Daniel Berkeley Updike seems to have stimulated the architect Bertram G. Goodhue to design the prototype in 1896 for Ingalls Kimball at the Cheltenham Press. Six years later Morris Fuller Benton at ATF developed it into the design and then the series that we know today. “Owing to certain eccentricities of form,” writes Updike, “it cannot be read comfortably for any length of time.” But he concludes: “It is, however, an exceedingly handsome letter for ephemeral printing.” Mergenthaler bought composing machine rights to the original design c. 1896, but bought the Benton design in 1904.

Take a little Inspiration, mix in some Sassy Frass and a splash of Waterfall; add hundreds of alternate forms and you have the recipe for a versatile hand writing font. This fun, scribbly little font can fool you. At first glance it looks crude and simple. But, with over 1600 glyphs, combine the right character pairs and suddenly Fuggles is a powerful script that can be used for sophisticated commercial design. Some characters are quirky, some are swashy, some are scribbly and others are elegant. So take a look at the world of Fuggles.

Conceived on a cold evening to the hot Jazz of the Eri Yamamoto Trio at Arthur’s Tavern in the Village, font Molly Louie is best described by the person for whom it was named. “Very intricate, like a whole little world in each of them” and “The solid is nice too, like little cut up sandwiches.” The detailed and solid versions facilitate a variety of two-color applications. You might not use this decorative display font at smaller sizes, but you are encouraged to let your imagination guide you.

Aqua Life is a pictogram font from the Monotype Design Studio. It contains 26 vibrantly drawn images of fish and other wildlife you might find at the seashore or in your aquarium. Some of the fish look out at you rather inquisitively! Don't miss the shark, the giant squid, the octopus, the happy slug, the diving seal, or even the old-fashioned deep-sea diver and coy mermaid! Each of these symbols is best used in a very large point size. Perhaps one of them will illustrate you next newsletter or classroom poster?

Suppose you were at a sandy beach and you wanted to write a message by making footprints in the sand. You might end up with letters much like those in Barefoot, a typeface made with bare feet. It is all caps but most of the letters on the lower-case keys differ from those on the upper-case keys. It looks best at large point sizes where the details of the feet are clear. It comes with a large assortment of accented letters to support most European languages.

Two attractive cast metal door signs reading "Men" and "Ladies" from back in the Art Deco era inspired the idea for Nameplate JNL. The left parenthesis key starts the border decoration, and the right parenthesis key closes it off. Nameplate JNL has just a basic A-Z and numeral set; the letters "floating" within the parallel lines of the border to form complete nameplates, apartment numbers or any similarly encased words. A period, comma, apostrophe and dash are on their respective keys. A small blank space is on the left bracket key, a medium space is on the right bracket key and a large space is on the left brace key. There is a small, complete frame on the right brace key. For names such as "MacDonald" or "McIntyre", the small "ac" is on the colon key and the small "c" is on the semicolon key. No kerning has been applied in order to give the type more of an antique, "mechanically assembled" look.

FF Infra™ is a fresh take on the robust sans serif typefaces of the early 20th century. Drawn by Gabriel Richter, it’s a friendly, inviting – and multi-talented family. Whether long blocks of editorial text, or snackable copy in web pages and blog posts, FF Infra’s 20 typefaces are easy on the eyes in both print and digital environments. The design also performs as well at petite sizes, as it does at supersized display settings. Pair FF Infra with an old style or Didone serif design and you’ll have powerful and distinctive typographic pages! FF Infra is available in 10 weights, ranging from a delicate light to a commanding black, each with an italic companion. OpenType® Pro fonts of FF infra have an extended character set supporting most Central European and many Eastern European languages, in addition to providing for the automatic insertion of ligatures and fractions. Each font also contains four sets of figures and a bevy of arrows that are ideal for wayfinding and similar info-graphic projects. A generous lowercase x-height, open counters and subtle graduations between family weights, make for a family that is at home in a wide range of sizes, and comfortable in everything from large signage, content for mobile apps, product manuals and full-scale branding projects. In addition, to provide design diversity, Richter drew alternate designs for the a, G and ß. Richter first became interested in fonts and the art of creating typefaces while studying communication design at Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences. His first designs were experimental, but these lead a position at FontShop International in 2013, where he developed his typeface design skills. A strong background in font production, hinting and font marketing were also part of his FontShop experience. Richter worked as freelance graphic and type designer until he founded übertype in 2017. He also invests back into the type community through the type design courses he teaches at his alma mater. FF Infra is Richter’s first commercial design for Monotype. We’re sure that you’ll find it as versatile and powerful as we do.

