FE font
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| font | Forgery-aggravating font |
| category | Sans serif |
| Font designer | Karlgeorg Hoefer |
| Client | Federal Highway Research Institute |
| Creation | 1978-1980 |
| Alternative name | FE font |
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| complete brief | |
The FE font (full name: forgery-increasing font ) was developed from 1978 for use on German license plates . The font has been in use there since 1994 and is now used on other labels around the world.
design
The font is oddly proportioned compared to traditional fonts and appears bulky. For automated data acquisition, the characters must preferably be non-proportional , which was not the case with the previous DIN 1451 font . Making counterfeiting more difficult was only one aspect; the other is the machine readability of the font, i. H. the ability to record and evaluate car license plates through automatic license plate recognition .
| Font comparison: |
_European_Union_license_plate_-_Number_KA_PA_777.jpg){kind=small} New license plate with FE script |
 Old license plate with DIN 1451 writing |
Compared to the previously used DIN font , it is now no longer so easy to use black color, e.g. B. to form an "R" from a "P" or an "8" from a "3": All letters have a completely individual appearance that is not derived from other letters as usual (compare the letters "E" and "F" and the letter "O" with the number "0", each of which usually has identical basic forms).
The FE script was developed by the Federal Highway Research Institute under the influence of the terrorist activities of the RAF between 1978 and 1980 in order to make license plate misuse more difficult. The well-known typeface designer Karlgeorg Hoefer (1914–2000) was commissioned by the Federal Institute to design the FE font . The original character shapes were modified again after reading and application tests in cooperation with the University of Giessen . For example, it became clear early on that the crossed zero ( ) could also be read as an 8, which prompted Karlgeorg Hoefer to mark the zero with an indicated white line at the top right.
A high rate of theft of license plates at the beginning of the 1970s played a role in the original design. In the specification, however, legibility for man and machine was mentioned first. The obstruction of counterfeiting was only in second place, but the RAF terror allowed funding as a multi-year project. In addition to the long tests, the entire period stretched from the creation of the specifications in 1977 to the decision in 1982 not to introduce the font. For now it disappeared into the drawer.
On a license plate , all FE characters are 75 mm high. The letters are 47.5 mm wide and the digits 44.5 mm. If there is not enough space for the middle script, a narrow script version may be used. For smaller license plates, such as those used on motorcycles, there is only the reduced central font with a character height of 49 mm, the letters (exception: "I") being 31 mm wide and numbers 29 mm wide.
In German law , the symbols were published in Appendix 4 of the Vehicle Registration Ordinance . In section 2.1, the font is given three names, "forgery-increasing font", "FE font" and "font for license plates", the latter being used to request samples from the Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt). Digital versions of this have never been published, but there are third-party digitizations for free download, for example "Euro Plate". The Swiss font manufacturer Lineto has also released the extended fonts “FE Mittelschrift” and “FE Engschrift”, which are inspired by the FE font and include all Latin characters .
introduction
When the FE script was finalized in 1980, there was no longer any need to introduce it, as the left-wing extremist terror of the “ German Autumn ” had already subsided. The introduction took place much later in connection with the euro plate . At the beginning of the 1990s, as a result of the opening of the border to the east, there was again an increased rate of theft of license plates, as had already occurred in the early 1970s. In order to combat them, considerations were made again to revise the regulations for vehicle license plates, and found the already fully developed FE script. The automatic license plate recognition had meanwhile also developed to a practical level, so that the design fit perfectly.
As early as 1994, the euro number plate was introduced in the eastern federal states of Berlin , Brandenburg and Saxony . This was done on the basis of the foreseeable federal ordinance, which then stipulated that the FE script should be used throughout the Federal Republic of Germany from January 1995. This coincided with the Schengen Agreement , which abolished border controls. The representation of the country name in the blue field of the Euro plate replaced the additional oval country code at that time . This advantage led to a takeover in other countries, with the successive expansions from 1998 also in non-Schengen states. From November 1, 2000, the Euro license plate together with the FE script was required in Germany. In principle, the use of the FE script on the Euro plate is not mandatory in every country. In Germany, too, there are exceptions for historic cars, which can continue to receive new license plates in the DIN font, and military vehicles continue to use the old representation throughout. The widespread use has, however, led to other countries that wanted to introduce a machine-readable label that made it difficult to forgery, resorting to the design. Within Europe, the blue field on the left edge, as defined for euro plates, was usually adopted, only without the EU star wreath .
In October 2014, the members of the Mercosur Free Trade Zone in South America decided to introduce a uniform design for license plates, whereby the use of the FE font was also specified. This had prevailed against the mandatory font for license plates used in Brazil up to that point due to the better protection against forgery and falsification in the test at INTI . In contrast to the EU label, which is normally 52 cm wide, the Mercosur label is only 40 cm wide, but the use of narrow script means that up to seven characters can be applied. The design includes a blue stripe above the number, with the Mercosur emblem at the top left, the national flag at the top right and the name of the country in the middle. The introduction in all states was planned for 2016. However, this was partly postponed until 2018 and, in the case of the suspended Venezuela, also suspended.
