"Font to Replicate White-on-black US Navy control signage?" Topic

7 Posts

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Parzival	16 Sep 2018 8:45 p.m. PST
I'm of course referring to the ubiquitous white-on-black engraved sign plaques that might be bolted or glued to control panels in ships and submarines (and are still made and sold today). All caps, very basic, sans-serif, etc. Anyone know if there is a current font which mimics it? I'm trying to create a "period feel" control panel for a submarine game. Not a replica of anything real, just a look that says "1940s utilitarian design."
nukesnipe	17 Sep 2018 5:34 a.m. PST
Courier was the standard font when I was in the USN. Don't know if that's what they used on the bake-lite plaques….
Parzival	17 Sep 2018 9:20 a.m. PST
Courier is a serif font, so it's not that. The signage font is a plain block San-serif font with thin letters; points, corners and the tips of lines typically have rounded ends rather than flat or sharp ends. It's almost always in all caps.
BuckeyeBob	17 Sep 2018 11:55 a.m. PST
Is this helpful? PDF link
Parzival	18 Sep 2018 9:57 a.m. PST
I don't know if that's actually helpful to anybody! 68 pages on signs?!!! Thanks, but that's today's military. Now, if you had the standards for US Navy labels in 1941…
ScottWashburn	19 Sep 2018 12:26 p.m. PST
I'm in charge of signs for Temple University and our manual is 34 pages long :)
Lion in the Stars	20 Sep 2018 8:38 p.m. PST
Helvetica font for the old signs wouldn't surprise me, though that document specifies Helvetica Neue for current signage and does mention some older places use different fonts (without specifying what font(s) or place(s)).

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