An iconic typeface is now available to all
"If you’ve ever been to a National Park, chances are you’ve come across signage with the same distinctive lettering. The type, which features rounded edges carved into wood in all caps, has become an icon of the National Parks system.
"But it turns out that this text isn’t an actual typeface, as information designer Jeremy Shellhorn discovered when he was working as designer-in-residence at Rocky Mountain National Park in 2013…(He) was redesigning the park’s newspaper and wanted to include the type found on National Park signs. But he soon discovered there was no digital typeface because the letters are simply formed with a CNC router in the park’s sign shop, chiseled into wood. The shape of the letters were determined by the size of the router bit.”
"So, he and his students created a digital typeface using rubbings from the signs themselves. The new face is now available for anyone to download for free in four weights: light, regular, heavy, and outline."
Article: The National Parks’ Iconic Typeface Has Never Been Digitized–Until Now.