The basis for Series A Signage JNL is Highway Gothic; a type style design formally known as the FHWA Series. The font was developed by the United States Federal Highway Administration, and originally consisted of only capital letters and figures. Each Letter designation represented a character width from "A" (condensed) to "F" (wide). Due to poor visibility at high speeds, Series "A" was discontinued. At one point lower case characters were added to the various widths of the design, but this typeface revival is based on the original guidelines specified in the 1948 (reprinted 1952) book "Standard Alphabets for Highway Signs" [this was the original name for the FHWA series fonts preceding the eventual name change to Highway Gothic]. Unlike the original, Series A Signage JNL is available in both regular and oblique versions.

THE DANISH RUNES Prior to 500 AD the 24-rune Elder Futhark was used in Denmark. From 500 AD to 800 AD there were many transitional futharks, reflecting a change from the 24-rune Futhark to the 16-rune Futharks. By the end of this period, the 24-rune Futhark went completely out of use and the 16-rune Futharks had prevailed. From 900 AD some of the runes changed, visually and phonetically. This occurred again about 950 AD and 1100 AD due to language changes. Runes dated to 1300 AD show evidence of being influenced by the Latin alphabet. Runes found in Skåne, Halland and Blekinge in Sweden, and runes found in Schleswig-Holstein in Germany, is counted among Danish runes, because in the Runic period, this was Danish land.

The Pergamon series is a creation of Alfons Schneider (1890–1946) and was issued by the foundry of Ludwig Wagner in Leipzig in 1937/1940, though the website of the Klingspor-Museum says that several of the faces were probably produced after the death of Schneider. This digital version is extended with the necessary OT characters and signs, while also the “символы кириллицы” are added. Also, in addition to the members of the family designed by Schneider, regular, italic, bold and bold italic extended versions were produced. The specimens of Ludwig Wagner stated emphatically: “In allen Graden werden beide K K geliefert”, so these two forms are in all the faces, while the two condensed members also have k k, as the specimens said that this alternative character was also in these two faces.

Khazar, member of a confederation of Turkic-speaking tribes that in the late 6th century CE established a major commercial empire covering the southeastern section of modern European Russia. Although the origin of the term Khazar and the early history of the Khazar people are obscure, it is fairly certain that the Khazars were originally located in the northern Caucasus region and were part of the western Turkic empire (in Turkistan). The Khazars were in contact with the Persians in the mid-6th century CE, and they aided the Byzantine emperor Heraclius (reigned 610–641) in his campaign against the Persians. Although the Khazar Empire had a secular administrative structure, the administrative staff chose the Jewish religion. The Khazars are the only Turkish state that converted to Judaism.

While watching the 1947 holiday classic “Miracle on 34th Street”, one scene in particular presented a chance to develop a retro type design. ‘Kris Kringle’ suggests to a mother visiting with her child in the Macy’s toy department to try Gimbel’s for a toy she couldn’t find at the store. The news of this behavior reaches Mr. Macy himself, who embraces the practice as a brilliant marketing strategy. A number of departments are then presented with reference books containing competitor ads, and the visual of the cover stating “R.H. Macy & Co. Shopping Guide for the Convenience of Our Customers” shows on screen. The thin, Art Deco sans serif monoline with a few serif-like hooks added onto some characters became the basis for Shopping Guide JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Driver Gothic is based on the typeface used for Ontario license plates. Although unique among Canadian provincial license plates, this face is very similar to, if not outright identical with, the face used on car plates in 22 American states: Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia. Driver Gothic is available in all popular font formats, and is comprised of a very extended character set (over 750 characters) covering a wide range of languages, including Central and Eastern European languages, Greek, Cyrillic, Esperanto, Turkish, Baltic and Celtic/Welsh. Driver Gothic Pro, the OpenType version, contains class-based kerning and push-button stylistic alternates for use with apps that support advanced typography. Buckle up!

