The typeface Modernistic, designed by Wadsworth A. Parker for American Type Founders in 1927, provided the design cues for this typeface which, unlike the original, includes lowercase letters. Best used sparingly for dramatic and memorable headlines. Both versions of this font contain the complete Unicode 1252 (Latin) and Unicode 1250 (Central European) character sets, with localization for Romanian and Moldovan.

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.

Linem Up JNL is based on one of Alf R. Becker's alphabets for Signs of the Times magazine. With A-Z only and basic punctuation, it is best used in very limited text at larger point sizes. Thanks to Tod Swormstedt of ST Publications (and the curator of the American Sign Museum in Cincinnati, Ohio) for providing the reference material.

Rage Italic is the work of American designer Ron Zwingelberg. It was one of the first casual brush style scripts with a rough, textured edge. The initial-like capitals complement a lowercase alphabet which links together to create the look of true handwriting. Rage Italic font is ideal for work that should have the spontaneous look of pen writing on parchment.

The Vtg Stencil fonts from astype are based on real world stencils from several countries. The Vtg Stencil Marsh design was derived from 1 inch stencils, cut by a Marsh R machine. Marsh produced stencil machines since 1922 and was one of the most important manufacturers for such marking machines. The design is part of the American industrial heritage. PDF Specimen

In 1931, Morris Fuller Benton created the Stymie typeface for the American Type Founders (ATF). Stymie is a reworking of a slab serif type that was popular in Europe at that time, Memphis. For the past one hundred fifty years, slab serif types (sometimes called Egyptian or Egyptienne-style faces) have been a popular choice for headline text in newspapers, magazines, and advertising.

This no-nonsense titling face is based on a Morris Fuller Benton 1934 offering for American Type Founders called, simply, Poster Gothic. Its crisp, clean lines and subtle Art Deco modeling make for attractive and attention-getting headlines. Available in plain and prismatic styles. Both versions of this font include the complete Unicode Latin 1252 and Central European 1250 character sets.

DeVinne Ornamental is a display typeface from the famous Parisian typefoundry Deberny & Peignot, developed around 1900. Its style has become synonymous with the Art Noveau period, which was raging internationally when DeVinne Ornamental's letters were first drawn. The typeface is named after the renowned American printer Theodore Low DeVinne (1828-1914). Optimal uses for DeVinne Ornamental include headlines in magazines and newsletters.

Based on Morris Fuller Benton's 1905 oeuvre American Extra Condensed, this titling face packs a lot of information into very little horizontal space. Its champfered corners give the font an industrial feel which remains fresh even after more than a century. Both versions include the complete Latin 1252, Central European 1250 and Turkish 1254 character sets, with localization for Lithuanian, Moldovan and Romanian.

Index is a sans serif font which gives an impression of both movement and harmony. The soft, round forms of this font give it an almost ornamental feel. The influence of American advertisement and poster typefaces of the turn of the 20th century is apparent. Index can be used as a headline or text font in small or larger point sizes.

Thunderbird is an old American-style typeface. It is based on the kinds of big wood type that were popular in old Wild West advertising, which is evident through its ornate serifs, and the pointy flares that pop in and out of the centers of each stroke. Thunderbird is an all caps font and is best used in very large sizes.

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.

This little charmer combines an uppercase designed by American lettering artist J. M. Bergling with a lowercase designed by English architect Roland W. Paul. The result has a wiggle in its walk and a giggle in its talk: oh, baby, that’s what I like! Both versions of the font include 1252 Latin, 1250 CE (with localization for Romanian and Moldovan).

Over the years I have bought many books and music CDs in persuit of my passion for African and Latin (and especially Afro-Latin) cultures. I've noticed that a great number of these books and CDs feature either of two popular display fonts that are, in my opinion, very much overused. As an alternative, I designed Tambor. The Tambor family includes seven styles.

Farquharson is an all-caps display face, adapted from an early American woodtype, and designed especially for use in the book Charlie Farquharson’s Unyverse. The complete family consists of two fonts: a regular version and a stencil version. Alternate versions with slightly elongated feet are provided for A, H, K, M, N and R. Very eccentric, it is best used in small doses.

Nightspot JNL was modeled from one of many display alphabets created by the late sign painter and lettering expert Alf Becker. His work has graced the pages of Signs of the Times® magazine for decades. Special thanks to Tod Swormstedt of the American Sign Museum and ST Publications, Inc. in Cincinnati, Ohio for providing the source material for this typeface.

