INFO

“Mount Retro” has been constructed as a homage to the fonts that were created by the very talented, and often unknown, artists of the early years of New Zealand tourism advertising. These early artists were pioneers not only for creating tourism artwork, but also in the art of screen printing. The fonts that were generated through this process were unique, and differed slightly from poster to poster, giving the artwork a hint of the individuality of the artist behind the typography. They captured a sense of the beauty of the fledgling country of New Zealand, and also of the Kiwi ingenuity within it. The artists were able to express what they saw with these posters, capturing a time and place that will never come again, and is part of the countries singular history. Sadly for us as designers, most of these fonts have been lost to time and live only in the posters that they adorn and in the memories of the declining few of that generation. The purpose behind “Mount Retro” is to recreate the feeling of a by-gone time and place, and offer something that is both retro, as well as usable, today as a display font.