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Help identify a font?

Posted: Feb 24 2013 11:19 am
by Sredfield
Any print or graphics design folks out there? I need to identify the font used on the sign here and in the linked Santa Catalina photo set; we are getting the graphics on them upgraded, and I want to use the font on more signs.

Image

Hikebot suggests http://hikearizona.com/t2013/02/24/O_25 ... 873-01.jpg

Re: Help identify a font?

Posted: Feb 24 2013 11:22 am
by kingsnake
As long as it is not comic sans, life is good ... ;)

Re: Help identify a font?

Posted: Feb 24 2013 11:23 am
by chumley
Shawn, that photo doesn't link to a full-size version, so I can't see it at all.

Re: Help identify a font?

Posted: Feb 24 2013 11:31 am
by Sredfield
Sorry, I don't know how to make that link, so I posted some photos as for a triplog.

Re: Help identify a font?

Posted: Feb 24 2013 11:38 am
by chumley

Re: Help identify a font?

Posted: Feb 24 2013 12:00 pm
by Sredfield
Duh :oops:

Re: Help identify a font?

Posted: Feb 24 2013 12:06 pm
by outdoor_lover
Still tough to see the specifics on the font, even though I downloaded it and magnified it, it just got too blurry....I suppose it would help if I actually finally did buy some reading glasses.... :sweat:

Re: Help identify a font?

Posted: Feb 24 2013 12:17 pm
by big_load
I passed this along to Mrs. big_load. She'll get it, or find something so close you can't tell the difference.

Re: Help identify a font?

Posted: Feb 24 2013 12:20 pm
by chumley
Ok Shawn- It's definitely a mystery to me. I found a fairly good photo elsewhere online: http://blog.summithut.com/image.axd?pic ... ilSign.jpg

It does not appear to be a standard "stencil" font (as is required when cutting letters out of metal, so that pieces like the middle of the A or O don't fall out). It looks to be fairly close to the Clarendon family, but it is definitely not an exact match. (Clarendon used to be the font that the NPS used for it's road signs).

If I had to guess, I would think that the font is a normal font and that the sign-maker added the little stencil pieces only where required - since only the A, R, and O have "connectors". Actual stencil fonts will have connectors even on letters that don't technically require it, separating the 3 pieces of the N or Z, for example. So that's why I think this font was customized at the sign shop.

And that would be my first next step. Who made these signs originally? Hopefully they still have the original artwork on file, or at a minimum might be able to add some useful information to the quest.

Re: Help identify a font?

Posted: Feb 24 2013 12:25 pm
by chumley
Of course, they use a different font elsewhere ... http://hikearizona.com/photo.php?ZIP=276340
Do they all have to be the same?

Re: Help identify a font?

Posted: Feb 24 2013 12:57 pm
by Sredfield
These older signs were put in south of the Gila, mostly on the Coronado NF. They were made by a shop in Tucson that is long gone. And you are right, there isn't much uniformity among them. which I suspected but confirmed yesterday. This means I get to drive around to each and fabricate a dummy panel out of card board to serve as the model for the art panels and frames which we are having done.

Re: Help identify a font?

Posted: Feb 24 2013 1:28 pm
by te_wa
i think that's a font called "Zane Grey" - part of the stamped metalworks collection.

Re: Help identify a font?

Posted: Feb 24 2013 2:33 pm
by big_load
It's not exact, but it's funny how close this is. The thickness on the "A" isn't quite right, but the other letters are awful close. It's funny, because "Stencil" was my first guess.
AZT.jpg

Re: Help identify a font?

Posted: Feb 24 2013 3:17 pm
by Sredfield
Those are close enough! Thanks.
HAZ comes thru again!