The specimen book Alphabete: ein Schriftatlas von A bis Z identified the pattern for this typeface as Stymie Black Flair. Although neither the designer nor the original foundry is identified, it bears a strong resemblance to the work of Dave West for Photolettering in the 60s and 70s. Big, beautiful and bodacious, it’s a natural choice for attention-grabbing headlines. Many alternate characters available: see the full character map. The PC PostScript, TrueType and OpenType versions contain the complete Latin language character set (Unicode 1252) plus support for Central European (Unicode 1250) languages as well.

Terrified AOE was inspired by vintage horror movie poster titling from the 1960's. It is a Capitals and smallcaps typeface, that really feels like a mix of three typefaces in one. While the Capitals and Smallcaps typesetting works to the effect of the original inspirations, each case also works well amongst itself independently, and having very different vibes. I've always been a huge fan of horror movies, and some of the lettering from vintage horror movie posters are so cool and alive, I only wish there were more of them recreated as display fonts.

astroluxtype’s Spacepod is a headline display font set. The font contains uppercase and lowercase letterforms with a minimum glyph set. The style suggests weird sci fi from the 1970’s or the far future... you decide? Is this the font for your sci fi western book cover title with a nod to The Matrix in the story or a poster for the movie remake of Westworld? Wherever your ship takes you in the universe Spacepod should be the letterforms on the side of your craft that states, “No rides for damn dirty apes!”

The design of this display face is based on the hot metal typeface Acropolis, issued by the German type foundry Ludwig Wagner in Leipzig in 1940. To further increase its usefulness a Cyrillic was added to it: URW Akropolis, redrawn and digitally remastered by Coen Hofmann for the URW Font Forum, is a true display design that should not be set below 48 point if you want to preserve it's fine details like the open triangular sections, e.g. in L, G, S, T etc. and gain the full typographic splendidness of this beautiful typeface.

Boondock is another Imre Reiner design resurrected from the ashes of hot metal type for digital use. This wild paint font is a revival of the fascinating Bazaar brush type from 1956. Boondock has some very unique characters that combine to form a statement of casual but loud strength, seriousness and raw primal emotion. Great for short sudden-impact spurts, like book cover titles, single sentence headers, movie posters and music sleeves. Redrawn from original specimen by Patrick Griffin, and expanded with some built-in extras too add to the convenience of this digital version.

Rundfunk Grotesk was produced together with Rundfunk Antiqua by the Linotype Design Studio in 1933-1935. The combination was originally intended for small point sizes and shorter texts. Unfortunately, this typeface was never completed and consists only of Antiqua roman and Grotesk bold. This unusual combination was chosen because small newspaper ads often use a semi bold for the headlines and a regular antique for the text. Rundfunk Grotesk is intended to be used exclusively in headlines and reflects in its unique character the spirit of the 1930s.

Letterpress type, crafted by H. Th. Wijdeveld, founding editor and chief designer of the legendary Dutch art and architecture magazine Wendingen, provided the inspiration for this typeface. The original design graced a 1925 issue examining the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, and Wijdeveld created his typeface by assembling bits of standard brass rules. This version features several of the meanders typical of Wijdeveld’s graphic design in the dagger, double dagger, ASCII tilde and ASCII circumflex positions. Both versions of the font include 1252 Latin, 1250 CE (with localization for Romanian and Moldovan).

Round, firm, and bursting at the seams with good humor, ITC Mister Chuckles is based on the premise that barrel shapes have pleasant associations. Think: beer-barrel polkas, a barrel of fun, or a barrel of laughs, and you'll get the idea. Designer Nick Curtis has combined sans serif sturdiness, a hint of 1930s deco and a handful of giggles in this remarkably versatile all-cap face. If the typographic occasion calls for mirth and merriment, invite Mister Chuckles to the party. You'll have more fun than a barrel of monkeys!

Designed by Les Usherwood. Chelsea is a ‘modern’ Old Style serif font family designed by Les Usherwood (Typsettra) in the early 1980’s. Steve Jackaman (ITF) digitally engineered the family exclusively for ITF’s Red Rooster Collection in 1993. Usherwood drew influence from Frederic Goudy’s 1911 creation ‘Kennerley Old Style’ when designing Chelsea; Chelsea, however, tends to be wider with a taller x-height. Chelsea has the clean and upscale feel that is present in all Usherwood creations, and its legible design lends itself to projects of any size.