ITC Kokoa is the work of German graphic designer Jochen Schuss. Schuss found the seeds of inspiration on a trip to Ghana and expanded and experimented with the idea on the computer. It includes an array of symbols and borders to complement its stylized letters. ITC Kokoa retains a touch of its African roots but is overall a modern, funky font.

Howdy is a modern French Clarendon revival typeface inspired by late 19th-century woodblock type and sign painting. Its ties to the American West evoke a distinctive western and retro flair. It was designed with flexibility in mind. Intended for use as a display type, its reverse contrast forms make an impact from tall or wide headlines and anything in between.

The Nixt Font Family is a new font with currently seven styles. As an alternative to Helvetica, Arial, Gill Sans, Futura, & Gotham, Nixt has a similar design aesthetic to those aforementioned in that its design, structure, and feel crosses decades of appeal. From Mid-Century, through the stark '60s, decades of succeeding modern architecture through the turn of the 21st Century, Nixt's glyphs are timeless, clear, ultra-legible in all styles and weights. Best use in Advertising, Branding, Signage, Architecture, Fashion, Posters, Headlines, and By-Lines, Print & Digital, and of course Labels. There are currently, at first release, 7 Styles: Extra Light, Light, Regular, Italic, Book, Bold, & Extra Bold. There are more in process and will be added when completed. The inspiration behind the Nixt Fonts is the Bauhaus, Mid Century Industrial Design, Art Deco through Moderne Era Architecture, American Pottery and American Design of The Twentieth Century.

Claridge was designed by Adrian Williams and released in 1979. The lowercase g of the Claridge font has a distinctive central join to the loop.

A classic “American” sans serif with a kink Desphalia belongs to the kind of sans serif fonts that were created in the 19th century. You could also name it “American Gothic”, a sans serif in the style of fonts like Franklin Gothic, News Gothic and similar. Above all, the high x-height characterizes this typeface style, as do the identical heights of uppercase and ascenders. However, I allowed myself a few peculiarities ;-) On the one hand, there is the gently sloping horizontal middle line on letters such as H, E, F, A and e. The M also got gently slanted sides. Some of the lower-case letters have an up- or down-stroke: a d m n p u. This "kink" on the shaft also serves to better distinguish the small l from the capital I — as can be seen clearly with the term »Illinois«. In keeping with the tradition of American typefaces, Desphalia does not have a true italic. Rather, the letters of the “Italic” have the same character forms as the normal upright variant, but in oblique — and so it is not called “Italic” but “Oblique”. Style Set 01: Another American peculiarity is the capital I with dashes above and below. It is included in the Desphalia as an alternate character form. An alternative small l with the “kink” in the ascender is also included — as is a y with the “kink” in the descender. Style Set 02: The corresponding “straight” forms a d l m n p u without the break are included as alternatives in a separate style set. Small caps are uppercase letters that are optically the same size as lowercase letters. They offer a very classy way of emphasis. Desphalia is available in the widths Condensed, Normal and Expanded, the weights include Thin, Light, Book, Bold, Black. Using the variable font, all intermediate levels can be freely selected. The figures are optionally available as tabular figures, proportional lining figures or old style figures.

The late-19th-century Prussian-American printer and publisher Louis Prang, the “father of the American Christmas card”, was well-known for his efforts to improve art education in the United States. He published many instructional books and even founded a training school for art teachers. One of the books he published included a series of alphabets for sign painters, lithographers, illuminators, architects and civil engineers. There was nothing truly original there — in the book’s preface, Prang says that the alphabets were “based on foreign forms and adapted for American taste”. The one alphabet that caught my attention in that book was one simply called “Italic”. It’s a high- contrast modern, a Didone really, but with an interesting little twist: the lowercase is almost entirely connected, which makes for an interesting mix of modern typography and classic calligraphy. That stuff is right up my alley now. Whenever my eyes happen on a modern, it’s easy, even almost impulsive for me to envision swashes coming out of serifs and terminals. The caps melt and the minuscules dance with them. And so I brought my vision to life. Prangs is an italic set of three weights, each containing more than 1400 glyphs with plenty of OpenType features and Latin language support. This set celebrates the convergence of three centuries of fancy display alphabets. These fonts should work wherever moderns are used to elevate and scripts are used to appeal — namely today’s branding, packaging and glossy publications.

