North Atlas
North Atlas draws hand-finished maps for national parks and long-distance trails. They came to the studio with a name, a printer and no visual identity at all.
Context
Cartography brands tend to reach for compasses and mountain silhouettes. North Atlas needed something that felt like the craft itself — measured, precise, quietly obsessive — and that would survive being foil-stamped onto a folded paper map.
Approach
The mark is built from survey notation: a benchmark cross, a graticule, a set of rules at fixed intervals. We paired a narrow grotesque for wayfinding with a text serif for the long descriptive passages that appear on every map margin.
Outcome
The identity now runs across maps, folded guides, the shop and field signage. The graticule doubles as the layout grid, so packaging and print stay in step without a rulebook.
Project details
- Role
- Identity, art direction
- Deliverables
- Wordmark, type system, print suite
- Team
- Studio, independent letterpress printer
- Duration
- Four months
Have something in mind?
The studio takes on a small number of projects each year. A short note about what you are making is enough to start.