
National Park Typeface - zwieback
https://nationalparktypeface.com/
======
charliepark
In case your brain is thinking "wait; I thought it'd be that cool scripty
typeface on the oddly-angled signage?", you might be thinking of the USDA's
logotype for National Forests. Unfortunately, there isn't an available font
for that exact face. Some cool specs, though, in the Forest Service's design
guide:
[https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprd381002...](https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprd3810021.pdf)

Section 1-18 (page 24) of the linked PDF has examples of the "National
Forest", "National Monument", etc. logotype; Chapter 8 has some more signage
specs.

~~~
Loughla
Those are the exact fonts I'm looking for, for an in-lay woodworking project
I'm finishing. Any ideas at all what the fonts listed on 1-18 would be called?

~~~
davidw
See my comment below, referencing a StackExchange post. It lists the font the
Forest Service uses for their signs.

~~~
Kiro
No, you're talking about something else completely. Check page 1-18 in the
linked document for an example.

------
Freak_NL
Tangentially related: there are quite a lot of good quality free software
fonts out there. Some — like this typeface — are suited for display purposes,
signage, and lettering. Others offer a full family of weights for typesetting
body text.

I have my own shortlist of long-time favourites. To name but a few: Gentium
Book Basic is a delight to read in print; Titillium adds a nice touch to
technical drawings; Hack traces its monospaced code font lineage back to
Bitstream Vera (through DejaVu Sans Mono), which back then kicked off a whole
new period of free software desktop look-and-feel.

But I've never really found a site that collects these free software licensed
fonts with curated reviews and use-cases. Sites like FontSquirrel offer a
rough index, but contain no easy way to filter on more complex queries, and
don't really show each typeface's strengths and weaknesses.

Does such a site or community exist?

~~~
skyfaller
How about [https://beautifulwebtype.com/](https://beautifulwebtype.com/) ?
"Guide to Only the Best Open-Source Typefaces"

There are also some more opinionated FOSS font forges like
[https://www.theleagueofmoveabletype.com/](https://www.theleagueofmoveabletype.com/)
and (slightly bizarre) [https://www.velvetyne.fr/](https://www.velvetyne.fr/)

~~~
Freak_NL
[https://beautifulwebtype.com/](https://beautifulwebtype.com/) looks like a
neat resource, thanks. No filtering or search, but very nice type specimens.

------
asher
Cool, thanks for making this.

This is basically the Roman Simplex font used in CAD packages, and included in
the Hershey fonts.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hershey_fonts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hershey_fonts)

Hershey and CAD fonts are stroke-based, so line weight and endcap style
influence the appearance.

Here's a JSONized version as part of the textlines tool:
[https://github.com/wildsparx/textlines/blob/master/fonts.jso...](https://github.com/wildsparx/textlines/blob/master/fonts.json)

Of course CAD fonts can be used at different aspect ratios - Roman Simplex is
often used at 0.85 and that may be what National Park captures.

------
GuiA
The kerning on “NATIONAL PARK” feels quite loose, even given the context
(normally wouldn’t comment this on HN, but given that this is expressly a
typography related website...)

~~~
Freak_NL
Looks fine in the demonstration area for the various weights below. There has
to be some space between the lines if you were to use a router to make a
wooden sign with these (the stated design inspiration).

~~~
dfc
Why would there have to be some space between the lines if you used a router?

~~~
dmckeon
Depending on the wooden sign material, and the desired life expectancy of the
sign, close kerning might leave a narrow bit of word that could warp and chip
away after a few years of exposure to the elements.

~~~
dfc
I guess I was hung up on the "use a router" bit. This is a problem with making
a sign out of wood not about the use of a router.

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jt2190
This feels relevant here:

"National Park Service Typefaces" [https://www.nps.gov/subjects/hfc/nps-
typefaces.htm](https://www.nps.gov/subjects/hfc/nps-typefaces.htm)

~~~
bsimpson
The National Park Service commissioned a font, and it's not public domain?
That's total bullshit.

~~~
m463
This kind of stuff is too common. Maybe overpass will warm your heart:
[http://overpassfont.org/](http://overpassfont.org/)

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gjreda
Having recently road tripped across the country for a move to SF, I found
myself admiring the design of national park signage. It feels very timeless
and iconic.

[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/13/76/e2/1376e2e5690719701689...](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/13/76/e2/1376e2e56907197016893061cdf4edcb.jpg)

~~~
astura
That's national forest signage, not national park signage. National forests
are managed by the U.S. Forest Service and national parks are managed by the
National Park Service and they have different uses/purposes.

[https://www.doi.gov/blog/americas-public-lands-
explained](https://www.doi.gov/blog/americas-public-lands-explained)

------
hybrids
I can't be the only one that really wants a monospace version of this.
Although I suppose Inconsolata is good enough...

------
Freak_NL
The coordinates in that site's header take you to the Rocky Mountains National
Park; a nature reserve in the United States:

[https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=10/40.3428/-105.6836](https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=10/40.3428/-105.6836)

------
davidw
Related, and interesting:
[https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/13781/what...](https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/13781/what-
font-is-used-in-these-wooden-trail-signs/92647)

------
SamWhited
AUR package for easy install on Arch: [https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/ttf-
national-park/](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/ttf-national-park/)

------
coleifer
Awesome to see the university of Kansas being repped. I saw the blurb showing
"KU" and thought...no way! Great job by some talented people. Thanks for
sharing.

