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Basic Elements > Typeface

Deutsche Bahn AG · Corporate Design · Basic Elements · Revision: 24.05.2016

Contents

At a glance:

DB Head

DB Sans

DB Sans Condensed

DB Sans Compressed

DB Office

DB Serif

DB News

DB Plan

Corporate design guidelines:

Font families and font styles

Basic typographical principles

File formats and contacts

Replacement fonts

Additional fonts

Just like our logo and our identity color DB Red, our corporate font DB Typeis a universal element of our visual appearance. A font is the printedcounterpart of spoken language. And just like the sound of a person's voice,the character of our corporate font is perceived unknowingly and therebydirectly impacts our public image.

DB Type is a clear, easy to read typeface. It has a distinctly soft and round appearance that people regard as natural and straightforward. Its everydaycharacter appeals to all target groups.

DB Type has won the Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany in Goldfor its ‘outstanding functionality.’ It is our exclusive corporate font and appliedsolely within the corporate design of the DB Group.

The demands placed on our corporate font are as diverse as our company itself.DB Type has therefore been tailored to meet individual needs and encompasseseight font families for different application purposes as well as several languageversions for our international markets.

For questions on conditions for acquiring and usingDB Type please contact Mr. Frank Steitiya via Email:

Email Frank Steitiya [1]

mailto:[email protected]



At a glance:

With its typical bold-light contrast,DB Head defines the typographicalimage of our headlines.

It is designed for large copy such asheadlines and subheadlines, but is alsoused for short paragraphs of text usinga font size above 15 pt.



DB Sans is our basic font inadvertising, publications andelectronic media.

As the stylistic core of the corporatefont with the characteristic featuresof DB Type, it shapes the expressionof our corporate design

It is designed for larger quantities ofcopy and retains excellent readabilityeven at small font sizes. That’s partlybecause some letters have receivedhints of serifs for better differentiation.



DB Sans Condensed requireslittle space, as the letters arenarrower than in DB Sans.

It is suitable for narrow text columnsand used mainly for marginalia, tables,captions and footnotes.



DB Sans Compressed is the narrowestfont family of DB Type.

It is used in timetable books and thesmall print of terms and conditions, andwherever saving space is the chiefconsideration.

With their compact look,DB Sans Compressed Bold and Blackare especially favored for headlines inmagazines and newspapers.



The DB Office is installed on allcomputer work stations of the DBand is used for all text created withMicrosoft Office applications.

Its letter spacing equals that ofArial, which eases any transfer fromDB Office to Arial. DB Office isoptimized for on-screen depictionand in-office printing.



DB Serif is the Antiqua version ofDB Sans. As a classical serif fontit is especially suitable for largequantities of text and used primarilyfor text-intensive publications.

Its lively italic and unique small capsversions provide subtle highlightswithin the body copy. It is a timelessfont, used especially for high-valueprinted matter, i.e. annual reports andcertificates.



DB News is a more robust versionof DB Serif, developed as the basicfont for newspapers and magazinesof the DB Group.

Even under reduced print quality,such as newspaper printing, itspronounced serifs hold their groundand ensure comfortable readabilityeven in longer texts.



The DB Plan font family includesspecial characters used especiallyin travel information media.

Its arrows, numbers and lettersare also used for numerationand alphabetic structuring in maps,overviews and graphics.



Corporate design guidelines:

Font families and font styles



Here you can find the font DB Plan for download:

Download: DB PlanFile format: ZIPFile size: 15kB

Our corporate font DB Type consistsof eight harmonized and combinablefont families.

DB Head, DB Sans, DB Sans Condensed,DB Sans Compressed and DB Office aresans serif fonts. DB Serif and DB Newsare Antiqua versions. DB Plan usesspecial characters.

Font families containing ‘Alternate’ intheir name include alternativecharacter shapes—easily recognizable inthe letters ‘w’, ‘i’, ‘r’ and ‘g’. Theyextend the typographical repertoire ofour corporate font—not least withfuture requirements in mind —and areused i.e. for our product names.

Small caps versions containingheight—reduced capital charactersinstead of lower case characters includethe letters SC in their names.

The abbreviation ‘TF’ within a fontname stands for tabular figures. In tables they are all identically wideand stand in exact columns. Tabularfigures are also found in DB Sans,DB Office and DB Head Alternate.

Web fonts for electronic media areavailable for selected styles of DB Type(marked * in the above table).

Web fonts

Basic typographical principles

DB Type is used according to mediarequirements and the rules oftypography and craftsmanship, so thatcontent is functional, readable andreadily understandable. We prefer left-aligned ragged type with easy-to-readspacing of letters, words and lines, andwith mixed case lettering.

Exceptions are abbreviations andproper names, which may be set usingcapital letters. Logos do not appearwithin copy. Highlights are createdusing style or color (not spacing orfont size).



File formats and contacts

DB Type is an exclusive font, whichmay be used only by companies ofthe DB Group and only for purposesof DB corporate design.

For a license fee, the font is availableto external DB contractors through thecompany URW++ and may be used forassigned tasks only. Any additionalusage is prohibited.

DB Type is available as TrueType andPostScript Type 1 fonts for either Macor Windows, and additionally in thecross-platform OpenType format, andas a web font.

Special DB Type versions are availablefor various languages with differingdiacritical marks: West- and EastEuropean languages, Turkish andRomanian.

For questions on conditions foracquiring and using DB Type:

URW++ Design & Development GmbHHerr Frank SteitiyaPoppenbütteler Bogen 3622399 HamburgTel.: +49 40 60605-223, Fax: -111

Email to Frank Steitiya [2]

go to URW++ [3]

Replacement fonts

Non-Latin text is preferably depictedin a font that resembles DB Type.

In the case of DB Sans these are fontsthat are similar in width and linethickness. Numbers and Latincharacters are generally typeset usingDB Type.

Use Arial as font for Greek and Cyrillictexts.


http://www.urwpp.de



Additional fonts

Deutsche Bahn AG 1 to 6This pictogram font consists of sixspecial character sets for use in travelinformation media and timetables.

DB WLSThis special font in used for theorientation systems of railway stationsand passenger trains.Detailed information can be found here(German only):

1.3 Schrift (German)

Contact

Any questions about the contents of this page? [4]

published: 31.01.2014

Verweisliste

[1] Email Frank Steitiya: [email protected]

[2] Email to Frank Steitiya: [email protected]

[3] go to URW++: http://www.urwpp.de

[4] Any questions about the contents of this page?: [email protected]

[email protected]



http://www.urwpp.de

[email protected]

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