Typeface · Sans-serif
Engschrift
DIN 1451 is a sans-serif typeface that is widely used for traffic, administrative and technical applications.
About Engschrift
DIN 1451 is a sans-serif typeface that is widely used for traffic, administrative and technical applications. It was defined by the German standards body DIN in the standard sheet DIN 1451-Schriften ('typefaces') in 1931. Similar standards existed for stencilled letters. Originally designed for industrial uses, the first DIN-type fonts were a simplified design that could be applied with limited technical difficulty. Due to the design's legibility and uncomplicated, unadorned design, it has become popular for general purpose use in signage and display adaptations. Many adaptations and expansions of the original design have been released digitally.
From the Wikipedia article “DIN 1451”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Using Engschrift in a book
Sans-serif faces work well for headings, captions, children's books and modern nonfiction. For long-form body text in print, most designers still prefer a serif.
Commercial typefaces require a licence that covers embedding in PDFs and ebooks; check the foundry's licence before you publish.
Sources & data
- Structured data from Wikidata Q15831472 (CC0).
- Summary text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).