During trips to the Miami Beach Public Library as a youth, Jeff Levine first caught sight of the signs made with a product called the Webway Sign Cabinet, manufactured by the Holes- Webway company of St. Cloud, MN. Having purchased an old set, Jeff has carefully re-drawn the alphabet and unique contrasting numbers from the original assortment, adding in an extended character set to his font.
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.
In the 1909 edition of the Atkinson Sign Painters’ instruction books is an extra bold sans serif alphabet and numerals called “Advertisers’ Thick and Thin Plug”. This hand lettered display face is now available digitally as Sign Lettering JNL in both regular and oblique versions.
A font with all the symbol signs used by the U.S. Department of Transportation, as provided for in the MUTCD (Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices). Drawn to meet the US DOT's exact specifications for highway signs.
There was a time in this country when many young people studied a trade via a correspondence course through the mail. While this method still exists, it's now more common to find students taking online classes. From an early-1960s course in sign painting comes Sign Merchant JNL, a classic brush stroke type design popularized on show cards and posters.
In 1948, Joseph Struhl pioneered an innovative do-it-yourself sign kit for retail merchants. Die-cut letters and numbers made from flexible sheets of vinyl with the ability to adhere to smooth surfaces by static electricity; his "Magic Master Interchangeable Sign Kits" became a great success. Jeff Levine has paid tribute to this innovative method of in-store advertising with Sign Maker JNL. Because of their die-cut shapes, the design style of the static cling letters have unique characteristics. Companion fonts (based on other Struhl sign kits) are Cling Vinyl JNL and Cling Vinyl Clear JNL.
Sign Stencil JNL was modeled from some vintage lettering stencils spotted in an online auction that were part of a store sign making kit. A variety of styles, sizes and designs were contained within a carrying case along with paints, brushes and instructions on how to paint attractive signs.
Window Sign JNL is a solidified re-working of Sign Stencil JNL; originally modeled from some vintage lettering stencils that were part of a store sign making kit.
Stock Signs JNL is a collection of fifty-two signs resembling those made by engraving letters into plastic using a pantograph process. There is also a pair of blank signs on the parenthesis keys. To make your own signs or layouts emulating this classic look, try Sign Engraver JNL, which is the font used for these designs.
Sign Production JNL somewhat resembles Sign Kit JNL but there are some noticeable differences. The letters and numbers in Sign Production JNL are bolder, wider and have some slightly different character shapes. The common theme is that both fonts were designed from die-cut letters and numbers found in the Webway Sign Cabinet, manufactured by the Holes-Webway Company of St. Cloud, Minnesota until its demise in the 1980s.
Sign Decal JNL is an outline version of Sheldrake JNL - lettering based on original water-applied decal transfers once made by the Duro Decal Company (now Duro Art Industries) of Chicago.
Sign Template JNL is based on one of the many plastic lettering guides manufactured by the now-defunct Wright-Regan Instrument Company (also known as WRICO). Aside from their engineering and drafting templates and tools, WRICO had a line of "Sign-Maker" sets which featured various styles of lettering, special ink pens and metal alignment guides to assure clean, crisp lettering with little effort.
Donkey Sign is a spectacular decorative font with a Graffiti style and with a sign decorative inside for your design look awesome. It will elevate a wide range of design projects to the highest level, be it branding, headings, wedding designs, invitations, signatures, logotype, wall art illustration, apparel, labels, and much more.
The addition of serifs to an existing typeface can drastically change the look and feel of a design. Sign Card JNL and its oblique version is just such a treatment of Sign Shop JNL. By adding the serifs, there is not only a brand-new Art Deco typeface possessing a regal and formal style, but a distant resemblance to a Russian Cyrillic font with its mechanical form and function.
An elegant, yet informal Roman alphabet with Art Nouveau influences was found amidst the pages of the 1922 edition of “The Expert Sign Painter”. It is now available digitally as Sign Expert JNL in both regular and oblique versions.
Sign Shop JNL was inspired by a set of ceramic titling and display letters similar to those used to model Entitled JNL and made by the Mitten's Display Letter Company of Redlands, California. The distinctive retro feel adds a great touch to any project. Bold, Deco and Oblique versions were created by Jeff Levine for extra visual impact.
Up until the late 1920s, it was a popular habit in American songwriting to use African Americans as the topic of compositions using denigrating themes, words and even exaggerated character illustrations on the covers of the published sheet music. One such example of what was considered "entertainment" for its time was a piece entitled "Little Black Me". While this now socially and morally unacceptable piece of forgettable tripe is collected by some only for the historical documentation of the times they reflected, one good "positive" came out of this negative chapter of our country's musical heritage: The beautiful floral ornamented letters in the song's title has yielded Fancy Free JNL. Originally hand-lettered on an arc, these spurred Roman letters have been re-drawn, and are offered in both the regular design and a companion version with the ornamentation removed for lettering that is less ornate.
Toward the end of the 1920s, Art Deco influences were starting to creep into modern design. The hand lettered title on the cover of the1928 sheet music for “Fascinatin’ Vamp” not only embraced the new Deco movement, but sent it on a wild typographic ride. Letters of mixed thicknesses and stylings made up the two word title, and this unusual group of letter shapes became the inspiration for Free Form Deco JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.
Sultan free is an Arabic text typeface for desktop applications. Sultan free is a freestyle script. It is available in One style, calligraphic, and very dynamic. This makes it suitable for large display sizes, especially in the area of advertising, while still functioning well as a text face. The font includes a support for Arabic, Persian, and Urdu. Sultan free typeface comes with many opentype features.