A brighter slab n’ sans in 18 styles Referred to as Egyptian’s in the early years of the nineteenth century, today slab serifs are primarily used in display sizes but seldom used in body text. With Mislab, Xavier Dupré has designed a brighter and more legible slab serif than most. Mislab aptly combines the strength of a slab serif with the lightness of a sans serif. Bold and thick serifs make for strong impact in display uses while performing extremely well under the most stressful body text conditions. A slight cursive feel adds spice to the text while its delicate rounded rectangular structure is naturally adapted to screen displays. The capitals have fully assumed serifs while the lowercases have more discreet versions. Notable features include sanserif endings on the lowercase a, c, e & s, inducing fluidity and enhanced readability. This highly versatile typeface brings clarity to headlines. Mislab will provide foolproof stability to your layouts. Mislab, a new design by Xavier Dupré Type Directors Club 2014 Tokyo TDC 2014 Communication Arts Typography Awards 2014 Club des directeurs artistiques, 45e palmarès Slanted: Contemporary Typefaces #25

Give your voice an eye-catching hand-drawn look thanks to this playful font family. You'll get three styles, along with OpenType features including alternates, ligatures and stylistic sets. Galiba Regular works very well with his small brothers Light and Thin. In addition Galiba Light can be used at smaller size along with the other styles to keep the same line thickness. To achieve a random-like effect, the regular style is packed with 4 different variants of each glyph, that automatically cycle if stylistic alternates are turned on. Also you can choose from 5 stylistic sets to easily change the look of a given string, or pick alternates by hand. Not to mention that we've attentively fine-tuned the kerning that’s crucial for this kind of typeface.

Tribal Tattoos comes from the German tattoo artist Otto Maurer. This clean vector Tribal art is best for making good plott or printed art.

Clover is a modern retro font with a light, bubbly feel! This font is perfect if you are after a fun script font that has a lot of edge! The versatility of this font reaches wide. Use this one for branding, logos, advertisements, shirts, stickers, social media, invitations and more! The complete package includes a complimentary shadow version for easy and perfect layering every time! Clover will take you right back to the 70's but still provide a fresh look to your designs!

Magazin ST is powerful but delicate. What fascinated me seeing, a couple of letters, in Bob Roy Kelly's book (American Wood Type:1828-1900) were the little squares in the corners that represent a glow from lighting coming from below and from the right. Such ambiguity excited me and I thought that today with digital resources it wouldn't take long to do it. Seeing it working is excellent. Look In the posters what it is for and the effects it produces, including the sensation of relief.- L.S.

Ultima Pro is a geometric sans serif typeface family of eight styles – light, regular, bold and black in roman and italic respectably. Ultima Pro typeface is an upgrade addition to Ultima family (2010). All glyphs have gone through shape refinements, and the amount of glyphs was significantly extended, which enabled support of more Latin languages as well as full support of Cyrillic. Fonts released in OpenType format with some opentype features. The typeface is ideal for use in display sizes though is quite legible in text.

The Zanerian Manual of Alphabets and Engrossing, published in numerous editions since 1895, featured many elegant and elaborate script typefaces. However, it seems that, from time to time, calligraphers just want to have fun, and this little number is definitely fun. Light, lively and just a little loopy, Red Hot Mama is sure to add just the right amount of spice to your special project. Both versions contain the complete Unicode 1252 (Latin) and Unicode 1250 (Central European) character sets, with localization for Romanian and Moldovan.

