This heavyweight poster sans is based on the typeface Samson, designed by Robert Hunter Middleton for the Ludlow Type Foundry in 1940. The slanted uprights suggesting brushwork make this face a perfect choice for casually commanding headlines. Both versions include the complete Latin 1252, Central European 1250 and Turkish 1254 character sets, with localization for Lithuanian, Moldovan and Romanian.

Fire the retro rockets! Here's a decidedly different take on techno type, patterned after Robert Williamson's Program 32 from the 1970s. Despite its machine-readable pretensions, it renders remarkably warm headlines. 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.

Artist Colony JNL is the third type design inspired by some online examples from an early 20th Century French book of decorative hand lettering. While Arte Critique JNL and French Art Initials JNL embrace the Art Noveau style, Artist Colony JNL leans more toward the emerging Art Deco Movement of the late 1920s and early 1930s.

Here's another gem from Samuel Welo's perennial classic, The Studio Handbook, originally called Goddard Classic. Welo's inimitable penwork manages to be both worldly and whimsical, and remains as fresh today as when it was first introduced in the 1920s. Both versions of this font include the complete Unicode Latin 1252, Central European 1250 and Turkish 1254 character sets.

Ask any typical New Yorker about subway directions and they'll tell you to take the "uptown line", "downtown line" or "cross-town line". Uptown Line JNL is yet another variation of the Art Deco monoline style of lettering prevalent during the 1930s and 1940s, and is based on titling from vintage sheet music for a Johann Strauss classical piece.

Inspired by handlettering used on many WPA posters of the 1930s, this monocase display font has stylish lines and graceful curves that will add period charm to any project they grace. Available and normal and bold weights. The Opentype versions of these fonts support Unicode 1250 (Central European) languages, as well as Unicode 1252 (Latin) languages.

A 1920 art magazine from Great Britain entitled “Pan” had its three letter name hand lettered on the cover in a style that had elements of Art Nouveau, Art Deco and what would eventually be called Techno in the 1980s. This inspired the typeface Art Magazine JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Birch Beer JNL comes from lettering spotted on a European business sign found in some stock footage that was used for an old black and white film about World War II. The name is derived from a popular root beer-like soda sold by the Royal Castle Restaurants that were popular in Florida from the 1930s through the 1970s.

The 1900 specimen book of the Leipzig foundry Schelter & Giesecke featured this curious hybrid of blackletter and Art Nouveau, under the name Petrarka. Its narrow footprint and large x-height make it an ideal choice for headlines which harken both forward and back. Both versions contain the complete Latin 1252, Central European 1250 and Turkish 1254 character sets.

This curious little gem is patterned after a typeface named "Bloomsbury", released by P. M. Shanks & Sons, Ltd. of London in the 1920s. Its gentle curves and somewhat quirky construction combine to create a warm and friendly, if slightly offbeat, antique charm. Both versions of the font include 1252 Latin, 1250 CE (with localization for Romanian and Moldovan).

This charming, disarming, roly-poly typeface is based on handlettering discovered on a Sabena Airlines travel brochure of the 1930s. Include it in your next project, and a good time will be had by all. Both versions of this font contain complete Unicode 1252 (Latin) and Unicode 1250 (Central European) character sets, with localization for Romanian and Moldovan.

This elegant titling face is based on an American Type Founders release from the 1920s named Sterling. Hairline serifs and graceful curves give this typeface a certain grace and charm that will brighten up any project. All versions of this font include the Unicode 1250 Central European character set in addition to the standard Unicode 1252 Latin set.

At first glance, this unusual display face might appear to be a product of the 1960s, with its highly unconventional letterforms and its plastic, fantastic highlight treatment. However, this font is in fact inspired by a ca. 1930 poster for a Belgian beer of the same name. The uncredited Flemish designer was clearly a head of his time (ouch!).

This delightful semiscript is based on an offering from a 1930s specimen book from the Mergenthaler Linotype Company, originally called, simply, "Card Italic". Elegant without being stuffy, it is equally “at home” announcing anything from formal occasions to casual get-togethers. Both versions of the font include 1252 Latin, 1250 CE (with localization for Romanian and Moldovan).

Based on the typeface Sculpture, designed by Charles Allen in the 1960s for Photolettering, this font is an intriguing exercise in implicit letterforms, using cast shadows to suggest, rather than delineate. Both sublime and subliminal, it’s an excellent choice for commanding headlines. Both versions of the font include 1252 Latin, 1250 CE (with localization for Romanian and Moldovan).

