This one has an easy answer: Clearview. Also see the thread on typographi.cacom.

Try Arrival from Keith Tham:

http://www.typophile.com/forums/messages/29/2170.html?1045102514

Where is Keith Tham hanging around these days? It has been a while since I saw him.

Maija, good luck with your project! Writing a cold-call proposal takes guts and talent.

It seems to me that your choice of type will depend on how Baltic it's supposed to look, versus how Eurogeneric. Are the [potential] clients self-assured Latvian Europeans, or insecure wannabe Western-Europeans?

Keith? I presume he got himself a life. :-/

hhp

How Baltic it is supposed to look... Hmm.. see, here we come to the huge problem of our lack of self-definition. Apart from having almost none true "utilitarian" graphic design culture as such, we don't have an established country identity as well - apart from the 'quite sweet yet good for nothing' concept called 'country that sings'... It's the result of our post-soviet situtation, where everybody who can is busy getting rich as fast as possible and others just don't care, as 'everything is decided by someone else anyway'. As I understand that Hrant is from Armenia, he could have quite a precise picture of the whole taste of the situtation. So 'insecure wannabe Western-Europeans' is certainly the case.

The problem is that I expect the client to have no understanding of the problem and means of solving it whatsoever. So if I get that far, most of the energy will be spent on arguing that the design of the traffic is necessary as such. I don't think they'll see any difference between Arial and Arrival, even if I print out 72 pt samples and wave them in front of their noses (see the 'typeface for museum' thread). You see, type is just something that comes with your computer and is seen in Microsoft Word 'Font' box and there are three kinds of them: arial-like, timesnewroman-like and comicsans-like. Apart from that all letters look the same. No kidding, that is the common perception of type here, and explaining why it's much more than that is a tremendous work... and all the public persons feel extremely important, as they have power, but I don't, so I'm their servant, not the other way round.. a soviet heritage, too.

So, as we ourselves don't know what Baltic means, then what I would like to have is a well designed and constructed, highly functional face. (And then I start to think, who defined what: did the London Underground font define the sense of 'british looking type' or the other way round? I guess I should do some reading of how those other designers came to their solutions...)

I saw samples of Arrival, when its design was discussed on this board somewhen earlier. I like Clearview better, because I find it to be much more versatile, although its certain 'Interstatiness' leaves me wanting for something... a little different? Little more humanist? But it's a good design with its positive/negative contrast adjustments, perception tests, many weights and all. And Interstate here is far less overused than in US, after all.

> Hrant is from Armenia

Real quick: I am Armenian, but I've only been in Armenia once (for 9 weeks).

> that is the common perception of type here

This problem exists anywhere, just to different degrees.

> we ourselves don't know what Baltic means

Is it possible you don't formally "know", but you still feel it?
"Balticness" must exists, it's just a matter of finding it.

I believe that abstract shapes are part of culture (even lacking a general awareness/respect of graphic design per se), so you might try to uncover the shapes (and colors) inheret to your culture. This reminds me of my recent trip to Novosibirsk, consulting for the corporate identity design for a Russian bank: during the visit it became clear to us that they needed something somewhat "ethnic" (we arrived at something derived from the shape of the classic Russian birch tree leaf - which also looks like the wonderful onion domes on their curches) in order to alleviate the general mistrust in banking among the people (which causes them to keep their savings under the bed), while the bosses wanted something that looked like a French spaceship. :-/

If you can harness the feeling of Balticness, and apply it properly, you might manage to strike a very fruitful chord even in an overall functional/generic approach.

hhp

I wouldn't want to offer any opinions on typefaces, but you may find this link to the relevant parts of the British Transport Department website helpful.

Fortunately, the British Transport Department isn't as ruthless as it likes to think and there are still many old-style signs around, especially in rural areas.
Taking on the project of designing a signage system for a city must be good for a designer, but if the city implements this kind of scheme fully, it might destroy some of the feel of the place - the atmosphere that grows on a place without anyone noticing, as elements of new design mingle with old established features.
While I understand why the MoT adopted Kinneir and Calvert�s system for all signs on 'A' roads, I'm happy that they didn't quite get around to replacing all of the old ones on smaller roads. Aside from leaving a trace of different styles from different times, old signs sometimes give clues to a wider history, by illustrating how places that are now small and relatively insignificant, might once have been thought of as important.