Lualaba Snake is a bold display font, characterized by the snake-like decoration used in each letter. The design of the font was inspired by the legend of the Lualaba River in Central Africa. Snakes enjoy a special status in Africa, as they are reputed to be messengers of the ancestors, and are therefore good. Near the Lualaba river is a pool in which a big snake called Kabwe lives. Our ancestors are thought to communicate through this snake.

I spend a lot of time following two obsessions: packaging and hand lettering. Alongside a few other minor obsessions, those two have been my major ones for so many years now, I've finally reached the point where I can actually claim them as “obsessions” without getting a dramatic reaction from the little voice in the back of my head. When you spend so much time researching and studying a subject, you become very focused, directionally and objectively. But of course some of the research material you run into turns out to be tangential to whatever your focus happens to be at the time, so you absorb what you can from it, then shelf it — like the celebrity bobblehead that amused you for a while, but is now an almost invisible ornament eating dust and feathers somewhere in your environment. And just like the bobblehead may fall off the shelf one day to remind you of its existence, some of my lettering research material unveiled itself in my head one day for no particular reason. Hand lettering is now mostly perceived as an American art. Someone with my historical knowledge about lettering may be snooty enough to go as far as pointing out the British origins of almost everything American, including lettering — but for the most part, the contemporary perspective associates great lettering with America. The same perspective also associates blackletter, gothics and sans serifs with Germany. So you can imagine my simultaneous surprise and impatience when, in my research for one of my American lettering-based fonts, I ran into a German lettering book from 1953, by an artist called Bentele. It was no use for me because it didn't propel my focus at that particular time, but a few months ago I was marveling at what we take for granted — the sky is blue, blackletter is German, lettering is American — and found myself flipping through the pages of that book again. The lettering in that book is upbeat and casual sign making stuff, but it has a slightly strange and youthful experimentation at its heart. I suppose I find it strange because it deviates a lot from the American stuff I'm used to working with for so long now. To make a long story short, what’s inside that German book served as the semilla, which is Spanish for seed, for the typeface you see all over these pages. With Semilla, my normal routine went out the window. My life for a while was all Bezier all the time. No special analog or digital brushes or pens were used in drawing these forms. They're the product of a true Bezier process, all starting with a point creating a curve to another point, which draws a curve to another point, and so on. It’s a very time-consuming process, but at the end I am satisfied that it can get to pretty much the same results easier and more traditional methods accomplish. And as usual with my fonts, the OpenType is plenty and a lot of fun. Experimenting with substitution and automation is still a great pleasure for me. It is the OpenType that always saves me from the seemingly endless work hours every type designer must inevitably have to face at one point in his career. The artful photos used in this booklet are by French photographer and designer Stéphane Giner. He is very deserving of your patronage, so please keep an eye out for his marvelous work. I hope you like Semilla and enjoy using it. I have a feeling that it marks a transition to a more curious and flexible period in my career, but only time will tell.

Sedona is a quirky, all capitals, display font that evokes the American West, Native Americana, vacations, travel, campgrounds, rustic lodges, needle point, Christmas, holidays, Arts and Crafts movement, quilts, tiles, and alpine resorts. It is based on an isometric grid and individual shapes that conform to the grid's structure. Each letter or glyph is made up of numerous triangular shapes. The letters have gaps of space that create a dynamic texture. Our mind connects the triangles to complete the letter and recognize the familiar letterform. Sedona will create a unique identity for book cover titles, editorial headings, packaging, logotypes and signs. Create multicolored letters by selecting individual shapes within each letter and apply various colors. Simply convert type in Adobe Illustrator or InDesign with these two steps: 1. "Creating Outlines", 2. "Release Compound Path". You may also want to "Ungroup" the letters. Great care was taken to align the shapes perfectly. There are no overlapping or misaligned shapes. Sedona includes punctuation, numerals, and basic math glyphs.You will find some additional and alternate glyphs in the "Glyph Palette". Sedona does not include a lowercase or diacritics for foreign languages. You may type in lowercase but the letters will appear as uppercase.

Roadstar is a script designed in the style of the classic American advertising font from the 1940's-1950's. Roadstar is a retro brush-style script designed for logotype, packaging, posters, T-shirts, signage & design projects with a retro & vintage feel. Roadstar comes with two styles that both contain all upper and lower case characters, punctuation, numerals and mathematical operators, as well as all accented characters.