A sign in a London storefront, ca. 1930, pitching—surprise!—Smart Frocks provided the visual cues for designing this typeface. Singularly stylish, hip and haughty and decidedly Deco, this is the smart font to use! This font contains the complete Latin language character set (Unicode 1252) plus support for Central European (Unicode 1250) languages as well.

Night Life JNL follows the classic lettering forms of the Art Deco era of the 1930s and 1940s. On the upper case letters, the A,B,E,F,H,K,P and R have extended horizontals, while the lower case a,b,e,f,h,k,p and r have those extensions removed and are more traditional in design.

Here's a stencil version of another Nick's Fonts typeface based on Chic, a Morris Fuller Benton creation for American Type Founders from the 1920s. Stylish and sophisticated as always, and now with an arts-and-crafts flair. Both versions of this font include the Unicode Latin 1252 and 1250 Central European character sets, with localization for Moldovan and Romanian.

An Art Nouveau, hand lettering on a Good Housekeeping magazine cover from the 1920s inspired Monthly Issue JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions. Prior to the 1940s, it was not unusual to find the covers of many popular magazines hand lettered with either their names and/or content information; often in different type styles.

A 1905 poster for the Austrian National Highway by artist Gustav Jahn inspired the letterforms for this typeface. In the spirit of comity, Barnhart Brothers & Spindler's Publicity Gothic Initial Caps inspired the uppercase treatment. Both versions of this font contain the Unicode 1252 (Latin) and Unicode 1250 (Central European) character sets, with localization for Romanian and Moldovan.

A playful Art Deco face from master penman Samuel Welo is combined with design elements used in 1930s signage to create this architectural face. End caps are created with {brackets} and spaces with the design elements are _underscores. Both versions of this font support the Latin 1252, Central European 1250, Turkish 1254 and Baltic 1257 codepages.

1950's style casual script.

Jetlab is a typographic time machine that drops you squarely into the techno-futuristic optimism of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s! While certain weights may conjure familiar space race-era logos from the sci-fi movies, board games, sports teams, new wave bands and sneaker brands of the late 20th century, the complete 45-weight Jetlab font family is loaded with modern features to power your retro-futuristic designs with near-infinite versatility. Features: 45 weights provide widths from squeezed to stretched and weights from light to heavy, plus reverse-stress (that's thick horizontal strokes with thin verticals) high, medium and low crossbar options upper and lowercase letters provide two distinct styles a four-axis variable font provides precise control of width, vertical & horizontal weight, and crossbar height 500 glyphs support 223 languages, including Western & Central Europe and Vietnamese

Kanona JNL is modeled from one of the numerous alphabets created by the late Alf R. Becker for Signs of the Times magazine from the 1930s through the 1950s. Thanks to a wealth of source material provided by Tod Swormstedt of ST Media (and who is also the curator of the American Sign Museum in Cincinnati, Ohio), Jeff Levine has been redrawing many of these alphabets and presenting them in digital form. The original variations in letter widths from Becker’s hand-painted alphabet have been left intact.

Casual script styled after 1950s signage.

Opinion varies regarding the role of Claude Garamond (ca. 1480–1561) in the development of the Old Face font Garamond. What is accepted is the influence this font had on other typeface developments from the time of its creation to the present. Garamond, or Garamont, is related to the alphabet of Claude Garamond (1480–1561) as well as to the work of Jean Jannon (1580–1635 or 1658), much of which was attributed to Garamond. In comparison to the earlier Italian font forms, Garamond has finer serif and a generally more elegant image. The Garamond of Jean Jannon was introduced at the Paris World’s Fair in 1900 as Original Garamond, whereafter many font foundries began to cast similar types. The famous Stempel Garamond interpretation of the 1920s remains true to the original Garamond font with its typical Old Face characteristics. The bold italic was a modern addition at the end of the 1920s and the small caps provided an alternative to the standard capital letters. In the mid 1980s, a light version was added to Stempel Garamond. Since its appearance, Stempel Garamond has been one of the most frequently used text fonts.

PM Showman is based on vintage hand-painted sign writing from the 1900s through the 1960s. Seen on everything from office signs to posters, it was a staple of business communication and entertainment advertising in the early 20th century. We meticulously hand-drew each font, modeling the spacing and quirkiness of the original letterforms to give PM Showman an authentic hand-painted look.

