Here’s why OC Transpo’s signs look different
OC Transpo has unlocked its caps. For exterior bus destination signs, that is.
As of April, destinations displayed on the LED signs above bus windshields began appearing in mixed case (upper and lowercase) rather than all capital letters.
Pat Scrimgeour, director of transit customer systems and planning, confirmed in an email Wednesday that the new format would “improve legibility” and help riders read destinations more easily, “especially from a distance.”
The change also put destination signs in compliance with the City ’s Accessibility Design Standards, which outlines on page 144 the benefits of using mixed case for signage.
David Bromley, a professor and co-ordinator of the graphic design program at Algonquin College, agreed the switch to mixed case would make destinations more readable for everyone.
“When we’re designing now, we have to think of accessible design,” Bromley said.
Bromley, who designed a logo for OC Transpo back in the ’80s, explained that uppercase letters become thinner and closer together — making them harder to read — while lowercase letters are rounder and create more space within a word.
Andrea Emery, a graphic design professor who teaches typography at Algonquin College, said the case change would improve reading speed and comprehension.
“Studies have shown that setting text in all capitals slows down reading,” Emery said.
People typically read uppercase words “letter by letter,” whereas they read mixed case words as units, meaning, “they jump from word to word,” she said.
She added that since lowercase letters have a more “distinct shape,” they are recognized faster. A person who sees the same word repeatedly isn’t necessarily reading the word anymore. They begin to simply “recognize the familiar shape.”
Consequently, Emery said mixedcase words make word patterns faster to read and understand.
The signs inside the bus, though, will be different. Since the signs have two rows — one displaying destinations, the other displaying stop and street names — there isn’t enough room for mixed-case letters. So, destinations will be in uppercase, and stops and streets in mixed case, Scrimgeour said.
Buses were being upgraded as they received regular maintenance, so the change will be gradual. According to Scrimgeour, all buses should have the new lettering system by July.
Despite the change in case, the font will remain the same: a custom font called FFADA created by the sign manufacturer Luminator Technology Group. Dave Cauchi, the company’s Canadian sales manager, said FF was assigned by the company, while ADA represents compliance with the American Disability Act.