Koehler Sans JNL was inspired by a set of cardboard sign kit letters made by the Koehler Sign Company of Missouri (presumably) in the late 1940s or early 1950s. Not much is known about them, other than the letters looked interesting enough to turn into a font.

Sign Artist JNL is a casual typeface, emulating the hand-lettered look of show card and sign lettering. Created by Jeff Levine from lettering seen on some 1940's packaging, the slightly irregular letter stroke widths and shapes more closely resemble printing made with brush or ink.

Techno Retro JNL looks like a design straight out of the 1980s, but it actually appeared as hand lettering on a sheet music cover for the circa-1940s edition of the song "To You Sweetheart, Aloha", proving the old saying that "everything old is new again".

Smena was based on the lettering of the so called 'calligraphic style' that was very popular during the period 1940-1970. The style was used in logos, book and magazine headlines, posters, signage etc. For use in advertising and display typography. Licensed by ParaType in 2006.

A 1940s sheet music edition of an early 1900s song entitled "You Taught Me How to Love You, Now Teach Me to Forget" was set in a popular metal type slab serif face. It is presented digitally as Elite Resort JNL, in both regular and oblique versions.

Piano Lesson JNL comes from the hand lettered title on a 1940s-era piece of sheet music called "The Adult Explorer at the Piano". The mix of both regular and irregular character shapes makes for an interesting font that's Art Deco influenced, yet has its own individual personality.

The idea for Gummed Letters JNL came from an online auction of some foil-embossed gummed letters from the 1940s and 1950s. One particular set was of a sans serif face that hadn't been produced in decades, and Jeff Levine felt it was worthy of a digital treatment.

Tally Text Light is an early photolettering type, sometime in the 1940s, when words were hand assembled from individual film positives of the letters, then re-photographed. We made the bold face version of Tally Text Light by optical trickery long before the computer came into general use.

A vintage Canadian-published music book circa the 1940s had the title "Strauss Waltzes" hand lettered in a bold Art Deco sans serif that featured block style letters with rounded corners. This was the working model for Formal Dance JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Pinsher, is a font inspired by Signs Painting, This font is based on retro hand-painted paper signs primarily seen in grocery stores from the 1940s through today. With additional shadow font you will be able to create the beautiful combination and bring retro touch to your artworks!

Popularity JNL is an all-caps titling font, based (for the most part) on a popular typeface known in some foundry books as "Radiant". Many pieces of sheet music from the 1940s engaged this lettering design for their titles, and with some newly-reinterpreted characters, it takes on a fresh look.

Based on the logotype lettering for the Dutch magazine Geillustreerd Schildersblad in 1940, this devilishy different Deco font will add a bit of naive charm to any project it graces. This font contains the complete Latin language character set (Unicode 1252) plus support for Central European (Unicode 1250) languages as well.

Vintage New York neon signage alongside the landmark Dubrow's Cafeteria [probably circa the 1940s] of the words "retail shop" inspired the namesake digital type design. Retail Shop JNL is a bold and somewhat eccentric Art Deco font with varying widths and unusual character forms available in both regular and oblique versions.

Performer JNL, is a typeface re-drawn from condensed hand lettering found on a piece of vintage sheet music. Fairly basic in style, there are still some hints of the Art Deco influence that permeated the 1930s and 1940s art, design and typography. Available in both regular and oblique versions.

Triborough JNL is the heavier-weight version of Wingate JNL, a narrow, all-caps font from Jeff Levine. Evoking the feel of 1930s and 1940s store and architectural signs, use Triborough JNL along with its counterpart for a nice dual-weight contrast... or by itself for an elegant Art Deco look.

In the 1960 edition of Sam Welo’s “Studio Handbook – Letter and Design for Artists and Advertisers” you’ll find a bold, hand lettered Art Deco sans serif typeface designed by Welo with a decidedly 1930s-1940s look. This is now available as Pastry Shop JNL, in both regular and oblique versions.

Ragtime was designed by Alan Meetks, an all capital condensed sans serif typeface. It features thick/thin weight variances and fine line casing adornment which recalls magazine styles of the 1940s. This typeface should not be letter spaced too closely. Ragtime is excellent for anything requiring an elegant, refined look.

Afternoon Edition JNL is another classic typeface (with Caslon influence) re-drawn from screen captures of vintage newspaper headlines. The font joins Final Edition JNL, Evening Paper JNL and Morning Paper JNL as a mini-collection of type styles used to grab a reader's attention in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.

Totebag JNL continues the stencil font series from Jeff Levine originally inspired by classic lettering stencils of the 1940s and 1950s. This particular design is common amongst "painting stencils", the individual letters used for marking and identification. Some characters are solid shapes while others have the more traditional "breaks" in the letters.