The vintage display font family Vernyhora. The typeface is intended to be used in those places where the letters when it is necessary to transmit the strong character, stability and historicity. The font has got 6 weights. It contains extended Cyrillic and Latin alphabets. It also consists of the alternative set of characters from the old Ukrainian alphabet. It can be used for the state institutions names. It was planned to be a font of old cities and towns. From the very beginning the font was created in order to execute signboards at the entrance of towns. For the font creation the author was inspired by the graphic designers of the early 20th century, such as Georgiy Narbut and Fedir Krychevs'kyi. From the Ukrainian language the font name is translated into English as mountains mover.

In the immortal words of Homer Simpson, "It's easy to complain... and so much FUN, too! Woo-HOO!" Now your characters can grumble, mumble and mutter in barely audible tones as they dredge up some bit of misery from their lives, unleash a rambling river of criticism and complaints about the state of their health, or the government, garbling as much graphic detail as time and your imagination will allow! Or perhaps your creations are issuing drunken slurs as they wake up outside their own fricka-frackin' houses cuddling wheelie bins, covered in glitter, wearing a shiny hat and budgie smugglers over their jeans while holding the reins to a miniature horse. So moan, groan, gossip incoherently or swear under your whiskey-soaked breath like a trooper... courtesy of those Rassum Frassum font lovers at Comicraft. >Hic!

Gazi is the honorary title given by the state to the commanders who defeated the enemy by showing extraordinary benefits. This title was first given to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk by the Turkish Grand National Assembly on September 19, 1921. Gazi font was designed for Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who founded the Turkish Republic. This type face consists of two families:: ▪ Gazi: Font family with Latin alphabets ▪ Gazi Pro: Font family including Latin and Arabic alphabets The Gazi font family is ideal for those looking for a new and aesthetic serif font. This font with modern lines can be used in all broadcast and printing areas. Gazi font will meet your needs and expectations in terms of the number of glyphs and the languages it supports. The font family includes many open type features, as well as some ligatures, and many currency symbols.

Since 1985, Cartoonists Across America & The World have been promoting literacy, creativity, the arts, and other positive issues using cartoons and humor. Founder Phil Yeh and his band of artists -- including Comicraft President and First (Flying) Tiger, Richard Starkings -- create books, paint murals, take part in school assemblies, conventions, conferences and other public events for all ages throughout the world! Cartoonists Across America & The World have worked in partnership with the Center for The Book in The Library of Congress and other organizations all over the world. They have painted more than 1000 murals in 49 of the United States as well as in Canada, Mexico, Italy, England, France, Germany, Hungary, The Netherlands, China, Taiwan, Singapore, and the Cayman Islands. So we made Phil a font 'cause he's a noble soul. Avoid Extinction -- Read, Reuse, Reduce and Recycle!

A smooth contemplative Antiqua with aspiring to the sky ascenders, inspired by the Quietism philosophy. Clarity of the mind is achieved by bringing the body into a state of calm and contemplation, and this is reflected in the design – the quiet horizontal serifs (body) are opposed to the peaky soaring ascenders (mind). The design also features four optical size subfamilies with different x-height and contrast, oldstyle diagonal stress, oldstyle figures by default, smooth details and slightly dark texture. Video about the Quietism typeface concept: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBqkROHMEAc Scripts: Latin, Greek, Cyrillic. Languages: 480+. The complete list of supported languages: michaelrafailyk.com/quietism The promo images used illustration of Ola Rafailyk, paintings of Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Tom Roberts, photos of Boys in Bristol Photography and Ken Cheung from Pexels, and photo of Rodin's The Thinker at the Musée Rodin.

John Quincy Adams, sixth President of the United States, didn't hit his stride until he'd left that lofty office. It was during his many years in Congress that he assured his legacy, not least because of his long, masterful oratory opposing slavery. His speeches, in fact, won him the nickname "Old Man Eloquent." So when I decided to simulate Adams's penmanship in his legendary diary (which he kept for nearly 70 years), it seemed fitting to call the font by that name. I focused on his handwriting from about 1810, when he was Ambassador to Russia, but also consulted pages from later years. Old Man Eloquent has both regular and bold weights. The OpenType version has more than 450 glyphs, including alternate uppercase characters, old-style and lining figures, and numerous ligatures; all formats contain several common (English) words.

