TYPE DESIGN INFORMATION PAGE last updated on Fri Dec 13 00:43:59 EST 2024

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LUC DEVROYE

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FE Schrift

FE Mittelschrift and FE Engschrift are the German typefaces used on automobile license plates. The FE stands for fälschungserschwerend, or hard to forge: for example, it is no longer possible to make a P into an R or a 3 into an 8 with a black marker pen. Developed from 1978-1980 by Karlgeorg Hoefer with the assistance of others such as the University of Giessen. It replaced the old DIN in 1994 and is an absolute monstrosity showing to what extremes governments will go in the name of security. Incredibly, several digital fonts have been made to resemble it, as if anyone would want to use it for anything other than on toilet paper wrappers:

• FE Mittelschrift and FE Engschrift (1997, Stephan Mueller, Lineto).
• Kraftfahrzeugkennzeichen (2008), a free font.
• FE-Font (1997), a free font by an unknown designer.
• Martin Core (Core.nu) claims his Sauerkrauto (2000) font was based on images of the German license plates.
• Gutenberg Labo made GL-Nummernschild-Eng and GL-Nummernschild-Mtl to replace FE Engschrift and FE Mittelschrift, respectively.

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INTERNAL LINKS
Map/Travel dingbats ⦿ German type scene ⦿ DIN ⦿