FHA Condensed French One could speculate that FHA Condensed French probably started life as wood type for displays, headlines and posters. The exaggerated sharp serifs and condensed forms were not uncommon for that period. At some point, sign painters picked up Condensed French added their own character. At the end of the nineteenth century, Frank H. Atkinson included Condensed French in his samples of lettering for his book, ”Sign Painting, A Complete Manual.” This book became one of the definitive guides for signwriting and hand lettering. In 1999, Mike Adkins digitized Condensed to add to our Atkinson collection. For its re-release, Condensed French has been updated with more language support, ligatures, and OpenType alternates. It has true vintage character but still plays well in more modern designs. A font for all seasons, the condensed forms and sharp serifs fit in every layout from wildwest days posters and creepy film credits to Christmas ads and Mother’s Day cards. While I can’t really see FHA Condensed French as the font for phone aps or video game text, it will provide impact to logos, branding, and product labeling.

An Art Nouveau alphabet that has stood the test of time, Nicholson French, by legendary sign-painter Frank H. Atkinson, is over 100 years old and going strong. In modern typographic trim, it comes with OpenType feature replacement options and multi-language support, from standard Latin-1 to Latin Extended-A, Greek and Cyrillic.

The first Tuscan lettering was penned in the mid-fourth century by the calligrapher Furius Dionysius Filocalus. The style was still in common usage as calligraphy when Vincent Figgins designed the first Antique Tuscan for print in 1817. Antique and Gothic Tuscan woodtype fonts appeared in the 1830’s. By the 1850’s, Tuscan fonts had become popular in America. These styles continued in print use into the twentieth century. Tuscan Antique and Gothic styles, borrowed from print and calligraphy, were perfect for signs, posters, handbills and other large format advertising. Sign painter, Frank Atkinson demonstrated several Tuscan forms in his book Sign Painting, A Complete Manual. Modified & Spurred Tuscan Romans were inspired by this and other works of the same period.

More than a century ago, Frank H. Atkinson presented this hand lettered style as Broken Poster. It was one of a hundred styles he demonstrated in his manual on sign painting. Even before his book was published (and certainly after), Broken Poster was a favorite with sign painters and letterers. It has graced show cards and movie posters, signs and windows displays, and advertisements of all varieties. We presented the our first digital revival of this classic in 2000. It is long overdue for an upgrade. Broken Gothic expands the basic Broken Poster to four weights, two specialty formats and some cool layed effects. The language base includes Greek, Cyrillic, Latin A, and some of Latin B and Latin Extended. There are also some nice alternates and ligatures. All weights are quite suited to posters, headlines, display copy, web headers, etc. At first glance, Broken Gothic may seem to have limited uses. Give it a chance and it will surprise you. Broken shouts out that there is a sale, a giant monster or the end of the world. Broken Gothic is comfortable in a wide range of themes and applications from zombie movie titles to salsa jar labels. While I can't recommend it for text, Broken is great for headers, banners, signs, titles, product presentation and other display applications. When you need a rough customer, Broken Gothic fills the bill.

The curves are vintage and the serifs are big. They're so big that for years I never had the courage to tackle this intimidating font. But when fellow signmaker Frank Smith laid the groundwork for this intriguing typeface by Frank H. Atkinson, I couldn't pass on the opportunity to take it from paper to keyboard. After all, at over 100 years old, I felt this alphabet had never been given a proper, digital treatment. So how did this face survive the last century? Well, for those who don't know the history, it survived in Atkinson's ubiquitous book, Sign Painting, published first in 1908, the generational standard for anyone interested in sign-related type design. The layouts and lettering treatments in this book have influenced countless designers for more than a hundred years, but most haunting to me was this strange face with the big serifs. Well, I'm haunted no more. The work is done, the kerning is complete, and nothing but a mouse-click separates a very old idea from the modern world. It's wide, it's big, and with those crazy serifs, it is definitely eccentric-!!!

Frank H. Atkinson's book Atkinson Sign Painting was published in 1909. For decades, this book served as the manual for sign painters - a handbook for hand lettering. Atkinson’s book described techniques, layouts and several sample alphabets. Modernized Ideal Classic was inspired by one of these demonstration alphabets. Although Classic has its beginnings in art deco, it is very comfortable in any period or style of design. It is most appropriate in headline and display text, poster copy and signs. We've included some nice stylistic alternates and an interesting array of ligatures.

