ASTRA are heavier than in the standard Frutiger, and the letters have been a bit condensed as well.

ASTRA Frutiger’s development was documented in the Fresh Fonts exhibition at the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich in 2004.

If you need more info, I can try to track something down…

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www.typeoff.de

France?

ASTA Frutiger used Frutiger 57 Condensed as its starting point.

Alexey, the highway signs in France use a face that has always seemed very Adrian-Frutiger-y to me. I can’t recall if it was more like Frutiger or more like Univers. I don’t know much about typography in France…

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www.typeoff.de

Dan, do you know if there is a specimen of this anywhere? I did find a few PDFs of some governmental documents from Switzerland, but unfortunately as an American I can’t read Dutch. :(

Terry, You may have to be able to read German, French or maybe Italian ( in Switzerland ), not Dutch.. :)

tbiddy, I don’t have any specimen, or know of one. If you email me through my profile, I can e-mail you some pictures that I have from the exhibition.

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www.typeoff.de

“Terry, You may have to be able to read German, French or maybe Italian ( in Switzerland ), not Dutch.. :)”

heehee... I knew I was going to make myself sound like a retard when I posted that. :)

Here is a french Autoroute.
Here is a brochure by Linotype saying that Frutiger is used on road signs in France and Switzerland.

But I was actually talking about those signs with brown background, marking a place of historic interest or whatever. You know? There are even couple of those in Germany (though, still done in DIN). Those in France are definitely set in a Frutiger. What concerns the main signage — not sure at all.

————
xtati....

Man, I feel stupid when you show me stuff from Linotype brochures that I don’t have in my head!

Brown signs for cultural landmarks & national parks are used in the US, too. But with a serif face.

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www.typeoff.de

as im from switzerland (coming from the city of zurich where this exhibition named “fresh type” was), i have also bought the book about it. i’ll just type directly off it:

(begin quote)
Shifting road-sign production to a different process prompted the federal roads department (Astra) to replace their existing standard typeface, dating from the sixties, with a more up-to-date version. But the body responsible within the Swiss Road Expert Association (VSS) decided not to go for a new development, but went back to Frutiger 57. Adrian Frutiger approved the modifications to his typeface, which allow for current insights into legibility at a distance and when on the move. the most striking feature are the widening up- and down-strokes, which are intended to give the eye a better hold than was the case with the earlier version. but for a pragmatic reasons, it was again decided not to take account of the different legibility of sheet-metal and back-lit signs. so astra frutiger now has two styles, for motorways and for streets.
(end quote)

—-

it seems like you are actually able to buy the font, but maybe its also just the text to tell you how to use it...

Anordnung und Darstellung der ASTRA-Frutiger-Schrift wird in der VSS-Norm640 830c “Strassensignale; Schrift” festgelegt und mit der 73. Normenlieferung vomJuli 2002 publiziert werden. Der nach dieser Norm anzuwendende Schrifttyp kanngleichzeitig in digitaler Form (CD-ROM, PC/Mac) als Artikel 308.951 beim Bundesamtfür Bauten und Logistik zum Preis von SFr. 100.- bezogen werden (BBL, Vertrieb Pu-blikationen, 3003 Bern; www.bbl.admin.ch/d/Bundespublikationen).

the last part says something like “This font, to be used after the norm, can be bought in digital form (CD-ROM, PC/Mac) with the article number 308.951 at the [link] for 100 Swiss Francs” (100 swiss francs = ~130 US-$)

also, here, search for “astra”. the top picture is a photo of the old font used in switzerland, the bottom one is the new ASTRA-Frutiger.

Italian “autostrada” signs use Frutiger Next.

Hi
Sorry for bringing up this old topic.
I am new here and i found this topic by using google. I can give some interesting links:
Buy the ASTRA-Frutiger Font
I still haven’t bought it, but i am thinking to do so. Because I think it’s a nice font. Do you think it’s a good decision to buy it?
If you are interested in roadsigns, there are some motorway-forums on the net. I am member of three of them. At the Dutch forum you can find some interesting designs of signs created by users. The used language is Dutch. Go to here then to “Bewegwijzering” and take a look at topics like “Zelfgemaakte bewegwijzering: ...”. I hope you’ll like it.

I am looking forward to your comments.

Greetings,
Chris

Hi,
Um I’m here to tell you its PRONOUNCED FRUTIGEN....i’m pretty sure..since my last name is FRUTIGER..that it isnt any of my fault that a road is doing something illegal or whatever...all i know is...that AMERICANS who don’t know anything...pronounce it wrong..its actually pronounced Frutigen....Sorry i basically ripped your heads off but..i’m serious...us swiss take some offence to the miss pronounceation of some words.

well i’m sorry...
Kimberly Frutiger