Harpsichord (as I have named it) is from the late 1940s and was designed at Lucian Bernhard Studios in New York for Bernhard's Magnetype Collection. It was originally published as 'Community Low' along with 'Community Condensed'. Many of his Magnetype Fonts have been dormant which I hope to revive in the near future.

A sales catalog sheet from the American Decalcomania Company circa the late 1940s-early 1950s provided some hand lettering that served as the inspiration for Sign Painter JNL. Emulating the look of characters made with a round pen nib, this Deco-style typeface conveys nostalgia and charm seldom found in advertising of today.

Pop Tune JNL comes from the hand-lettered title on sheet music for "Does Your Heart Beat for Me?". This 1940s hit was co-written and made famous by Russ Morgan and His Orchestra. Many vintage pieces of sheet music employed hand-lettered titles and cartoon illustrations to emphasize the topic of the song itself.

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.

Here is another attempt to create a font for invitation work unlike any already out in the world. In casting about for a name, I decided to call it Valerie after Valerie Hope, a mindreader of days long gone, who played California theatres in the 1930s and 1940s. And who, incidentally, was my mother.

Avenida was created by architect and designer John Chippindale in 1994 and is a constructed typeface that leaves a cool, sophisticated impression. An Art Deco typeface inspired lettering found on buildings constructed in Spain's Andalucian region in the 1930's and 1940's. Avenida is best suited to headlines and short to middle length texts.

Printed Letters JNL is from stamped impressions made by a children's sign making set by the Superior Marking Equipment Company of Chicago - circa the 1940's. The set consisted of individually mounted rubber stamps - easy enough for happy kiddies to print signs, name plates or (unfortunately for their parents) on the walls... Limited character set.

A travel poster from the 1940s for Mexican tourism provided the inspiration for this voluptuous font with a strong architectural feel. A few unexpected idiosynracies in the letterforms add to its charm. Both versions of this font contain the Unicode 1252 Latin and Unicode 1250 Central European character sets, with localization for Romanian and Moldovan.

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.

Squared letters with rounded corners – Deco stylized letter forms – some characters with ‘hook’ semi-serifs – such is the mixed styles that comprise the hand lettered title “United We Stand” on a 1940s-era piece of sheet music. This unusual conglomeration of character shapes inspired the aptly named Hybrid Deco JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Venecian Old Face fonts had a strong influence on typeface design in the 1930s and 1940s in England. Such influence is evident in the font Electra, designed by William A. Dwiggins for Linotype in 1935. Electra combines its classic roots with the Zeitgeist of the 1930s, also displaying characteristics of the Bauhaus and Art Deco styles.

In the MGM musical "Broadway Melody of 1940", a new stage production has its gala opening at the fictitious Lafayette Theater on the Great White Way. The front of the theater is resplendent with classic neon signage, and the theater's name is in an interesting Art Deco design. Musical Number JNL recreates this lettering in digital form.

Mechanized JNL is a solid interpretation of Jeff Levine's stencil font Trencher JNL. Both fonts were based on a photo of hand-cut stencils found on a 1940's trenching machine in the collection of the Marine Corps Mechanized Museum at Camp Pendleton, California. Thanks to restoration volunteer Brian Platzer for providing the images of those stencils.

Figural is the work of Michael Gills, developed under the direction of Colin Brignall. It is based on an original 1940 design of Czechoslovakian designer Oldrich Menhart. All original characteristics were carefully retained in this distinguished typeface family. Figural is highly legible, making it perfect for both short pieces in advertising text or larger applications in magazines or books.

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.

If it's at all possible to "Deco-ize" an Art Deco font even more, it's been done with Roney JNL. Named for one of the classic hotels built during the heyday of Miami Beach, this font is a stylized version of Jeff Levine's Metalet Modern; a design derived from an actual 1940s home movie titling set.

During the 1940s and 1950s, the Miller Music Corporation issued a number of its songs with a stock cover design for their “Miller Series of Piano Solos” but the song titles were hand lettered in an Art Deco dual line design. Recreated digitally as Music Lesson JNL, this type design is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Gerry Powell, typographer, industrial designer, and director of typographic design for American Type Founders, designed Onyx font for ATF in 1937. A very popular advertising type in the 1940s, Onyx resembles an extremely condensed, bold member of the Bodoni family. Onyx is a good display font, with proportions that make it readable even when space is at a premium.

In the days when sheet music was as popular as phonograph records for home entertainment, a song album was a folio of collected works. The hand-lettering on the 1940s-era cover for "The Sigmund Romberg Song Album, Book II" served as the model for Song Album JNL. Romberg was a noted composer of Broadway show tunes.

A quirky and unusual Art Deco monoline typeface can be found within the pages of the Esterbrook Drawlet Pen instruction book [circa the 1940s]. Drawlet was the direct competitor to Speedball Lettering pen nibs. This unusual type design of varying width and character shapes is now available digitally as Oddly Deco JNL, in both regular and oblique versions.

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.