Calendula is a humanistic font with low contrast and one-sided serifs. There are eight styles: four regular of different weights from Light to Bold and corresponding italics. The main set of regular styles is close to upright italics, so the font is percieved as informal and friendly. However, Calendula allows you to combine business with pleasure by switching the stylistic set, and turns into a calm text font with traditional upright forms. The font was designed by Natalia Vasilyeva and released by Paratype in 2017.

The German designers Gerd Sebastian Jakob and Jörg Ewald Meißner developed the Linotype Puritas family in 1999. The family, which has six text styles as well as a ornament set, displays a very geometric design, which harks back to the German modernist experiments with typography and lettering from the 1920s. The letters in Linotype Puritas Light, Linotype Puritas Medium, and Linotype Puritas Bold all have a slight slant to them. Not to be confused with an italic-grade slant, which may be found in the Light, Medium, and Bold Italic styles, these acute slants add a dynamic quality to text. The Linotype Puritas Ornaments font contains several dingbats and border elements, all drawn in the same line style as the companion letters. The entire Linotype Puritas family is included in the Take Type 4 collection from Linotype GmbH."

A vintage rubber stamp alphabet and star printing set had a package header with Art Deco-inspired lettering describing the product. Sold by a company called Elvin [circa late 50's-early 1960s], these Japanese-made sets were one of many distributed by independent toy importers and made in various configurations including [at times] tiny animal stamps. The type design on this particular item was the model for Retro Packaging JNL, available in both regular and oblique versions.

The original idea of the Dada font and randomness was given new life with the introduction of OpenType programming. P22 Dada Pro includes over 500 glyphs of letters and images and can be used to create Dada inspired typography by simply selecting various OpenType features. P22 Dada Pro was released in 2006 as "Dada Special Edition" to coincide with the "First Major International Dada Museum Exhibition in The United States" at the National Gallery of Art.

At the end of the 1931 gangster film “The Public Enemy” a hand lettered card offers up an afterword on the demise of Tom Powers (James Cagney’s character in the film) and how a “public enemy” is neither a man nor a character but a problem society must deal with. The text is in an Art-Deco influenced sans serif, and has been digitally recreated as Afterword JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

The cover of the 1919 sheet music for "While Others are Building Castles in the Air I'll Build A Cottage for Two" had its title hand lettered in a wonderfully eccentric Art Nouveau serif design that typified the era. Also typical of the time was the habit of various songwriters to come up with wordy titles. This particular one checks in at fourteen words. Nonetheless, the sheet music's title inspired Air Castles JNL and its oblique counterpart.

The beautiful Art Deco monoline pen lettering on the cover of a 1940s piece of sheet music inspired Central Park JNL. The 1940s was an era when couples took romantic walks along the pathways of Manhattan's Central Park or rode around it in hansom cabs. Big bands played at the major clubs and ballrooms and "uptown" meant the well-to-do. Men dressed in their tuxedos and top hats and the ladies were in their jewels and evening gowns.

Neva Regular with Italic was created by Moscow book and type designer Pavel Kuzanyan (1901-1992) at Polygrafmash in 1970 for slugcasting and display composition. Based on simple strict letterforms of Russian classical typefaces. Neva typeface was rewarded on the Gutenberg international type design contest in 1971 (Leipzig). The typeface is useful in text and display composition, in fiction and art books. The digital version and bold styles were designed for ParaType in 2002 by Lyubov Kuznetsova.

Alphacal JNL and Alphacal Black JNL are variants of the same lettering style found in Jeff Levine's Juneway JNL font... all based on water-applied decals once made by the Duro Decal Company (now Duro Art Industries) of Chicago, Illinois. Alphacal JNL can be used alone as an outline font (best at 18 pt. and above) or with Alphacal Black JNL as a backfill. Note: Perfect registration is not guaranteed. Some user adjustments may be necessary.

