Telegram is the work of British designer Timothy Donaldson, a casual style influenced by the ball and rod, or atomic, imagery popular during the 1950s. Donaldson called the typeface Telegram because it reminds him of dots and dashes. Telegram is a play alphabet which communicates an almost childlike innocence and is ideal for work directed at younger people.

Printing Set JNL by Jeff Levine comes from a toy rubber stamp printing set imported from Japan in the 1950s and 1960s that's been revived, but is now imported from China. The font has a serif letter so typical of import toys of the day, but actually reads quite nicely in short headlines and specialty ad copy.

A 1963 issue of Billboard Magazine contained an ad for Jimmy Smith (along with some other artists on the same record label) that was hand-lettered in a free-form style similar to show-card ‘one-stroke’ typographic design. This was the inspiration for Top Forty JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

A companion piece to Mulgrave, this font is the intermediary design between the chunky Victorian style that Mulgrave reproduces and the Ministry of Transport sans introduced in 1933 and digitised as Ministry. Although they date from between 1910 and 1933, these signs show the beginnings of several features Ministry later incorporated, notably the thinner strokes and the more modern forms of the G, M, R and S. The letter widths are approaching a monospace - the L, F and E are relatively wide compared to the W and M, a feature that may have something to do to the casting process. These idiosyncracies were all ironed out when the first version of the MOT alphabet was produced. The Device digitization, as with Mulgrave, stays true to the worn and repainted original metal source material and preserves the unusual widths.

SchmalfetteCP is the result of another collaboration between designers Jason Walcott and Rob King. King suggested that Walcott revive this wonderful and somewhat forgotten sans serif typeface from the mid 1950s. Originally designed by Walter Haettenschweiler in 1954, Schmalfette Grotesk was used for many years in the German magazine "Twen". The typeface was notoriously hard to acquire at the time and graphic designers in the USA often resorted to cutting letters from the Twen magazines and reusing them in their own designs. Later, when digital type came along several typefaces very similar were created that claimed to be digital revivals of Schmalfette Grotesk. However, they are actually only loosely based on the original. The proportions are different and in some cases a lower case was added. The original font was all caps. At Rob King's suggestion, Jason Walcott has strived to recreate the most faithful digital revival possible of the original Schmalfette Grotesk with the new version of SchmalfetteCP. In some cases small changes were made to accommodate today's digital needs (e.g. web fonts), but anyone who has ever searched for this typeface now has a version available that most closely resembles Haettenschweiler's original work. Schmalfette CP comes in OpenType format in both .ttf and .otf files and offers support for all Latin based and Eastern European languages.

This old classic font has an interesting history, it was originally cut with lowercase by the Bruce Type Foundry in 1865 and listed as Ornamented No. 1514. Around 1903 the Bruce foundry was bought by ATF, in 1933 this font was revived by ATF as Caps only and was given the Gold Rush name but was sometimes called Klondike. A similar version of this font with lowercase and radiused serifs was produced by the James Conner's Sons Type Foundry around 1888. In the past other foundries such as the Carroll foundry, Type Founders of Phoenix and the Los Angeles Type Foundry have produced an all caps version of this font. After examining several printed sources of this font from more recent books I found that the original from Bruce's 1882 book was by far the best in design quality, it was also the only printed source that included the lowercase. New open faced, ornamented and distressed versions have been added to this old classic font, there are also many extended characters for Western, Central and Eastern European countries. The Gold Rush Trail OpenType version has alternate double letter pairs included in the font and will automatically be substituted when used in Adobe CS products or other software that takes advantage of OpenType features. Also available is a spurred version of this font listed under the name Gold Spur.

Maxwell is a clean condensed san serif typeface inspired by similar retro fonts from the 1950's. It comes in regular and small caps versions, includes stylistic alternatives and via the glyph panel you can access scientific inferiors, fractions, oldstyle numerals, Cyrillic, Greek, Latin and other Western and Central European languages. It can be used as a headline font or paragraph text.

Used Cars JNL is based on one of the many unique alphabets created by the late Alf R. Becker for Signs of the Times magazine from the 1930s through the 1950s. Special thanks to Tod Swormstedt of ST Media (who is also the curator of the American Sign Museum in Cincinnati, Ohio) for providing the reference material for this design

Neo Neo is the work of British designer Timothy Donaldson, a type style straight out of a 1950s time capsule. It can be set in all caps or a mixture of capitals and lowercase. The casual, slightly condensed forms with their smooth, soft lines are reminiscent of highway diners and motel ads of the time and convey a bright, inviting mood.