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nitrogen
Suggestion on mobile site: either let me pinch to zoom (really frustrating
when document-oriented sites disable this) or make the individual weights'
previews bigger.

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grogenaut
When editing the typeface samples it'd be great if the text pivoted to each
style instead of getting set to "type here"

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btmiller
Interesting that not all trail signs at our NPs use this font exactly. For
example, I wonder if this is a separate font carved by a router:
[https://www.instagram.com/p/BmmACyogjEe/?igshid=12jeudc1pasu...](https://www.instagram.com/p/BmmACyogjEe/?igshid=12jeudc1pasus)

~~~
justusthane
Is that a wooden sign? Looks more like a painted metal sign to me.

~~~
btmiller
Shoot. Guess I’ll have to go back and verify :)

------
vladsanchez
Thanks for sharing your typeface, but you should not claim ownership/creation
for a typeface conceived in the LEROY Lettering system. My dad used LEROY as a
draftsman in the 50s through 70s so I find their claim pretentious. Please
research before stating your claims. Thanks.

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OliverJones
Leroy lettering lives!

~~~
Wistar
Exactly. I had a Leroy lettering set given to me at some point. I know they
were eye-wateringly expensive to buy but is a very cool thing. Super high
quality manufacturing.

------
werds
love this free font, also an honorable mention to Optician Sans:
[https://optician-sans.com/](https://optician-sans.com/) which is a free font
based on the classic eye test letter cards from opticians offices.

------
jedberg
This website is making my brain hurt. When I loaded it up, on my fairly wide
monitor, it looked like this:

    
    
        N A T I O N A 
        
        L
        
        P A R K
    

You'd think a website by a typeface designer would not have this problem...

~~~
0xffff2
I can't reproduce this at any window size on Firefox, Chrome or Edge on
Windows 10. I can hardly fault a typeface designer for not being an expert web
developer who can build a consistent user experience on every conceivable
browser configuration.

~~~
moate
Reproducible in Chrome. I have a portrait monitor set up, and it was where I
default landed. That said, I think it's one of a very select set of perimeters
that breaks it.

Now the "Download" at the top, he's got some explaining to do...

(Agree with your point about expert web dev. Someone who designs fonts =/
someone who designs websites. Totally different skills. Some people might do
both, but assuming that would be rather bold)

~~~
jedberg
I also agree, in that I don't expect a font designer to be a web dev. But I do
expect a font designer to care about design, and this seems like a pretty
egregious error for someone who cares about design.

------
OutsmartDan
This is great. Not gonna lie though, took me like 3 minutes to find the
Download button.

------
vagab0nd
OT: what does it take to design a font? I've always wanted to make my own. Is
it a reasonable thing to do for an average person with an okay design taste,
if I'm willing to put in the work?

~~~
fimdomeio
It can be done, but it's not easy. There's a lot of characters (uppercase
lowercase numbers...) even if you're doing only ascii and making every
character look balanced with all the others seems to me like a crazy amount of
work. Then you also have spacing between character pairs. I never really
attemped other than the simplest logo characters to be printed in a pen
plotter, but if I ever would I would probably start at
[https://www.prototypo.io/](https://www.prototypo.io/)

------
jasonhansel
> Our National Parks belong to the people, so this typeface should too.

An excellent choice. Wish other firms would follow the same policy when
building on public sector work.

~~~
tspike
Interestingly, the National Park logo is a registered trademark and may not be
used freely.

[https://www.nps.gov/subjects/partnerships/arrowhead-
requests...](https://www.nps.gov/subjects/partnerships/arrowhead-requests.htm)

------
ZeroGravitas
If you do "ab" in the lightest weight it seems a bit off, seems okay in the
other versions though, could be a bug?

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dsr_
Does anyone else think that the lowercase b and d have an excessive x-height?

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rocky1138
From the website, I gather this is for US national parks.

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ravenstine
I love stuff like this, even if I never end up using it.

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kebman
Well, at least it's not Comic Sans.

~~~
rozab
It's basically Arial Rounded MT Bold which is even worse imo

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mistrial9
this is likely part of a US Federal program to bring "innovative business
ideas" to the National Parks system under former Sec. Ryan Zinke .. which is
nice-speak for privitization. You nerds get to look at the typeface, dont
worry about development leases, collecting rent or mineral rights.. thats not
your affair..

~~~
mattkrause
It’s someone’s homage to the National Park signage, nothing more.

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kazinator
> _MIMIC THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE SIGNS THAT ARE CARVED USING A ROUTER BIT_

That's trivial though; you use a path with a circular pen, a most rudimentary
thing in 2D graphics.

~~~
lvh
That also identifies the typeface, since there’s only one typeface the
National Parks use that is carved using a router bit.

(Even then, you’d still need to have the stroke data, which seems like the
hard part?)

~~~
kazinator
You certainly don't need the detailed stroke data just to "mimic" the
appearance of a really simple typeface like this.