The basis for Series A Signage JNL is Highway Gothic; a type style design formally known as the FHWA Series. The font was developed by the United States Federal Highway Administration, and originally consisted of only capital letters and figures. Each Letter designation represented a character width from "A" (condensed) to "F" (wide). Due to poor visibility at high speeds, Series "A" was discontinued. At one point lower case characters were added to the various widths of the design, but this typeface revival is based on the original guidelines specified in the 1948 (reprinted 1952) book "Standard Alphabets for Highway Signs" [this was the original name for the FHWA series fonts preceding the eventual name change to Highway Gothic]. Unlike the original, Series A Signage JNL is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Introducing Expressway, a sleek sans-serif typeface that draws inspiration from the iconic FHWA Series of Standard Alphabets, also known as Highway Gothic. As the most widely-used typeface on road signs in numerous countries since the mid-twentieth century, Expressway’s freeway-themed aesthetic exudes both technicality and industrial charm. With 28 unique styles to choose from, including seven weights, two widths, and italics, Expressway’s practical design perfectly captures the original road sign feel. This family also offers both lowercase (old-style) numerals and monospaced (tabular) numerals, as well as currency, mathematical, and fraction symbols, all of which are monospaced, making it a breeze to create price lists and other tabular numeric data. Whether you’re a designer, engineer, or simply a lover of all things technical, Expressway’s warm and inviting style is sure to stand the test of time. So why not hit the road with Expressway and take your designs to the next level? Most Latin-based European, Vietnamese, Greek, and most Cyrillic-based writing systems are supported, including the following languages. Afaan Oromo, Afar, Afrikaans, Albanian, Alsatian, Aromanian, Aymara, Azerbaijani, Bashkir, Bashkir (Latin), Basque, Belarusian, Belarusian (Latin), Bemba, Bikol, Bosnian, Breton, Bulgarian, Buryat, Cape Verdean, Creole, Catalan, Cebuano, Chamorro, Chavacano, Chichewa, Crimean Tatar (Latin), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dawan, Dholuo, Dungan, Dutch, English, Estonian, Faroese, Fijian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Frisian, Friulian, Gagauz (Latin), Galician, Ganda, Genoese, German, Gikuyu, Greenlandic, Guadeloupean Creole, Haitian Creole, Hawaiian, Hiligaynon, Hungarian, Icelandic, Igbo, Ilocano, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Jamaican, Kaingang, Khalkha, Kalmyk, Kanuri, Kaqchikel, Karakalpak (Latin), Kashubian, Kazakh, Kikongo, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Komi-Permyak, Kurdish, Kurdish (Latin), Kyrgyz, Latvian, Lithuanian, Lombard, Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, Maasai, Macedonian, Makhuwa, Malay, Maltese, Māori, Moldovan, Montenegrin, Nahuatl, Ndebele, Neapolitan, Norwegian, Novial, Occitan, Ossetian, Ossetian (Latin), Papiamento, Piedmontese, Polish, Portuguese, Quechua, Rarotongan, Romanian, Romansh, Russian, Rusyn, Sami, Sango, Saramaccan, Sardinian, Scottish Gaelic, Serbian, Serbian (Latin), Shona, Sicilian, Silesian, Slovak, Slovenian, Somali, Sorbian, Sotho, Spanish, Swahili, Swazi, Swedish, Tagalog, Tahitian, Tajik, Tatar, Tetum, Tongan, Tshiluba, Tsonga, Tswana, Tumbuka, Turkish, Turkmen (Latin), Tuvaluan, Ukrainian, Uzbek, Uzbek (Latin), Venda, Venetian, Vepsian, Vietnamese, Võro, Walloon, Waray-Waray, Wayuu, Welsh, Wolof, Xavante, Xhosa, Yapese, Zapotec, Zarma, Zazaki, Zulu and Zuni.

Rev up your design game with Expressway Soft, the sans-serif font family that brings a touch of automotive style to your projects. Inspired by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s FHWA Series of Standard Alphabets, this font has been the go-to choice for road signs across the world, from the sweeping highways of Australia to the bustling streets of India. With its soft, rounded corners, Expressway Soft captures the feeling of cruising down an open road, while its twelve styles—including six weights and italics—offer versatility and flexibility for any design project. Old-style and monospaced numerals make it easy to create eye-catching price lists and other tabular data, while the font’s focus on design over regulation allows you to truly unleash your creativity. Whether you’re designing a bold, attention-grabbing billboard or a sleek, modern website, Expressway Soft has the style and functionality you need. So why settle for a font that’s strictly by the book when you can hit the road in style with Expressway Soft? And if you’re looking for a more angular variant, be sure to check out Typodermic Fonts’ Expressway with squared-off corners. Most Latin-based European, Vietnamese, Greek, and most Cyrillic-based writing systems are supported, including the following languages. Afaan Oromo, Afar, Afrikaans, Albanian, Alsatian, Aromanian, Aymara, Azerbaijani, Bashkir, Bashkir (Latin), Basque, Belarusian, Belarusian (Latin), Bemba, Bikol, Bosnian, Breton, Bulgarian, Buryat, Cape Verdean, Creole, Catalan, Cebuano, Chamorro, Chavacano, Chichewa, Crimean Tatar (Latin), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dawan, Dholuo, Dungan, Dutch, English, Estonian, Faroese, Fijian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Frisian, Friulian, Gagauz (Latin), Galician, Ganda, Genoese, German, Gikuyu, Greenlandic, Guadeloupean Creole, Haitian Creole, Hawaiian, Hiligaynon, Hungarian, Icelandic, Igbo, Ilocano, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Jamaican, Kaingang, Khalkha, Kalmyk, Kanuri, Kaqchikel, Karakalpak (Latin), Kashubian, Kazakh, Kikongo, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Komi-Permyak, Kurdish, Kurdish (Latin), Kyrgyz, Latvian, Lithuanian, Lombard, Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, Maasai, Macedonian, Makhuwa, Malay, Maltese, Māori, Moldovan, Montenegrin, Nahuatl, Ndebele, Neapolitan, Norwegian, Novial, Occitan, Ossetian, Ossetian (Latin), Papiamento, Piedmontese, Polish, Portuguese, Quechua, Rarotongan, Romanian, Romansh, Russian, Rusyn, Sami, Sango, Saramaccan, Sardinian, Scottish Gaelic, Serbian, Serbian (Latin), Shona, Sicilian, Silesian, Slovak, Slovenian, Somali, Sorbian, Sotho, Spanish, Swahili, Swazi, Swedish, Tagalog, Tahitian, Tajik, Tatar, Tetum, Tongan, Tshiluba, Tsonga, Tswana, Tumbuka, Turkish, Turkmen (Latin), Tuvaluan, Ukrainian, Uzbek, Uzbek (Latin), Venda, Venetian, Vepsian, Vietnamese, Võro, Walloon, Waray-Waray, Wayuu, Welsh, Wolof, Xavante, Xhosa, Yapese, Zapotec, Zarma, Zazaki, Zulu and Zuni.