Dialog is my first sans serif. I had made some attempts earlier, but they didn't satisfy me. Dialog was, on the contrary, so inspiring that I made 19 different fonts of it, the most complete typeface for several years. I usually prefer typefaces with serifs, but I don't miss them in Dialog. The name needs no explanation. Dialog was released in 1993.

The typeface Garaldus was presented in 1956 by Italian designer Aldo Novarese, inspired by Venetian tradition of the sixteenth century: the font name derives from Claude Garamond and Aldus Manutius. A peculiarity of this font is to change appearance, acquiring a form a more or less angular, depending on the size of the text and the way in which it is printed.

The inspiration for this elegant, willowy typeface was found in the 1903 type specimen catalog of Barnhard Brothers & Spindler. The original version was named "Racine"; this version takes its name from another town in Wisconsin. The Postscript and Truetype versions contain a complete Latin language character set (Unicode 1252); in addition, the Opentype version supports Unicode 1250 (Central European) 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.

From the titles and credits of the 1952 British comedy “Song of Paris” comes this whimsical, hand lettered type design that’s casual, playful and charming. The digital version is called French Song JNL, and is available in both regular and oblique versions. This font release is the 1800th type design Jeff Levine Fonts has issued since its inception in January, 2006.

Erle Stanley Gardner’s beloved lawyer “Perry Mason” first appeared on screen in a series of six films with Warren Williams starring in four of them. The hand lettered opening title for 1935’s “The Case of the Lucky Legs” is a classic Art Deco sans serif design, and is now available as Courtroom JNL in both regular and oblique versions.

Based upon Emil Rudolf Weiss’ Fraktur, first released in 1913, Emilia Fraktur was redrawn and extended not only with its engraved initial caps but also with various ornaments and border elements. To get access to all ligatures, it is recommended to activate both Standard and Discretionary Ligatures. The quickest way to the long s is by typing the integral sign.

Retro Signs JNL collects nearly 50 designs modeled from old water transfer sign decals once manufactured by the Duro Decal Company of Chicago, Illinois and adds in a generous amount of additional phrases newly-drawn in the same hand lettered style. These vintage sign panels are perfect for creating nostalgic signage to fit projects centered around the 1950s and early 1960s.

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 typeface was designed at the Polygraphmash type design bureau in 1949-61 (project manager Elena Tsaregorodtseva). Based on Shkolnaya ('School') typeface, 1939 (project manager Evgeny Chernevsky), a version of Century Schoolbook of American Type Founders, 1915-1923 by Morris F.Benton. The low-contrast text typeface of the Ionic-Legibility group, it is designed expressly for schoolbooks and children books.

This handy family takes its design cues from Beton, a slab serif designed by Heinrich Jost for Bauersche Gießerei in 1931. A number of characters have been softened by the addition of ball terminals, commonly seen on manual typewriter type in the 1950s. Both versions of this font contain the complete Latin A Extended character set, as well as extended ligatures and fractions.

Bill Rigney, an old job printer in my home town, established his shop in 1896, closed it in 1900 to take a steady job, stored the equipment in a large shed, and reopened for business upon his retirement in 1950. What a find! A bonanza of old type! We became good friends and upon his death I bought the type. Bless you Bill.

Cabriolet is a connected geometric script re-interpretation inspired by old chromo emblems of Chevy truck Apache of 1960. With three weight variables, it can be used in logos, games and graphic related to cars, automotive, American, Detroit, Art Deco, 1940, 1950, 1960, vintage, retro, classic and old machines. Can be expandable using underscore for connect words or expanding between letters space.

A set of oil board stencils from Great Britain (probably from the 1950s) was the model for Sussex Semi Stencil JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions. Because many of the characters are ‘solid’ rather than containing the breaks [known as ‘islands’] of a traditional stencil letter, this is why the type design was given the ‘semi stencil’ designation.

This bouncy little number is based on handlettering often found on greeting cards in the 1950s and 1960s, and often the work of Alan Denney. Wild and wacky (and maybe a little bit tacky), this monocase font is a sure attention-getter. This font contains the complete Latin language character set (Unicode 1252) plus support for Central European (Unicode 1250) languages as well.

This exuberant face was suggested by a piece of French sheet music from the 1930s for the song Sur un Air de Shimmy, The name comes from an Australian song from the 1950s about a noncompliant boomerang. Both versions of this font contain the Unicode 1252 (Latin) and Unicode 1250 (Central European) character sets, with localization for Romanian and Moldovan.