Gazi is the honorary title given by the state to the commanders who defeated the enemy by showing extraordinary benefits. This title was first given to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk by the Turkish Grand National Assembly on September 19, 1921. Gazi font was designed for Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who founded the Turkish Republic. This type face consists of two families:: ▪ Gazi: Font family with Latin alphabets ▪ Gazi Pro: Font family including Latin and Arabic alphabets The Gazi font family is ideal for those looking for a new and aesthetic serif font. This font with modern lines can be used in all broadcast and printing areas. Gazi font will meet your needs and expectations in terms of the number of glyphs and the languages it supports. The font family includes many open type features, as well as some ligatures, and many currency symbols.

By chance I stumbled upon an unfinished font in my fonts folder (while looking for something else). It had a stupid working name, but when I opened it, the font looked really nice! I have no idea why I never finished it. I renamed it Ukiyo Mind, because the font looked a bit like Japanese brush strokes. Ukiyo is a Japanese term which roughly translates as ‘the fleeting/transient world’. In mediaval Japan, the word was associated with Buddhism, but later it was used to describe the urban lifestyle and the pleasure seeking aspects of it. Nowadays it refers to a ‘living in the moment’ state of mind. Ukiyo Mind is a really nice brush font, which I probably made using Chinese ink and a brush. It comes with extensive language support and a set of alternates for the lower case glyphs.

Surf's up! Take an unforgettable adventure to the sparkling shores of Paradise Point. Ride our 25 majestic weights, from tranquil tall & thin to thunderous wide & heavy. Expand your horizons with the versatile Variable font to select any spot between. One-of-a-kind activities: Drop in a thrilling Inline weight for stylistic flair. Overlay with the matching Heavy for striking color effects. Discover hidden wonders! Stylistic Alternates will take you to the scenic heights of uppercase in a friendly lowercase style. Or immerse your text in interlocking Discretionary Ligatures for an authentic Tiki Type island experience. Enchanting views: Two versions of each letter and number automatically rotate for a natural, hand-drawn appearance. The Light weights have round ends to simulate a single pen stroke, which matches the center of the Inline weights for a perfect pairing. Explore! If you venture into unknown territory, each weight of Paradise Point contains 775 glyphs for stress-free support of over 200 languages. An all-inclusive getaway: Each weight of Paradise Point includes the features above, and can set readable body text as well as create striking logos and headlines. Use it for restaurant menus, surf and skate brands, or any design project where you want to convey lively, friendly, stress-free fun.

The Vtg Stencil fonts from astype are based on real world stencils from several countries. The US No. 4 design was derived from a typical antique US-American stencil-plate. This revolving stencil-plate was invented by Eugene L. Tarbox and patented in 1868. It was a mass factored product and a very common tool in the United States until the success of the interlocking stencils. In case of US No. 4 an original early stencil plate from New York Stencil Works was used. The Regular font style is a clean font design featuring an extended Latin glyph set including some typical stencil ornaments and tabular figures. The Paint font style is made from true stenciled letters and features all the letters of the stencil-plate only. If you like the later interlocking design have a look to my Vtg Stencil US No.2 font. More info: pdf specimen

A disc jockey-only promotional sleeve for a 1964 [45 rpm] release of “Close to Me” and “Let Them Talk” by Dan Penn featured the song titles printed in a stencil typeface on the record sleeve. Closely resembling a stencil version of Franklin Gothic but with its own unique characteristics, this design has been reinterpreted as Turntable Stencil JNL and is available in both regular and oblique versions. For trivia buffs, Dan Penn is a singer-songwriter-record producer, often collaborating with Dewey Lindon “Spooner” Oldham; both closely associated with the late Rick Hall’s Fame recording studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. In 1964, Hall started the Fame record label, and for a time it was distributed by Vee-Jay Records of Chicago, the first major Black-owned record label in the United States. Penn’s release was only the second for the new label; Fame 6402.

