2. Interstate was designed by Tobias Frere-Jones whom is still alive and was born on August 28, 1970
3. Interstate was first release in 1994
4. It is a Sans Serif font
5. Interstate fits in with the Sans Serif classification because it is very simple, and is stripped to the bare minimum by losing serif appendages. Sans Serif fonts have become increasingly popular because of the demand of a contemporary looking typeface. Sans Serif fonts look new and innovative because of their simple yet futuristic appeal. Sans Serif type first appeared in 1816, but did not become widely used until the early 20th century, when modernism had a huge influence on typography. In the late 80's or early 90's, sans serifs shifted towards a post-industrial aesthetic, and from this came the slightly less industrial, quirky Interstate type.
6. Helvetica, Futura, Akzidenz Grotesk
7. The digital age was just beginning when Interstate was first introduced. Its very simple design allow more complicated digital touches such as drop shadows and the ease of distorting such as condensing or expanding text. Interstate is best used for signs, but is also used for text setting in print and on a computer screen, making it very versatile for this new digital age.
8. FB Griffith Gothic, Gothem, Archer
9. Interstate was designed in 1993-94 for the Font Bureau and is also licensed by this Bureau. It is a very clean, simple, and legible font. Tobias Frere-Jones loosely based Interstate on the typeface Highway Gothic, which is the font used by the U.S. Highway Administration for road signage since 1949. Part of the appeal of Interstate is the familiarity of it, because we see a similar version of it driving on the road everyday. When developing Interstate, Tobias Frere-Jones found that Highway Gothic had no provisions for optical corrections, as most type faces. Highway Gothic also has no uniform stroke width. Frere-Jones made a refined version of this, making optical corrections and fixing kerning mistakes while still referencing Highway Gothic. This typeface developed when Tobias was designing a group of typefaces he called "blue-collar", and is therefore based in the American working-class vernacular; it is rooted in a common American experience of a public space. Interstate was famously used in the 2000 U.S. Census. It has a 40-font family and styles that include condensed, compressed, and the varying weights of black, ultra black, hairline, and light. (three widths, seven weights). It has a forthright capital R, and its ascenders are clipped at an angle.
Tobias Frere-Jones had always been interested in typography during his teenage years and was even designing his own typefaces by the time he was twenty years old. He received a BFA fromt he Rhode Island school of Design in 1992. After graduating, Frere-Jones moved to Boston and joined the Font Bureau as senior Designer. As previously stated, he designed Interstate here at the Font Bureau as well as Poynter Old Style & Gothic. In 1999, Frere-Jones left Font Bureau to meet Jonathan Hoefler in New York, and this duo go on start an epic partnership. Together, this partnership has become a leading typographic designing team. They have designed fonts for Sports Illustrated, GQ, Martha Stewart Living, The Boston Globe, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Esquire, as well as ads for New York's 2012 Olympic bid. The fonts these gentlemen and their company produce are incredibly popular, because their fonts lend a sense of history and place. Their studio is located in Manhattan's SoHo district. This duo had never met prior to Tobias's 1990's move to New York, but they had many opportunities in the past for their paths to cross. They were born only six days apart and are both from New York. Jonathan Hoefler was a self taught designer, but both men had grown up being interested in typography, eventually leading to this dynamic design duo.
Tobias Frere-Jones began teaching type face design at the Yale School of Art, where he continues to teach at a graduate level. Frere-Jones has designed over five hundred typefaces for retail publication, custom clients, and experimental research. His work is included in the permanent collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. In 1996, Frere-Jones won the Gerrit Noordzij Prize, and was the very first American to ever win this award. This award is presented by The Royal Academy of The Hague. He is also oven a guest lecturer at Universities and Museums. Tobias Frere-Jones's typographic style is popular because of its timeless quality, and therefore his fonts will remain popular for years to come.
10. "Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones design fonts. You've seen their work; it's all around you-on billboards and computer screens, on the pages of books and magazines. U.S. Census forms are printed in Interstate; Frere-Jones based the eminently legible design on highway-sign lettering. Hoefler's Knockout, drawn from antique wood-block type often used on Victorian circus posters, recently advertised New York's bid for the 2012 Olympics." Tim Heffernan, Esquire magazine.
"Jones says he likes to think of this font as the estranged cousin of some of the early American Gothic typeface families"
Heffernan, Tim. Esquire Magazine. 12/1/05. http://www.esquire.com/features/best-n-brightest-2005/ESQ1205FREJONE_204_3
Vicars, Graham. Highway Man. Creative Review. Wilson OmniFile. May 1998
Eastman, Mark. Post Industrial Sans Types. Photography Annual 1997.
Interstate
Tobias Frere-Jones and Hoefler website
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