For many decades, the fashion magazine “Vogue” featured superbly illustrated covers before photography became more commonplace. During the 1930s and 1940s those illustrations were accompanied by many creative styles of hand lettering for its monthly issues. The January, 1930 cover had the magazine’s name lettered in an Art Deco geometric monoline, which became the inspiration for Vagary JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions. A vagary [in a simple sense] is when something or someone changes in an erratic or unexpected way (as the wind’s direction or in a person’s mood or whim)… and thus seemed the fitting name for this type style.

A 1940s Australian song folio featuring tunes performed by singer-actress Deanna Durbin had her name hand lettered in an interesting Art Deco style sans. This became the basis for Song Folio JNL, capturing all the nuances of the original in digital form.

The poster for the 1930 film “Show Girl in Hollywood” had the title hand lettered in a squared Art Deco style with some angled cross strokes. This became the basis for Dancing Girl JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

On October 15, 2006 we became proud parents of three babies. To commemorate (and help pay for diapers) I decided to release this baby-themed dingbat set. All proceeds for the next few years goes to pay for lots and lots of diapers.

The 1933 sheet music compilation entitled "Kate Smith Memories Song Book" had the singer's name hand lettered in a bold, spurred serif typeface. This lettering design became the basis for Radio Show JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Vintage packaging [circa 1940s] for a sewing machine attachment used for making lattice-type stitching had its information hand lettered in a casual Art Deco sans serif design. This became the basis of Home Economics JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

The hand lettered title and credits for the 1937 film “Easy Living” (starring Jean Arthur and Edward Arnold) featured playful, casual Art Deco sans serif lettering. This became the working model for Nice and Easy JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

False Idol is based on bad rub-down lettering from 1970s pornographic magazines and home-made religious leaflets. The letterforms were intended to mimic a feeling of cheap glamour but just became seedy. Somehow an alluring beauty emerges from this mix of sleaze and chic...

The origin of Grimm was to create a typeface in the spirit of Elliott Peter Earls' Subluxation, but somewhere in the process things shifted to a blackletter influenced uppercase while the lowercase became more roman. The end result is a quirky little blackletter display typeface.

The titles in various sections of an 1890 catalog for stencil manufacturing supplies were set in metal type that closely resembled the lettering found on a typewriter. These examples became the basis for Victorian Typewriter JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

This whimsical wonder is based on the lettering of Laurence Schall, as presented in Lewis F. Day's 1910 classic, Alphabets Old and New. The typeface radiates a charm reminiscent of the works of many talented artists (including Howard Pyle and Arthur Rackham) who illustrated children's books around the turn of the twentieth century. The Opentype version of this font supports Unicode 1250 (Central European) languages, as well as Unicode 1252 (Latin) languages.

Twentieth Century was designed and drawn by Sol Hess in the Lanston Monotype drawing office between 1936 and 1947. The first weights were added to the Monotype typeface library in 1959. Twentieth Century is based on geometric shapes which originated in Germany in the early 1920's and became an integral part of the Bauhaus movement of that time. Form and function became the key words, unnecessary decoration was scorned. This clean cut, sans serif with geometric shapes was most appropriate. The lighter weights of the Twentieth Century font family can be used for text setting; the Twentieth Century bold and condensed fonts are suitable for display in headlines and advertising. Commonly spelled 20th Century.

Humanist on one hand, geometric wannabe on the other Born from the need of having a custom font for our own branding, Redonda became too big to keep just for us. Like that, came to light Plau's 10th retail font, the first one designed by Carlos Mignot. The font's personality is a result of a search for extreme impact. Having started out as a exclusively Black geometric face, it became a full, versatile humanist sans. While it maintains the impact that inspired it, it also offers performance for both UI and body copy. This balance reflects the font's creative process: at first it referenced historic examples, but we also made sure it worked as a contemporary face.