A circa-1951 toy set called “Kusan Kavalcade of Letters” was comprised of molded plastic letters and numbers a child could play with, trace and arrange to learn their alphabet and numerals. Typographically, the design was all over the place – from sans serif characters to those with some spurred serifs and even some stenciled characters because of the nature of manufacture. As odd as this combination seems, it was novel enough to be turned into a digital typeface called Stencil Playthings JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Lasting Impression JNL was rendered from scans of a 1930s rubber stamp printing set. At small sizes it has the look of hand-stamped lettering. At larger sizes, the user will see jagged and angular lines giving the font a kind of retro-grunge look. This typeface was the model for the more cleanly-drawn Casual Friday JNL, also by Jeff Levine. There is a limited character set, and both the spacing and kerning have been intentionally omitted so that the results will more closely resemble the uneven letter spacing of rubber stamps on paper.

Journal Sans Old School is a new, modernized digital version of the widely popular Journal Sans. The new typeface preserves the character of the geometric sans from the famous “Science and Life” magazine of the 1960s. The weight of the basic styles corresponds to the Journal Sans regular and bold from the Soviet linotype catalogs. Also, the original vertical proportions and character forms match the original. Cyrillic Alternates, Greek language support expand the range of font’s usage. Journal Sans Old School was designed by Natalia Vasilyeva and released by Paratype in 2019.

The hand-lettered title, cast and crew credits for 1943's "Presenting Lily Mars" (starring Judy Garland and Van Heflin) inspired Pocatello JNL, but the name of this typeface has another Judy Garland connection. In the 1954 remake of "A Star is Born", Judy sings of being born in a trunk in a theater located in Pocatello, Idaho. The name of this Midwest town had such a great sound to it, so it was the perfect choice for the font's name. Available in regular, oblique, bold and bold oblique versions.

New Letter Gothic was designed for ParaType by Gayaneh Bagdasaryan based on monospaced Letter Gothic font by Roger Roberson, 1956–62. Due to clear and easy-to-read lettershapes of Letter Gothic the font is rather popular now for display and advertising matters. The idea was to create a font similar to Letter Gothic in lettershapes but with proportional widths of letters. For use in both display and text setting. New Letter Gothic has been adjudged an Award for Excellence in Type Design at Kyrillitsa ’99 International Type Design competition in Moscow, 1999.

Because of the large influx of Irish immigrants during the late 1800s and early 1900s, it was not unusual for songwriters of the day to craft songs around Irish themes, offering a nostalgic link to their homeland. One such 1917 piece entitled "You Brought Ireland Right Over to Me" had the title hand lettered on the sheet music cover in a sans serif design reflecting the popular Art Nouveau movement of the day. This design is now available digitally as Retro Nouveau JNL, in both regular and oblique versions.

Vododeo JNL is directly named for the free-form sheet music title lettering from Jack Yellen and Milton Ager's "Vo-Do-De-O". The term itself was a catchphrase made popular during the era known as the "Roaring 20s". Yellen and Ager were responsible for such hits as "Ain't She Sweet" (1927) and "Happy Days Are Here Again" (1930) along with countless others. During his career, Jack Yellen provided lyrics to over 200 songs. As a side note, Yellen was married to a distant cousin of type designer Jeff Levine's late mother.

A rather narrow and compact design, Monotype Clearface combines both old style and antique characteristics. The lowercase letters are tall, the ascenders and descenders quite short. The intention was to produce a typeface that was easy to read in small sizes, hence the name. Monotype Clearface Bold was first cut for mechanical composition in 1922, and was based on the Clearface Gothic design created by Morris Fuller Benton for ATF in 1910. Although designed as a text face, Monotype Clearface is now more commonly used in advertising and display work.

Metalet Modern JNL was based on the letters found within the Metalet Movie Titling Set manufactured by the Modern Display Advertising Company of Hollywood, California circa the 1940s. Each stamped metal letter would be affixed to the background surface via the use of miniature magnets. Once in place, titles for home movies or slides could be photographed, the letters then returned to their storage area in their box. The character shapes show unusual stroke movement, which means the original models used for these letters were most likely hand-drawn.

The Federal Art Project division of the WPA (Works Progress Administration) employed numerous artists, musicians, actors and other creative sorts in a effort to help many survive the Great Depression of the 1930s. One of the posters created by this project was for a "Card Party and Barter Benefit" with proceeds going toward the Nassau Art Teachers Benefit Fund - taking place at the Coca-Cola plant in Rockville Centre, New York. East Village JNL was derived from this poster, and is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Architype Crouwel is a collection of typefaces created in collaboration with Wim Crouwel, following his agreement with The Foundry, to recreate his experimental alphabets as digital fonts. Crouwel's most recognized work was for the Van Abbe and Stedelijk museums (1954 –72) where he established his reputation for radical, grid-based design. Architype Vierkant was developed from the few letterforms that Crouwel created for an opening spread in a 1972 Drupa catalogue, on the theme ‘typo vision international’ – this single reference showed an interesting interplay of the experimental ideas underpinning his controversial ‘new alphabet’ and Fodor.