Caslon Antique was designed by Berne Nadall and brought out by the American type foundry Barnhart Bros & Spindler in 1896 to 1898. It doesn’t bear any resemblance to Caslon, but has the quaint crudeness of what people imagine type looked like in the eighteenth century. Use Caslon Antique for that “old-timey” effect in graphic designs. It looks best in large sizes for titles or initials.

The pattern for this face was designed by Will Bradley in 1894 for the cover of Inland Printer magazine, and was licensed the following year to American Type Founders. Its classic lines and condensed footprint make this typeface a natural for elegant and inviting headlines. All versions of this font include the Unicode 1250 Central European character set in addition to the standard Unicode 1252 Latin set.

He's a man of character; a Man for All Seasons. He upholds the values of Truth, Justice and the American Way and he's never averse to a slice of Ma's homemade apple pie. He's not a man of yesteryear, nor a man caught in the here and now. He's a human being of great honor, a citizen of the world -- a Man of Tomorrow!

An exuberant typeface named "African Queen", designed by Dave West for Photolettering in the 1960s, provided the inspiration for this exercise in typographic minimalism. The result is stark and somewhat raw, with a unique muscular energy...a natural choice for headlines that will attract attention. Both versions of the font include 1252 Latin and 1250 CE (with localization for Romanian and Moldovan) character sets.

Hello! Do you need a poster for the ASL study? Maybe you want to understand sign language or share your message. Please try it. Here is a set of hand-drawn illustrations of American Sign Language (ASL). The font is in 4 styles: * with sleeves * with sleeves & Latin symbol * clear hand * clear hand & Latin symbol If you have any questions or issues, please contact me: kaer.pro@gmail.com

Fighting American and all around Superman Ed McGuinness joins our Masters of Comic Book Art with a font inspired by his gamma ray saturated handwriting! Ed is officially a friend of Comicraft and a big smile in Hulk form! Now a small slice of this Jolly Green Giant is available as an alphabet waiting for puny humans to arrange in words of no more than two syllables.

Ad Lib designed by Freeman Craw for the American Type Founders (ATF) in 1961. A bold Grotesque with irregular rectangular counters in round characters. This type was designed by cutting the letter images out and thus has some wood-cut character. Some lower case characters have slight inclination. Initially numerous alternative characters were provided. Unusual shapes make this typeface useful for advertising and display work.

This typeface is inspired from the old display fonts that used to decorate the world around us, but just because we don't see such beautiful signage these days, doesn't mean we should lose the great typefaces used. Foreman is a condensed serif display typeface, with hard geometric lines inspired from fonts used in the 1930s and 1940s, and very much used by the American Art Deco movement.

Neue Rinjani is a all-caps sans serif with Wide Stretch contemporary typographic, vintage futuristic art-deco touch Streamline influence of the 1930s and 1940s. A mix from the old Euro-American signage/advertising letters and modern clean sans serif, carefully mousecrafted to bring you the genuine feel of the era. If you're into classic/vintage letter designs, then this typeface suits best for you.

This is an American face designed by Lucian Bernhard for ATF in 1929. An extra light face with tall ascenders and stylized bars that extend off to the left. The lower-case sits on the baseline and the much-taller-than-normal capitals have an imaginary baseline that sits about two-thirds of the distance from the real baseline to the bottom of the EM.

Karaoke JNL is one of the many alphabets created by the late Alf R. Becker that was showcased in Signs of the Times magazine from the 1930s through the 1950s. Thanks to Tod Swormstedt of ST Media (and who is the curator of the American Sign Museum in Cincinnati, Ohio) for providing Jeff Levine the research material from which this font design was modeled.

Pittsburgh is the latest (as at August 2011) in a range of inter-war American inspired commercial faces, and takes its place alongside the popular Bettendorff and the Spargo family. These shaded stab-serif capitals speak of the heyday of heavy manufacture and engineering and bring a gritty feel of the 20s and 30s to any project. Why not indulge in a little heavy engineering today?

Yukas is a funky and sexy typeface where the proportions are based on the optical balance between black strokes and white shapes. Ideal to enjoy on a large scale. It takes its references from the psychedelic movement, old-school western movie posters, and mid-19th century American wood type with those big, heavy capital letters. Includes several Open Type alternatives to customize your design however you want.