The early spread in Africa is based on the suggestions against false and stolen license plates by Utsch AG , which had also introduced the reflective license plate as an innovation in Germany and supplied the embossing tools for license plates with FE script, as they were in 1994/95 in large Number were produced. Empty license plates in South Africa were issued from the start with a printed verification code that marks the authorized production (now also with a QR code ). Elsewhere, the vehicle owner is supplied with a “third license plate” ( instead of an engraving ), ie a sticker for the windshield that contains the license plate information and cannot be removed non-destructively.
use
The following countries have adopted the FE font:
- License plate in euro format with a blue field on the left:
- Germany on Euro plates from 1995, these have been mandatory since 2000
- Bosnia and Herzegovina since 1998, since 2009 without a national flag in place of the EU emblem
- Malta from 2004 with FE script, from 1995 license plates were already in Euro format
- Cyprus from 2013
- Cuba from 2013
- Moldova from 2015
- License plate in Mercosur format with a blue band at the top:
- Uruguay introduced the FE font in 2001 and adopted the Mercorsur format in 2015
- Argentina from 2016 in Mercosur format
- Paraguay from 2016 for new vehicles, from 2018 for all vehicles in Mercosur format
- Brazil from 2018 in Mercosur format
- Colombia only for diplomatic vehicles, and only the blue ribbon with country names
- Countries of the CIS with field for region identification:
- Uzbekistan from 2009
- Armenia from 2014
- Kyrgyzstan from 2016
- Countries in Africa:
- South Africa from 1994 with the FE script and two letters as the regional code after the number
- Namibia from 1994, took over the South African format, changed to license plates starting with "N"
- Tanzania introduced the FE script in the 1990s, license plates continue to begin with "T"
- Uganda from 1999, license plates begin with "U"
- Mozambique probably from 2000, license plates begin with "M"
- Zambia from 2000
- Ethiopia probably from 2002, only digits
- Cameroon from 2005
- Zimbabwe from 2006
- Rwanda from 2007, license plates begin with "R"
- Sierra Leone from 2007
- South Sudan probably from 2007, government vehicles only
- Mali probably from 2008
- Democratic Republic of the Congo from 2009 with two digits as an indication of origin after the number
- Burundi probably from 2009
- Malawi probably from 2011
- Other countries:
- Sri Lanka from 2000
- the autonomous monastic republic of Mount Athos from 2004
- Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates , probably from 2006, only digits
- Kuwait probably from 2007, only digits
- Guatemala probably from 2008
- Bahrain from 2010
- Peru from 2010
- Chile from 2014
- Philippines mandatory from February 2018, previously allowed since 2010 on request license plates
- Indonesia allowed on request license plates since August 2019
Some countries allow the FE font as an option for license plates:
- the Australian states of Victoria , New South Wales and Queensland have an alternative design for custom license plates with FE script
- In Ghana license plates can also be issued with the FE script.
The following countries have developed a similar font:
- Albania from 2002
- Georgia
- New Zealand
- Netherlands
- Serbia
- Slovenia (2004-2008)
Examples
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See also
literature
- Font for license plates, font samples , Federal Highway Research Institute , Bergisch Gladbach, Germany.
Web links
- FE-Mittelschrift / Engschrift at typografie.info
- FE font "Euro Plate", Version 1.01, TrueType font (may be used freely for private purposes): Download 1 , Download 2
- FE font imitation "Car-Go 2"
Individual evidence
- ^ Susanne Schaller: The German EU Numberplates: A Typographic Road Accident? . 'Usefuldesign' by Fabrizio Schiavi. May 14, 2002. Archived from the original on May 8, 2006. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
- ↑ a b c Benjamin Tiven: Fälchungserschwerende Schrift ( s ) In: Scribd . August 23, 2014. Archived from the original on April 13, 2019. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved on March 30, 2018. / Also in the servinglibrary / And in the layout of the autumn issue of the magazine
- ↑ Ordinance on the approval of vehicles for road traffic (Vehicle Approval Ordinance - FZV) ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Andy Hoppe: License plate font . www.andyhoppe.com. October 15, 2015. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Font + Categories / Headline + Fonts / FE / . Lineto. Retrieved on August 6, 2018. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from March 31, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Twenty-first ordinance amending road traffic regulations (21st AmVstVR) . In: Federal Law Gazette 1995 Part I No. 1 . January 6, 1995: "Introduction of the Euro plate"
- ↑ Thirty-second ordinance amending road traffic regulations (32nd AmVstVR) . In: Federal Law Gazette 2000 Part I No. 34 . P. 1093. July 20, 2000 .: “Article 13 (e) […] Euro plates […] to be applied from November 1, 2000 […] at the latest, which […] are fitted with a new plate. Marks [...] in the version valid before this date [...] continue to apply. […] (F) The transitional provision § 60 Paragraph 1b (introduction of the Euro plate) is repealed. "
- ↑ New patente para los vehículos del Mercosur . In: Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Industrial (Buenos Aires) . August 2015. Archived from the original on March 23, 2018. Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ [2]
- ^ Staff Writer: Number plates in South Africa - what you can and can't do . mybroadband. September 4, 2016. Archived from the original on April 13, 2019. Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved March 16, 2018.
- ↑ Heiko Haupt: Smart signs . In: The time . April 4, 2014.
