Franklin Gothic was designed between 1903 and 1912 by Morris Fuller Benton for the American Type Founders Company. The font serves as the American Grotesk prototype. It was named after Benjamin Franklin. Even today, Franklin Gothic remains one of the most widely used sans serif typefaces. The robust character of the font gives text a modern feel. It is widely used in newspapers and advertising and is frequently seen in posters, placards and other material where space is restricted. Featured in: Best Fonts for Tattoos

Makeba Retro Funky Groovy Font is a fun and funky display font that brings back the spirit of the 70s. Its bold, rounded letters feature groovy curves and playful embellishments that exude a retro vibe. This font is perfect for creating eye-catching titles and headlines for posters, album covers, and other retro-inspired designs. The font’s energetic and upbeat personality is sure to make any project stand out.

The Vtg Stencil fonts from astype are based on real world stencils from several countries. All styles offering an extended Latin character set. » pdf specimen «

Amongst some pages scanned and posted online of old wood type alphabets comes this lovely, ornamental design in a reversed style of white lettering on black rectangular boxes. This classic set of wood type is now available digitally as Wood Fancy Reverse JNL. There is a narrow blank box on the “less than” key for use as an end cap, and a wider blank box on the “greater than” key to use between words as a blank space if so desired.

The Vtg Stencil fonts from astype are based on real world stencils from several countries. In the case of French stencils the challenge was special, because of the varieties of different widths and weights between the stencil sets – so I made France No. 1, No. 3 and No. 5. The most unique and eye-catching elements of typical French stencils are the figures 1, 2, 3, 7 and a specially 5. The figure 5 changes in style on smaller stencil sizes, its bobble getting replaced by something like a “breve”. The letters J and Q can differ in style too. While the local stencil lettering styles are gradually disappearing in other countries, there are regions in France, such as Normandy and Brittany, where these stencils are still in use today. They are used for technical lettering, which is what stencils were originally intended for, but also for ads and information signs in a more artistic or patriotic context. Over the time, these stencil letters became a globally recognized landmark of French design and French taste. All styles offering an extended Latin character set. » pdf specimen «

In March 2010, Émile Fradin, a modest peasant farmer from central France, died at the age of 103. To his grave he took the secret behind one of the most controversial archaeological discoveries of the 20th century. A discovery which put into question the very origins of the written word and the paternity of European culture. It was the uncovering of peculiar artefacts would come to be known as the Glozel runes. The discovery of the Glozel runes On the first day of March 1924, a not yet 18-year-old Fradin was ploughing his family’s field in the hamlet of Glozel, when his cow stumbled into a hole. When he and his grandfather, Claude, looked closer, they discovered a mass of broken stone, under which lay an underground chamber. Within, they discovered pottery fragments, carved bones, and a peculiar clay tablet covered in bizarre characters that neither of the two could decipher. The family requested a subsidy for excavation works to be carried out, but were refused by the regional authority. With that disappointment, it seemed as though the discovery would fade into obscurity. However, the following year, news of Fradin’s unusual clay tablet reached the ears of the physician and amateur archeologist, Antonin Morlet. By the end of May 1925, Morlet began the first of his excavations.4 Within the first two years alone, he had amassed some 3,000 finds.

A playful, casual take on round nib pen lettering was spotted amongst some online scans from an old lettering book. The free-form and stylized shapes of the letters and numbers are reminiscent of old-time show cards, movie titles and signage in vogue around the early 1900s through the 1920s. Fancy Show Card JNL is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Funky Fat Jiggly PW is intended and suitable for Display use and Titles. It's not very suitable for long paragraphs of text. This font is meant for fun, fun, fun! It contains the basic characters. Uppercase, lowercase, numerals, and basic punctuation. See the character map for all of the included characters. Funky Fat Jiggly PW is available in OpenType, PostScript and TrueType format.

The Vtg Stencil fonts from astype are based on real world stencils from several countries. All styles offering an extended Latin character set. » pdf specimen «

Neat printed handwriting.

When drawing a new font, there is a time when the final form is found – almost – but the curves are not slick and clean yet, that's what I call the "raw" form. Raw – no sweeteners added! In this family I redefined this moment in type development for the eternally beautiful "Franklin Gothic". I call the design "Franklin Gothic Raw". This packet is the semi-serif addition. There never was a Franklin-Gothic with serifs but actually the font lends itself perfectly to a slab-serif. I started with adding a half serif and eventually add a full slab-serif later on.

Franklin Gothic Hand Demi Shadow is another one in my series of hand-drawn fonts from way back in time – before computers changed the way we worked in advertising. This one was especially used for what we called "pork-belly-ads": ads for food-stores! I think it is very useful for all kinds of advertising that demands a lot of bang! Your powerful typedesigner Gert Wiescher