Originally a conceptual approach from the Chatype project of Jeremy Dooley and Robbie de Villiers, Quatie has been restructured to add a new industrial element to Insigne’s offerings. Like the Official Font of Chattanooga, Tennessee, Quatie definitely carries a contemporary, hipster feel. Quatie similarly draws much of its inspiration from the industrial brawn of the railroad and the unique characteristics of Cherokee letterforms, giving it an atypical form not usually found in an industrial slab. While the Quatie concept was originally set aside for the more technological look of Chatype’s final image, Jeremy revived this face from its dormant state and refined it for its commercial release in 2013. This bracketed slab with its slightly rounded, soft edges adds a warm, retro, industrial element to Insigne’s offerings. The resulting quirky, ‘hipster’ vibe of Quatie lends its voice to give an unparalleled edge to your designs.

Garuda typeface, featuring the shape and style based on "Garuda Pancasila", the state symbol of the Republic of Indonesia. Garuda is a mythical bird in the Javanese puppet stories, is very similar to the eagle. At the typeface we can find more ligatures beside than the standard. Within Garuda at least encoded 792 glyphs per weight onto major codepage: win 1252, 1250, 1254, 1257 including Mac OS Roman. It is containing more OpenType features such as swash, contextual alternate, stylistic, figures/number, and a few bit ornaments. The typeface has a pretty good readability and legibility even in small sizes. So it is useful for short texts (text length? Whom fear) for print and screen material. Usage on headlines, posters, titles, or something like that, can utilize ornament lines as a sweetener. Please find more information about the OpenType Manual of this typeface on the gallery page (pdf).

Frederic W. Goudy designed three weights of this friendly-looking sans serif font from 1922-1929 for Lanston Monotype in the United States. Goudy was attempting to impart freedom and personality to the sans serif form at a time when geometric sans serifs, such as Futura, were gaining rapid world-wide popularity. To achieve this challenging goal, he looked to lapidary inscriptions and manuscript writing for inspiration. He included elements such as slight swellings of terminal strokes, slab serifs on a few of the caps, alternate uncial forms, and a few swash strokes. The result is uniquely Goudy: charming, instinctive, and just right for adding warmth to magazine or advertising layouts. The design staff at ITC updated and filled out the family for a total of eight styles in ITC Goudy Sans. ITC Goudy Sans® font field guide including best practices, font pairings and alternatives.

Fonts are Inhuman and Human Fonts are IN! Now, the Comicraft Cybernetics Corporation is proud to announce the first in a new line of fonts with GFP... Genuine Font Personalities. Paranoid Android is an outer alloy, inner void, solitary solenoid GFP prototype -- you can tell, can't you? Finally a font that knows its place as a digital servant to the human race. What will Comicraft think of next? No, don't bother to answer that, Comicraftsmen are fifty thousand times more intelligent than you and even they don't know the answer. Warning: Nothing left to be enjoyed, every diode rheumatoid*, terminally Paranoid Android is not so much a font, and more a kind of electronic sulking device. Share and Enjoy! *The moving parts on the left side of this font are in a solid state. It may sit in a corner and rust, or just fall apart where it's standing.

DUAL is a full width sans-serif typeface with an experimental side. Its straight lines and 90 degree angles give it a very geometric feel without hindering its legibility. It’s now available in 6 weights, ranging from 100 to 600. The idea behind DUAL has been brewing for quite some time, and though there has been many “experimental” released in the past, it does have its unique features. For starters, it is a fully usable and legible font in its original state. Also, its 251 alternate glyphs and 10 stylistic sets are, of course, its main attraction making DUAL a very versatile typeface for any user, from the casual designer to the hardcore artist. Finally, it has extensive additional language support for the Americas and parts of Europe. With its 563 glyphs, It’s actually two fonts in one, and thus the name DUAL. Enjoy!

