Fran Sans is a display font in every sense of the term. It’s an interpretation of the destination displays found on some of the light rail vehicles that service the city of San Francisco.

This balance of utility and charm seems to show up everywhere in San Francisco and its history. The Golden Gate’s “International Orange” started as nothing more than a rust-proof primer, yet is now the city’s defining colour. The Painted Ladies became multicoloured icons after the 1960s Colourist movement covered decades of grey paint. Even the steepness of the streets was once an oversight in city planning but has since been romanticised in films and on postcards. So perhaps it is unsurprising that I would find this same utility and charm in a place as small and functional as a train sign.