Turn on the mirrored ball, and haul out the gold chains and white suits! This Disco dazzler is a new take on Bass Rainbow, designed by Saul Bass in the 1970s. Hip, hot and heavy, this typeface is ready to get down. This font contains the complete Latin language character set (Unicode 1252) plus support for Central European (Unicode 1250) languages as well.

Will Ransom designed the exemplar for this series for Barnhart Brothers & Spindler in the early 1900s. The typeface was originally named "Parsons", after the advertising director of a Chicago department store (evidently a very BIG customer of BB&S). Both versions of this font contain the Unicode 1252 (Latin) and Unicode 1250 (Central European) character sets, with localization for Romanian and Moldovan.

Head 'em up and roll 'em out! Western styling with a wagonful of whimsy combine in this little beauty, based on a typeface named Blackjack, designed by Vincent Pacella for Photolettering in the 1970s. 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

An extremely low midline marks this offering, based on an “elegant” alphabet found in Samuel Welo’s chapbook, Lettering: Modern and Foreign, published in 1930 by Frederick J. Drake and Company. Definitely different, and Deco at its most debonair. All versions of this font include the Unicode 1250 Central European character set in addition to the standard Unicode 1252 Latin set.

A delightfully different typeface named Aphrodite, designed by Richard Nebiolo for Photolettering in the 1970s, provided the pattern for this svelte beauty. Graceful and elegant, it's the perfect choice for tasteful yet commanding headlines. 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.

This unusual sans typeface was inspired by a serif face called Faust, designed by Albert Kapr for the Institut für Buchgestaltung in 1959. Its mix of medieval, Jugenstil and Bauhaus influences makes it an intriguing choice for your next project. Both versions of this font include the Unicode Latin 1252 and 1250 Central European character sets, with localization for Moldovan and Romanian.

In 1956, Schriftgeißerei Genzsch & Heyse released the pattern for this typeface, designed by Werner Rebhuhn, under the name "Hobby". Despite its Eisenhower-era origins, the face retains its casual charm, spontaneity and freshness even after half a century. Both versions of the font contain the complete Unicode 1252 (Latin) and Unicode 1250 (Central European) character sets, with localization for Romanian and Moldovan.

Vintage sheet music for the 1920s song "Where Did Robinson Crusoe Go with Friday on Saturday Night?" yielded the hand lettered Art Nouveau alphabet for Nouveau Display JNL. Because the Art Nouveau movement was so influential in the graphic designs of the 1960s "Love Generation" counter culture, this typeface blends itself well with projects crossing many decades and varying styles.

This engaging antique text face is based on Paragon Light, from the 1905 specimen book from Barnhart Brothers & Spindler. Although it is spaced and kerned for text work, it also is suited for headlines if you tighten the tracking. Both versions of this font contain complete Unicode 1252 (Latin) and Unicode 1250 (Central European) character sets, with localization for Romanian and Moldovan.

A charming headline font, bold yet feminine, based on Lilith, designed by Lucien Bernhard for Bauersche Gießerei in 1930. Some of the fussier elements of the original have been removed in order to create an elegant exercise in typographic chiaroscuro. Both versions of this font contain the Unicode 1252 (Latin) and Unicode 1250 (Central European) character sets, with localization for Romanian and Moldovan.

Eckhardt Trilinear JNL was inspired by [and modeled from] a pen-drawn alphabet found in a 1960 edition of the Speedball® lettering textbook. As with many other "sign painter-oriented" typefaces by Jeff Levine, it is named in honor of Jeff's good friend -- the late Albert Eckhardt, Jr. Al ran Allied Signs in Miami, Florida from 1959 until his passing.

The chamfered block style of lettering has been a workhorse for years. From the early signage of the 1800s to military markings to the techno fonts of the 1980s and beyond, its clean and simple look gets the message across easily and boldly. Industrialist JNL and its oblique partner were modeled from the title on a piece of sheet music from the 1940s.

The 1930s produced many distinctive and stylish autos. One was the Auburn, and this typeface was suggested by a period poster for the make. Another fine car of the time gives the font its name, because “it’s a Duesie!” Both versions of this font contain the Unicode 1252 Latin and Unicode 1250 Central European character sets, with localization for Romanian and Moldovan.