We have created this family from the numerous derivatives in use for newspapers since the middle of the 1800s to the 1970s, inspired by the well known Clarendon. Mainly, the patterns are those used to print Le Petit Journal, a popular French Newspaper of the era (published from 1863 to 1937). The present version contains Normal, Italic, Bold and Bold Italic styles, in two sub families: 1906 French News for texts and titlings with upper and lower case, and 1906 French News Caps (Caps, small caps, small numerals, for texts and titlings).

Goudy Sans Bold was originally designed by Fredric Goudy in 1922 as a less formal "gothic" and finished in 1929. The light was designed in 1930 and the Light Italic in 1931. Alternate letterforms are included in these three Goudy designs which are digitized true to their original design. In 2006, designer Colin Kahn drew "LTC Goudy Sans Regular" which is a medium weight version intended for text purposes. Kahn has also designed an experimental "LTC Goudy Sans Hairline" which has a skeletal almost mono-width stroke and results in a surprisingly elegant display face.

The inspiration for this font made its first appearance in the 1897 American Type Founders specimen book, under the name "Lithotint". As the name suggests, the original was tinted gray (diagonal lines formed the body); this version is solid and spooky, too. The font contains a few ghostly graphics, including ghosts at the bracket positions, a haunted house at the backslash position, and a scary backdrop at the ASCII tilde and ASCII circumflex positions. Both versions of the font include 1252 Latin, 1250 CE (with localization for Romanian and Moldovan).

Edda Pro is another art nouveau revival by German type designer Ralph M. Unger. Edda Pro is based on Edda, designed in 1900 by Heinrich Heinz Heune for Schelter & Giesecke, Leipzig, Germany. Unger redesigned the beautiful forms, completed and expanded this outline caps-only typeface for the profonts library. Also, he added a nice collection of very useful frames and ornaments in EPS format supplied with the OTF version of Edda Pro.Edda Pro can be used for anything in advertising, signmaking, posters, restaurants, hairdressing, paint, wallpaper and so on.

Jongleur is a multifaceted hand-drawn display typeface based on a Maury Nemoy lettering from 1957. Packed with handy OpenType features, the font makes automatic substitutions when you turn on the contextual alternates, creating an interesting hand-lettered feel. If you're in a messy mood, use the stylistic alternates instead! The font also brings an extra set of alternate letterforms you can pick by hand to spice up your compositions. Great choice for titles and small amounts of text, perfect for posters, book covers and a wide range of applications.

Brody’s fonts borrow elements from both Art Deco and non-Western styles. His designs received international recognition for their innovative, computer-oriented style, reaching almost cult status. Four original Brody fonts are available from Linotype Library GmbH: Insignia, Industria-Solid, Industria Inline and Arcadia. For your convenience, we have gathered all four into one package. Insignia has the basic forms of constructed grotesque fonts and was influenced by the New Typography of the Bauhaus during the 1930s. Its image reflects the Zeitgeist of that age, suggesting technology and progress.

While searching online for vintage type inspirations, an image was spotted of an old letterhead for a steel manufacturing company. The hand lettering of the word 'Ludlum' only offered D,L,M and E as visual examples, but from this Jeff Levine has designed Eckhardt Dualine JNL - a Deco-flavored dual-line type font. As with a number of other releases that emulate hand-lettering or sign painting, Jeff has named this font in honor of his good friend, the late Albert Eckhardt, Jr.; who ran Allied Signs in Miami from 1959 until his passing.

Tucked inside the November 5, 1927 issue of a German signpainters' trade paper was a single sheet headed Der Schilder und Schriftenmaler, which featured an alphabet called "Neue Fraktur". An exuberant (if somewhat unconventional) combination of Art Deco sensibilities and blackletter forms, the font retains its freshness, even today. Included in this version are Deco bishops fingers at the bar and broken bar positions, and a styling, horn-blowing herald at ASCII circumflex and tilde positions. Both versions of the font include 1252 Latin and 1250 CE (with localization for Romanian and Moldovan) character sets.

Introducing RETRO-86 - A modern take on old-school computer graphic fonts. RETRO-86 was inspired by the low-resolution computer graphics of the 1970s, 80s, and 90s seen in classic games and on computer screens and interfaces. RETRO-86 features a beautifully limited, blocky design and is perfect for projects relating to the tech industry, the gaming world, and nostalgic work from the late 20th century. RETRO-86 is also a hyper versatile typeface. It comes in 2 complementary styles (regular, and shadow) and features 8 weight options each!

Klagia is a font inspired by the advertising media back in 1970. The glory of printing and handpainted signs and visuals. Emphasizing the bold, loud, yet poppin' and modern retro vibes that will be stylish in any era. It makes Klagia a font that you need to have in your design arsenal. Contains a bunch of Ligatures and Stylistic Alternates to give a distinctive vibe in every message conveyed using Klagia font. Perfectly fit for logo, branding, advertising, poster, food and beverages, restaurant, book cover, album artwork, decoration, sign painting, and many more.

