Nico Curtis
Senior Thesis Project, 2010
Gwen Frostic School of Art
Western Michigan University
Specificity of Type
Letterforms should be designed to reflect
their purpose, audience and context.
Concept
The concept for my type design was
to create a serif and a san-serif
face designed to be used seperately
and interchangeably.
Initial Studies
Reduction of Letterform
Study of Weight
Art Deco Type
Hand-drawn sketches
Research Topic Observations
Signage Type
Nissan XTerra
Rowlison Type
Home
Bibliography
Reading Log


Final Design
serif
san-serif
design center randomization
serif and san-serif overlay
individual letters
Rowlison Type Design for the U.S. National Park Service Road Signage
Terminal Design — James Montalbano

Designed to replace the Clarendon road guide sign typeface that the U.S. National Park Service used as part of their identity. NPS Roadway was tested by Pennsylvania Transportation Institute and was found to decrease legend length by 10-15% while increasing readability by 11%. Part of a total redesign of the Park Service identity (that included the Rawlinson series of fonts) the font has been approved by FHWA (Federal Highway Administration) for use on all Federal roads.