A short-lived TV game show from 1977 called “Second Chance” has its logo lettered in a bold, block type style with slightly chamfered corners. This inspired Chancy JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions. While “Second Chance” only lasted one season, the show was re-tooled - and debuted in 1983 as “Press Your Luck” – which ran until 1986.

Divina is a Latinized digitization of one of German calligraphy master Rudolph Koch's typefaces. The original typeface, Kurrent, was designed in 1927 and cut in 1935. Its shapes are a variant of the German script to be used as a model for writing in schools at the time. This is the first time Koch's rendition of this particular blackletter calligraphy was ever digitized.

This elegant yet playful offering is based on the typeface Domino designed by Alfred Riedel for the German foundry Ludwig & Mayer in 1954. Its large x-height and subtly sinuous curves make it a natural choice for headlines which are both warm and compelling. Both versions of the font include 1252 Latin, 1250 CE (with localization for Romanian and Moldovan).

Varvara is a new display typefaces family create as a tribute to the work of Barbara Stepanova (1894-1958). Varvara family has light, medium and bold weights in 6 differents versions (normal, rough, screen, inline, shadow and star), all with alternates letters. All versions are provided in latin, cyrillic and greek alphabets. It can be use for text as for titling applications.

The 1935 catalog for Vitrolite (a brand of pigmented structural glass) featured artist renderings of how the glass could be applied to business exteriors. One of the lettering styles used in these examples was an Art Deco lower case. This design has been turned into a digital typeface called Retail Establishment JNL and is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Steve Jackaman & Ashley Muir. Packard Old Style is based on lettering drawn by Oswald Cooper for the Packard Motor Company (ATF 1913). The bold weight is credited to Morris Fuller Benton (ATF 1916), but it is highly probable that Benton did the adaptation for both weights. Packard Old Style Pro contains all the high-end features expected in a quality OpenType Pro font.

Here’s a warm, casual text font based on an early twentieth century work by lettering artist Elizabeth Colwell, released by American Type Founders in 1923. For this update, all four fonts have been completely redrawn, and many new characters have been added. Both versions of this font contain the complete Latin A Extended character set, as well as extended ligatures and fractions.

Trump Mediaeval is an Old Face font developed by Georg Trump between 1954 and 1962. All cuts have both normal and old style numbers and their robust characters make them suitable even for inferior paper. Light and legible, the open forms of the lower case letters allow this font to be legible in text with as small a point size as 5.

MardiParty is a totally wild latin typestyle with inlines that grow out of it. Inspired by hand-lettering from a 1950's Haiti travel brochure, where the original lettering was just the word "Haiti", this font proved a fun challenge to flesh out. The end result, a funktastical tribute to its origins, perfect for any celebration themed invitations, logotypes, or outlandish branding.

Monoline Script font was designed for the Monotype Corporation in 1933. A medium-weight script, it has lowercase letters that are very close together and a profusion of loops in the ascenders. The capitals are very informal and also have loops and curlicues that give Monoline Script font a cheerful look. Monoline Script can be used for announcements, invitations, and other informal work.

This connected and brush script is very impressive, but is also legible, so it is the best for package of sweets or breads, shop card, shop front and so on. Holiday Type Project offers retro hand drawing scripts. Inspired by retro script on shopfront lettering, wall paint advertisements in Italy around 1950s. Check out the script fonts from Holiday Type!

The typeface was designed at the Polygraphmash type design bureau in 1951-53 by Lev Malanov, Elena Tsaregorodtseva et al. Based on Cyrillic version of Excelsior, 1931, of Mergenthaler Linotype, by Chauncey H. Griffith. Excelcior Cyrillic was developed in 1936 in Moscow by Professor Michael Shchelkunov, Nikolay Kudryashev et al. A low-contrast text face of the Ionic – "Legibility" group.

Here's a handy collection of 72 type adornments gleaned from American Type Foundry catalogs from 1913 to 1934, featuring little treasures from some of the early twentieth century's most respected designers, including Will Bradley, Frederic Goudy and George Trenholm. Among the goodies are fleurons, pilcrows, guidons, bishops fingers, mortised initial frames and several other useful elements to dress up your documents.

Becka Script was designed by David Harris in 1985 and is a wide running typeface with varying stroke contrasts. This font looks as though written with a broad tipped pen and its slight slant to the right makes clear its similarity to callipgraphy fonts. Becka Script is reminiscent of the 1950s and its strong strokes make it best for headlines or shorter texts.