This typeface is extrapolated from the ‘We the People’ calligraphy of the handwritten US Constitution Preamble which employed a style based on German Text and Square Text exemplars from George Bickham’s penmanship copy-books, the most celebrated being The Universal Penman published in 1743. The original Constitution document was transcribed onto parchment by Jacob Shallus, a Pennsylvania Assistant Clerk, over a weekend in 1787. Shallus’s biographer, Arthur Plotnik (The Man Behind the Quill, 1987), notes that he was paid $30, a modest monthly wage at the time. He also suggests that the calligraphic headings, ‘We the People’ and ‘Article’, may have been inserted by Shallus’s 14 year old trainee son, Francis, “The manner in which the ‘Article’ headings are squeezed into the space Shallus allowed for them suggests a second hand—and perhaps not a very experienced one.” The unconventional backslant of the headings would seem to support this contention, and at the end of the document there is perhaps a novice’s inconsistency in the structure of the letter n between that used for ‘done’ and those used for ‘In Witness’. However, one has to admire the elegant swagger of the wavy t, h and l which the K-Type font extends to the b, f and k. Also, the simpler, Schwabacher-style W, an enlarged version of the lowercase w, is a little less flamboyant than the capital W from the German and Square texts in Bickham’s manuals. For designers using OpenType-aware applications, the typeface includes some Alternates, including a Bickham-style W, the letters t, h and n with added flourishes, two simpler forms of the A, and a few roman numerals for numbering articles. Also some ornamental flourishes and a round middle dot/decimal point. Punctuation marks are drawn in square, calligraphic style, but an alternative round period/full stop, for use with currency and numerals, is available at the period centered position (though placed on the baseline), accessed by Shift Option 9 on a Mac, or Alt 0183 on Windows. The full phrase, ‘We the People’, has been placed at the trademark keystroke and can be accessed by Option 2 (or Shift Option 2) on a Mac, or Alt 0153 on Windows. For designers who find the backslant awkward or unpleasant, the licensed typeface also includes two additional fonts which have a vertical aspect that may be more conducive to graphic design layouts. ‘We The People Upright’ and ‘We The People Upright Bold’ both retain the distinctive style, and the heavier weight is only slightly emboldened, just enough to add some punch.

Solid Deco JNL was modeled after a small sign with the word "restaurant" in an unusual Art Deco solid lettering style. It was spotted within the same image of the Lenox Lounge in New York which gave forth the neon letters that became Sign Sans JNL.

Please welcome Mollroy. A simple but special handwritting and it's perfect for quotes. Mollroy also fit for any range of your design projects. This font is naturally written by my self, so the flow of each characters became unique. Take your design project to the next level with Mollroy.

The 1935 sheet music for Shirley Temple's "That's What I Want for Christmas" [from her 20th Century Fox film "Stowaway"] provided the hand lettered sans which became the model for Artistry JNL. A condensed block design with rounded corners, the typeface is available in both regular and oblique versions.

The name Otis arose from an incident in a shopping mall in which, realising my shoelace was undone while on an escalator, I bent down to tie it, became aware of the approaching end, panicked, fell over, and in the process happened to notice the escalator's brand name.

Sheet music for the 1923 tune "I'm Sitting Pretty (In A Pretty Little City)" had the main part of the title hand lettered in an Art Nouveau condensed Roman type design which became the inspiration for Sitting Pretty JNL. The typeface is available in both regular and oblique versions.

A 1911 movie poster for a film called “How Bella Was Won” from the Edison studios had the name “Edison” hand lettered in a bold, spurred sans serif design. These few letters became the basis for Movie Show JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Ellida is a very elaborate and elegant script in the tradition of the 18th-century English calligrapher George Bickham and the 19th-century American calligrapher Platt Rogers Spencer. I really enjoyed designing this script and maybe one day I will add starting and ending letters. Doing this script was extremely time- and brain-consuming, it is a huge challenge to make calligraphic letters work on computers so that they join perfectly. That's also the reason that this has become my most expensive font so far, but I think the price is fair for the incredible amount of work I put into the script. I really need a break from scripts now! Yours very exhausted Gert Wiescher.

The 1927 beginner’s book for Shefte’s Rapid Course in Modern Piano Playing had its title hand lettered in a bold serif typeface that reflected some of the influences of the Art Nouveau era. This became the model for Music Course JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

A 1950 reissue of the 1934 tune “With My Eyes Wide Open I’m Dreaming” had the title of the sheet music hand lettered in a semi-calligraphic sans serif design. This became the model for the appropriately named Semi Calligraphic JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

An online display of pages from a book on wood type fonts provided an example of a bold, eccentric slab serif design with unusual curves and letter shapes. This font’s eccentricities became the basis for its name, Eccentric Wood Type JNL – which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

The simple song title "May I", found on the sheet music from the 1934 Bing Crosby-Carole Lombard film "We're Not Dressing" was hand lettered in a blocky, ultra-bold Art Deco design that foreshadowed the techno look of the 1970s and 1980s. This became the basis for Art Techno JNL.