Designed for ParaType in 2003 by Tagir Safayev. The typeface was inspired by some of the Cyrillic letterforms of Sergey Chekhonin (1878-1936). Chekhonin belonged to the World of Art group, which is so closely associated with the flowering of Russian book and theater design at the beginning of the 20th century. For use in advertising and display typography. Serp & Molot has been adjugded Award of Excellence in Type Design of 'bukva:raz!' ATypI International Type Design Competition, 2001.

Ensenada is a typeface designed based on hand-cut lettering that adorns businesses throughout the city of Ensenada in Baja California in Mexico. - What was the inspiration for designing the font? Looking at the hand-cut lettering in Ensenada, Mexico. Variations on this type of lettering are often used by Mexican pop-techno acts. - What are its main characteristics and features? It is a geometric display face that works in both retro and futuristic settings. - Usage recommendations: Display type

A photo of the now closed [circa-1953] Lowell Municipal Pool (at 1601 N. 28th St.) in Boise, Idaho shows the words “Municipal Pool” formed into the cement of the entrance to the above-ground swimming facility. Both the lettering and building entrance designs harken back to the Art Deco era and the sign features stencil-like characters. This inspired a typeface aptly named Municipal Pool JNL, and is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Belle Jardin is an Art Deco inspired display family of three typefaces, offered in in-line engraved regular and demi bold forms as well as a solid bold form. It offers upper and lower case solid slab-built forms that create an immediate atmosphere of the streamline era of the thirties and are also at home in post-war revival inspired design work. The letterforms are solidly legible and ideal for cover and poster inspired design work.

Here's a lettering style that just might be exactly on your wavelength. Add just the right dose of vintage freak-a-delia to your retro graphics with this original psychedelic-style design. Great for music posters, album graphics, book titles, etc. Evoke a warpy, wavy, whimsical vibe that harks back to the carefree 1960s or early 1970s era with Sixties Flashback; it's pure hippie, trippy fun!

Patron is a modern, mono-linear, sans-serif font family with large x-height and softened edges containing 12 fonts. This typeface was born as a corporate font design for non-profit sector and today it is available for public. At the moment Patron is offered as a PostScript-flavored OTF, but its construction is tuned to display well on screen as well. Works on a TrueType version with individual glyph hinting are being carried out. In addition, Patron has alternative family (Patron Alt) with enhanced personality, suitable mainly for headlines. Patron is graduation work of Matěj Hlaváček at AAAD in Prague, Studio Of Typography. Supervised by František Štorm, Tomáš Brousil and Karel Haloun.

Xylo is a rugged, no-nonsense typeface that was originally designed in 1924 by the Benjamin Krebs type foundry in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Even back then, Xylo must have been very popular; the design made it at least as far as England. In 1995, after finding its design in an old London printer's reference book, the Letraset Type Studio faithfully converted Xylo into digital format. A time-proven display face, Xylo will convey a feeling of power and strength in any application. Best used big in headlines or logos; Xylo exudes an expressionistic and art deco spirit that just as much at home today as it was during the roaring 20s!

Alfazine Script is a bold and spirited script with extensive ornate detailing. This versatile font is evocative of antique signpainters' letters, circus wagon & carnival booth graphics, groovy 1960s psychedelic scripts, and even sportswear team insignias, all combined with a modern approach towards lively curlicues and ball finial stroke ends. As with all other font offerings from Mysterylab Designs, we take great care with artful kerning and weight-matching of glyphs to allow this font to be used not only at attention-grabbing headline and logo sizes, but also at small body copy sizes in extended passages. Alfazine also features an extruded shadow version that's very useful for designing logos and customized layered lettering.

Inspired by 1920's Art Deco, Artisual Deco is a 2020's celebration dedicated to the hundred-year-old history of geometric design. This retro typeface will be the perfect fit for your logo designs or graphic project. Drawn, created and published in 2021, the typeface has vintage letterforms with a classy personality. Artisual Deco contains ten high-quality styles: Thin, Light, Regular, Bold and Black with each weight provided as Upright and Italic. It has extensive lingual support, covering all Latin-based languages, from North Europa to South Africa, from America to South-East Asia. It contains all characters and symbols you'll ever need, including all punctuation and numbers.