George Ryan's ITC Migrate is a highly condensed sans serif display face that effectively complements ITC Adderville. Migrate represents what Ryan calls a “more highly evolved version” of a typeface he designed for Bitstream in 1991 called Oz Handicraft. “Both faces,“ says Ryan, “are based on designs of the popular early 20th-century type designer Oswald Cooper.” His inspiration came from drawing samples found in the Book of Oz Cooper, published in 1949 by the Society of Typographic Arts in Chicago. “Oz worked extensively with the sans serif form long before it became popular in the States, eschewing a popular belief of the time that sans serifs were only skeletons of letters.” Where Oz Handicraft was informal and quirky, ITC Migrate has a more restrained feel. “The uppercase characters and figures, in particular, have been reworked,” says Ryan, ”resulting in a more formal and traditional, compressed sans serif typeface.”

Ambiguity is a type family with five distinct personalities or ‘states’, created as a tool for coaxing designers and brands out of their comfort zone. It embraces both tradition and radicality, as well as generosity and thrift, encouraging us to question our beliefs about the intersection of style and meaning. The family is designed by Charles Nix, who describes Ambiguity as “as much thought experiment as typeface.” Its five states—Tradition, Radical, Thrift, Generous and Normate—each express or subvert different aspects of typographic tradition. Tradition is conservative, relying on historical letter shapes. Radical rejects inherited ideas of proportion, making typically slender letterforms wide, and wide letterforms slender. “It’s contrarian,” says Nix. Thrift cherry picks the condensed shapes from Tradition and Radical, while Generous does the same for wide forms. Normate sits at the center, a synthetic blend of all of the others. “Tradition is very comforting,” says Nix. “It’s the mask of conservatism. It’s calming because it delivers the proportions we expect. With Thrift more fits into a smaller space, so it’s great where words want to get large, like gigantic headlines, or text needs to cram in, like small screen type. You get a sense of carefree and luxury from the Generous cut. One would expect the Radical to be used in a sort of Dadaist way, but in a classic context it provides an enjoyable jolt.” Ambiguity is a litmus test. Designers could spend hours trying on typefaces that offer just one of these voices. Ambiguity provides five different personalities—ideas—beliefs—each of which also work seamlessly together. “It’s a palettea, like idea cards,” he says. “It’s a way of making yourself see differently. My hope is that traditionalists will try on radical clothes and vice versa. It’s a way of exploring outside your comfort zone, breaking out of the doldrums, by stepping through a variety of voices.”

The Charles Bluemlein Script Collection is an intriguing reminder of the heady days of hand lettering and calligraphy in the United States. From the early 1930s through World War II, there were about 200 professional hand letterers working in New York City alone. This occupation saw its demise with the advent of photo lettering, and after digital typography, became virtually extinct. The odd way in which the Bluemlein scripts were assembled and created - by collecting different signatures and then building complete alphabets from them - is a fascinating calligraphic adventure. Because the set of constructed designs looked nothing like the original signatures, fictitious names were assigned to the new script typefaces. The typeface styles were then showcased in Higgins Ink catalogs. Alejandro Paul and Sudtipos bring the Bluemlein scripts back to life in a set of expanded digital versions, reflecting the demands of today’s designer. Extreme care has been taken to render the original scripts authentically, keeping the fictitious names originally assigned to them by Bluemlein.

Inspired by the Appalachian culture of the Southeastern United States, the finely tuned forms of Dulcian strike a clear, empowering chord with your audience. This energetic and fresh sans serif flows fast and smooth with its simple lines and slight hand-written character. All total, there are six weights, with complementary italics and three different widths. Dulcian supports OpenType features and is packaged with unicase alternates, unconnected alternates, ligatures, old-fashioned figures, fractions, titling and small caps. Preview any and all of these features in the interactive PDF manual. The Dulcian family of fonts also includes glyphs for 72 languages, providing you with more than 600 glyphs per font. While designed especially for pull quotes, this display typeface can be used for a variety of applications. Dulcian is an excellent choice for websites as well as flyers and packaging. Other uses include coffee, menus, awards, certificates where a touch of humanity and personalization is needed.