Please welcome, Moon Earth. A simple cozy handwritting and it's perfect for quotes. Moon Earth also fit for any range of your design projects. This font is naturally written by my self, so the flow of each characters became unique. Take your design project to the next level with Moon Earth.

The 1938 sheet music for "(The Dwarves Marching Song) Heigh-Ho" from Walt Disney's "Snow White" had the part of the title in parenthesis hand lettered with a round nib ink pen. This lettering became the inspiration for Pen Work JNL, and is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Sheet music for the song "My Ideal" (from the 1930 Paramount picture "Playboy of Paris" starring Maurice Chevalier) had the name of the movie hand lettered in an Art Deco, Broadway-influenced type design. This became the inspiration for Parisian Playboy JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

The movie poster for the 1936 film “Dodsworth” had its title hand lettered in a thin Art Deco sans serif with a mix of both stylized and squared characters. Expanding on this unusual lettering combination, the final results became Drama Deco JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

The cover of vintage sheet music for "With Plenty of Money and You (The Gold Diggers' Lullaby)" from the Warner Brothers musical "Gold Diggers of 1937" had the movie title hand-lettered in a classic Art Deco style. Bold, brash and totally fun, this became the model for Golden Opportunity JNL.

Take a gander at this jaunty, journal-inspired handwriting style. Wordy Diva was drawn in 1995 by Lisa Bralts and faxed to Chank Diesel. The fax was converted to font format, and it soon became one of Chank's most popular handwriting fonts. You can download this hurried yet intelligent lady's handwriting font today.

ITC Jellybaby is the work of British designer Timothy Donaldson, bouncing all over the place but somehow remaining compact and legible. It began as an extremely fattened version of Donaldson't typeface Pink but then became transformed into a play on the futuristic" typefaces of the 1960s. Jellybaby expresses both retro and modern design."

The sheet music for "Dancing Butterfly" had the title of the 1929 composition hand lettered in what can be only described as an odd hybrid of letters with an Art Nouveau stencil influence. This quirky style became the basis for Odd Stencil JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Another variant to the ever-popular Art Deco sans lettering with solid centers (no counters) was found in the hand-lettered title on the cover of the 1933 song "There's A Ring around the Moon". This became the basis for the digital typeface Moonlit Walk JNL, available in both regular and oblique versions.

Brush-style lettering has been a perennial favorite for designers and sign painters because it brings to mind casual, relaxed or friendly themes. A vintage piece of sheet music called “Pretty Butterfly” by Sunny Skylar features the titled hand lettered in a simple, informal design which became the inspiration for Casual Tune JNL.

This typeface has its roots in the Egyptienne-family which became popular in the beginning of the 19th Century. To make the family more unique and personal, ”twists” have been crafted throughout the design. All together a family of 6 weights, including: Medium, Medium Italic, Bold, Bold Italic, Black and Black Italic.

The Federal Music Project was part of Franklin D. Roosevelt's WPA (Works Progress Administration), putting many people back to work in the Depression years of the 1930s. A hand-lettered poster advertising an "American Music Festival" featuring the Bridgeport Symphony Orchestra offered up the extra bold Art Deco inspiration which became Music Festival JNL

Paper Cube font family is the first font I've created. I unconciously started to draw letterforms with straight horizontal and vertical lines contained in a square. Soon this experiment became a 3d outlined display family of 3 weights, each one of them gaining depth and articulating into planes. Designed in Cuenca (Spain) in 2011.

A 1940s ad flier for the Los Angeles restaurant “Lucca Paris Inn” had its name hand lettered at the top of the page in a condensed Art Deco slab serif with some stylized characters. Given a more uniform look, the end result became Dining Out JNL and is available in both regular and oblique versions.

It was our initial intention to develop a suitable lowercase for Les Usherwood's Elston typeface, based on a few characters from an old German typeface called Hermes Grotesque (Woellmer, Berlin). The new design became Creighton. Then, for good measure we decided to experiment with a 'crisper version' of this design; the result is 'Megaphone'.