Binario Soft is a friendly typeface with rounded edges, offering a warm and soft impression. It comes in three weights with matching obliques. Drawn with subtle references to Art Deco, this type is ideal for a clean, warm, and modern look in branding, posters, magazines, and screen-based projects. The light weight is good for short body text. The regular weight exudes confidence, making it suitable for both body and heading text. For impactful headlines, the bold weight is excellent. The clear weight distinction make it easy to create organized text. Binario Soft is a gently rounded version of Binario, which is also available on this vendor’s website.

Harri –“stone” in Basque language– is a display font based on the peculiar letter forms used in signs and fascias all over the Basque Country. This idiosyncratic lettering style, very often used as an identity signifier, evolved from ancient inscriptions carved on gravestones which can still be found in the French part of the Basque Country (Behe Nafarroa, Lapurdi and Zuberoa).Harri takes some of its more significant features from those engraved letter forms, but also from the current overemphasized shapes derived from them, while keeping in sight their antecessors: the Romanesque inscriptions and ultimately the Roman Capitals. Gerard Unger once said “the black version of a font is a caricature of the regular”. This may explain how the odd heavy shapes in use in the Basque Country today might have evolved from their engraved roots, which are already an interpretation of Romanesque and Roman letter forms. This evolution is echoed in Harri through its weights, from the clean formal Roman-inspired light to the extreme expressive Basque-style extra bold.

Introducing Westerland Grotesk, a sans serif font family that seamlessly harmonizes classic simplicity with contemporary sophistication. Its slight contrast, which can be found throughout the weights, gives it a unique and warm character while maintaining the sleekness of a true grotesque. The family consist of eight weights in roman & italic, coming up to a total of 16 styles. This variety enables a range of uses, from elegant lightness with the thinner weights to loud expressiveness with the bolder ones. Language Support Afrikaans, Albanian, Asu, Basque, Bemba, Bena, Breton, Catalan, Chiga, Colognian, Cornish, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, Embu, English, Esperanto, Estonian, Faroese, Filipino, Finnish, French, Friulian, Galician, German, Gusii, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Kabuverdianu, Kalenjin, Kamba, Kikuyu, Kinyarwanda, Lithuanian, Luo, Luxembourgish, Luyia, Machame, Makhuwa-Meetto, Makonde, Malagasy, Manx, Meru, Morisyen, North Ndebele, Norwegian, Bokmål Norwegian, Nynorsk, Nyankole, Oromo, Portuguese, Quechua, Romansh, Rombo, Rundi, Rwa, Samburu, Sango, Sangu, Scottish, Gaelic, Sena, Shambala, Shona, Soga, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Swiss, German, Taita, Teso, Turkish, Uzbek (Latin), Volapük, Vunjo, Walser, Welsh, Western, Frisian, Zulu Open Type Features Standard Ligatures, Alternates, Fractions, Superscript Figures

Just in time for the Holiday Season, here's a FREE font with word art, clip art and border elements to dress up your next project. Enjoy!

Asta, named after the adorable pup in the “Thin Man” movies from the 1930‘s and early ‘40‘s, is an Art Deco / Streamline Moderne all-caps display font. Inspired by forms from the iconic machinery of the day like trains and autos, Asta has a heavy and masculine proportion, a cut-in “grille” effect and a slight slant which emphasizes its moderne roots. Fantastic for illustration or retro applications like antique product “logos,” signs and vintage packaging, or for a fun & funky ‘70‘s Disco look.

Gritty heat-forge stamped metally goodness. Can withstand up to 255 pounds of pressure psi, it even says so right on the graphic. This is a fun display font inspired by the stamped text on barbells, sewer drains, and of course boiler-plates, not that we see many of those anymore, but I digress... This font contains all the standard sub-255 unicode characters, plus a few extras for flavor. Apply this font with liberal amounts of axle grease and she should last ya a lifetime.