The compendium Alphabete: ein Schriftaltas von A bis Z listed the pattern for this family of faces under the name Chicago which, owing to the number of other faces using the same name, makes its origins difficult to ascertain. Nonetheless, its soft lines and round forms have a timeless appeal makes this family an excellent choice for both headlines and text use. Both versions of this font include the complete Latin 1252, Central European 1250 and Turkish 1254 character sets, along with localization for Lithuanian, Moldovan, Romanian and Turkish.

The Techno sound of the 1990s, a personal computer, a font creation software and some inspiration had been the sources to the F2F (Face2Face) font series. Alessio Leonardi and his friends had the demand to create new unusual faces that should be used in the leading german techno magazine "Frontpage". Even typeset in 6 point to nearly unreadability it was a pleasure for the kids to read and decrypt the messages. About Al Retto: "Al" means "Alessio Leonardi" and Retto "straight", but if you read it as an italian world means "in the a**".

Portsmouth Second Fleet is the rag tag, wild bunch companion to Portsmouth. It is a strong, sturdy typeface with historical character. Its inspiration comes from the height and strength of the wooden tall ships that sailed into port in their day. With caps and small caps, this typeface is great for headlines or subheads for design projects that need a historical or retro feel, such as from the 1940s and earlier. Two different styles that can be layered allow for different colored drop shadows, outlines and fill for even more customization.

Supaduper PB is a font inspired by some wonderfully funky hand-lettered greeting cards from the 1980's. The delightfully awkward and animated playfulness of this lettering style was maintained throughout the fleshing out from the original specimens - and I think you're going to have a lot of fun typing with this. Even if you haven't seen these old greeting cards, the lettering style has a familiar visual to it. Bring back a little nostalgia, add a little wonkiness, or just have fun typing with Supaduper PB today!

Biscayne is inspired by the old and classic Art Deco art and architecture found in some building ads from the 1930's in the Art Deco District of Miami. The name of the font family is one of the most emblematic and representative places in Miami City. Biscayne can be used mainly in titles, display and short texts. This typeface family supports East Europe languages. It also includes standard and discretionary ligatures, alternative style of uppercase, fractions, numerators and denominators, end and/or terminal forms and other OpenType features.

The evocative and original Retrofit is based on typefaces of the 1940s and 50s, which extolled the virtues of American products in glossy magazines for the new suburban consumer. Oversized terminal bulbs and occasional slab serifs lend a rhythm and a bouncing baseline provides just the "zing" to spice up that bland typographic treatise. Retrofit's easy familiarity can be seen on children's books, games, food packaging, and other places where a kid friendly note is needed. Retrofit has been adapted by Quickutz for their punched letter cutting tool, and re-named "Maggie".

Originally designed by American type designer Morris Fuller Benton in 1933, Agency Gothic is a wonderful, narrow, squarish art deco typeface. I was commissioned by Publish magazine to create digital versions of Agency Gothic Open and Agency Gothic Condensed for a redesign in 1990. Since then, I have added four other styles. Agency Gothic CT is uppercase only and supports most European languages that use the Latin or Cyrillic alphabets. The Agency Gothic CT family is available in six weights/styles: Light, Medium, Bold, Condensed, Inline, and Open.

Poplar is an Adobe Originals typeface designed by Barbara Lind in 1990 for the Adobe Wood Type series. Poplar, a Gothic condensed, was designed from photographs taken by Rob Roy Kelly of the one surviving copy of an 1830 William Leavenworth type specimen book. Leavenworth possessed unusual artistic abilities, and his treatment of the letterform counters as narrow slits made it the only wood type of its kind displayed during the nineteenth century. Poplar is an excellent display face, its simplicity making it useful for a broad range of work.

Decode is a retro styled font, referencing the art deco typography from the 1920's and 30's. The font is designed to be in keeping with the art deco style but with a contemporary and modern finish making it a stylish font for all kinds of work. The typeface is available in 3 complimentary styles. Use one on its own as a headline font or combine all three to create eye catching typographic displays. Each version comes with deco styled caps with an alternate uppercase to add extra variation to your work.

Say hello to a new Typoforge member! Nisse is a display font family that consists of 4 styles (including italics). The regular and rough versions differ in the amount of wear. It’s inspired by Rex typeface first published by „The Jan Idzikowski and Co. Foundry“ in 1930. Nisse has a high amount of detail making it ideal for large prints and poster design. It is specified by a huge amount of automatic alternates. Each basic latin letter has five versions, the numbers have thee versions and extended latin letters have two versions.