Zena is an Arabetic typeface design with visually connected glyphs, named for designer’s younger daughter, Zena, for her twelfth birthday. Zena follows the guidelines of the Mutamathil Taqlidi type style with one glyph for every basic Arabic Unicode character or letter, as defined in Unicode Standards, and one additional final form glyph for each Arabic letter that can connect with other letters from both sides in traditional cursive Arabic strings. Zena employs variable x-height values. It includes all required Lam-Alif ligatures and selected marks. Tatweel (or Kashida) glyph is a zero width space. Keying it before any glyph will display that glyph isolated form, if desired. Keying Tatweel before Alif Lam Lam Ha will display the Allah ligature. The Zena typeface family includes both Arabic and Arabic-Indic numerals; all required diacritic marks, in addition to Standard English keyboard punctuations and major currency symbols. Zena is available in regular and italic (slated to the left) styles.

The Charles Bluemlein Script Collection is an intriguing reminder of the heady days of hand lettering and calligraphy in the United States. From the early 1930s through World War II, there were about 200 professional hand letterers working in New York City alone. This occupation saw its demise with the advent of photo lettering, and after digital typography, became virtually extinct. The odd way in which the Bluemlein scripts were assembled and created - by collecting different signatures and then building complete alphabets from them - is a fascinating calligraphic adventure. Because the set of constructed designs looked nothing like the original signatures, fictitious names were assigned to the new script typefaces. The typeface styles were then showcased in Higgins Ink catalogs. Alejandro Paul and Sudtipos bring the Bluemlein scripts back to life in a set of expanded digital versions, reflecting the demands of today’s designer. Extreme care has been taken to render the original scripts authentically, keeping the fictitious names originally assigned to them by Bluemlein.

Civane Serif maintains the epic grandeur of Civane with a text-friendly typeface. Inspired by the great tales of old, the grandeur of Civane is refined into a serif font with sharp serifs. Civane Serif is a contemporary sans-serif typeface with a robust character set. The Civane Serif family of typefaces supports 48 Latin-based Western, Central, and Eastern European languages, as well as the Baltic States and Turkey. Ligatures, small caps, embellishments, and a wide range of numerals are all accessible in OpenType, including proportional and tabular-width numbers, old style figures, fractions, inferiors, and superiors. Civane Serif is one of the finest choices for serif text setting. The italic or bold weights, as well as the roman set in titling caps, will impart a feeling of serene dignity on posters and webpages. Civane Serif's craftsmanship shines through with its higher contrast modern design, perfect for high-end premium goods and services.

The Charles Bluemlein Script Collection is an intriguing reminder of the heady days of hand lettering and calligraphy in the United States. From the early 1930s through World War II, there were about 200 professional hand letterers working in New York City alone. This occupation saw its demise with the advent of photo lettering, and after digital typography, became virtually extinct. The odd way in which the Bluemlein scripts were assembled and created - by collecting different signatures and then building complete alphabets from them - is a fascinating calligraphic adventure. Because the set of constructed designs looked nothing like the original signatures, fictitious names were assigned to the new script typefaces. The typeface styles were then showcased in Higgins Ink catalogs. Alejandro Paul and Sudtipos bring the Bluemlein scripts back to life in a set of expanded digital versions, reflecting the demands of today’s designer. Extreme care has been taken to render the original scripts authentically, keeping the fictitious names originally assigned to them by Bluemlein.

The Charles Bluemlein Script Collection is an intriguing reminder of the heady days of hand lettering and calligraphy in the United States. From the early 1930s through World War II, there were about 200 professional hand letterers working in New York City alone. This occupation saw its demise with the advent of photo lettering, and after digital typography, became virtually extinct. The odd way in which the Bluemlein scripts were assembled and created - by collecting different signatures and then building complete alphabets from them - is a fascinating calligraphic adventure. Because the set of constructed designs looked nothing like the original signatures, fictitious names were assigned to the new script typefaces. The typeface styles were then showcased in Higgins Ink catalogs. Alejandro Paul and Sudtipos bring the Bluemlein scripts back to life in a set of expanded digital versions, reflecting the demands of today’s designer. Extreme care has been taken to render the original scripts authentically, keeping the fictitious names originally assigned to them by Bluemlein.

The Charles Bluemlein Script Collection is an intriguing reminder of the heady days of hand lettering and calligraphy in the United States. From the early 1930s through World War II, there were about 200 professional hand letterers working in New York City alone. This occupation saw its demise with the advent of photo lettering, and after digital typography, became virtually extinct. The odd way in which the Bluemlein scripts were assembled and created - by collecting different signatures and then building complete alphabets from them - is a fascinating calligraphic adventure. Because the set of constructed designs looked nothing like the original signatures, fictitious names were assigned to the new script typefaces. The typeface styles were then showcased in Higgins Ink catalogs. Alejandro Paul and Sudtipos bring the Bluemlein scripts back to life in a set of expanded digital versions, reflecting the demands of today’s designer. Extreme care has been taken to render the original scripts authentically, keeping the fictitious names originally assigned to them by Bluemlein.

The Charles Bluemlein Script Collection is an intriguing reminder of the heady days of hand lettering and calligraphy in the United States. From the early 1930s through World War II, there were about 200 professional hand letterers working in New York City alone. This occupation saw its demise with the advent of photo lettering, and after digital typography, became virtually extinct. The odd way in which the Bluemlein scripts were assembled and created - by collecting different signatures and then building complete alphabets from them - is a fascinating calligraphic adventure. Because the set of constructed designs looked nothing like the original signatures, fictitious names were assigned to the new script typefaces. The typeface styles were then showcased in Higgins Ink catalogs. Alejandro Paul and Sudtipos bring the Bluemlein scripts back to life in a set of expanded digital versions, reflecting the demands of today’s designer. Extreme care has been taken to render the original scripts authentically, keeping the fictitious names originally assigned to them by Bluemlein.

The Charles Bluemlein Script Collection is an intriguing reminder of the heady days of hand lettering and calligraphy in the United States. From the early 1930s through World War II, there were about 200 professional hand letterers working in New York City alone. This occupation saw its demise with the advent of photo lettering, and after digital typography, became virtually extinct. The odd way in which the Bluemlein scripts were assembled and created - by collecting different signatures and then building complete alphabets from them - is a fascinating calligraphic adventure. Because the set of constructed designs looked nothing like the original signatures, fictitious names were assigned to the new script typefaces. The typeface styles were then showcased in Higgins Ink catalogs. Alejandro Paul and Sudtipos bring the Bluemlein scripts back to life in a set of expanded digital versions, reflecting the demands of today’s designer. Extreme care has been taken to render the original scripts authentically, keeping the fictitious names originally assigned to them by Bluemlein.

A page from the 1931 Vitrolite catalog showing illustrations of store fronts and building exteriors utilizing the material provided a classically Art Deco type example. The business name “Sylvin” did not offer many characters to work with, so completion of the digital type design was simply left to imagination. The end result is Structural Glass JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions According to Wikipedia: “Pigmented structural glass, also known generically as structural glass and as vitreous marble, and marketed under the names Carrara glass, Sani Onyx, and Vitrolite, among others, is a high-strength, colored glass. Developed in the United States in 1900, it was widely used around the world in the first half of the 20th century in Art Deco and Streamline Moderne buildings. It also found use as a material for signs, tables, and areas requiring a hygienic surface. Over time, the trademarked name “vitrolite” became a generic term for the glass.”

The Charles Bluemlein Script Collection is an intriguing reminder of the heady days of hand lettering and calligraphy in the United States. From the early 1930s through World War II, there were about 200 professional hand letterers working in New York City alone. This occupation saw its demise with the advent of photo lettering, and after digital typography, became virtually extinct. The odd way in which the Bluemlein scripts were assembled and created - by collecting different signatures and then building complete alphabets from them - is a fascinating calligraphic adventure. Because the set of constructed designs looked nothing like the original signatures, fictitious names were assigned to the new script typefaces. The typeface styles were then showcased in Higgins Ink catalogs. Alejandro Paul and Sudtipos bring the Bluemlein scripts back to life in a set of expanded digital versions, reflecting the demands of today’s designer. Extreme care has been taken to render the original scripts authentically, keeping the fictitious names originally assigned to them by Bluemlein.