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

The retail storage box for a vintage metal numbering stamp manufactured by the American Numbering Machine Company had its brand name hand lettered in an Art Nouveau style that most likely went back to the 1920s, as the company was in existence from 1908 to around 1971. Numbering machines were used in offices, schools, libraries, and anywhere a series of numbers needed to be marked onto printed items. Similar to what was called a ‘crash numberer’ used in letterpress shops, the machines could be set to do a run of digits [for example: 4000, 4001, 4002] or repeat numbers for forms used as carbon copies. As computers took over most forms of printing, the use of numbering machines dwindled, but they are still available. The American Numbering Machine Company was one of several Brooklyn, New York companies that specialized in the manufacture of these machines. Retail Packaging JNL replicates the lettering from their packaging, and is available in both regular and oblique versions.

A simple, mechanical typeface without distractions. Slightly condensed curves are developed from a compact grid layout to produce a crisp, fresh and legible type family. The unadorned letterforms work perfectly with complex information-based applications such as user interfaces, mobile devices and websites. Details include six weights with italics, 480 characters, five variations of numerals, stylistic alternatives, manually edited kerning and Opentype features.

A 1940s-era book from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers entitled "Topographic Drafting" features a page for "lettering construction and spacing" in the process of map making. The letters and numbers were formed on grids using that mechanical drafting process for uniformity in stroke width. This was the basis for Topographic Sans JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

There’s just nothing quite like a heavyweight geometric typestyle with tiny counters, you just love it like the Bee Gees. Sackem started as a digitization of a singular film typeface called Benman Jumbo by Lettergraphics. From there, this mechanical typeface was expanded into a giant family of playful widths and obliques: from the condensed “Slim” style to the original “Jumbo” style.

Telecom is a new, experimental typeface designed by Jan Estrada-Osmycki. Inspired by space-age, science-fiction and the work of Wim Crouwel. It's design combines mechanical, modular approach to type and elegance of letterforms. It's super-high contrast, thin hairlines and close attention to detail makes it a font to be set in greater sizes. Comes in four weights.

The letters possess some of the most characteristic features of this type of font, used for communication and advertising in various mechanized and motor sports, as well as in the gaming industry. The technological-engineering constructiveness is achieved through the strict geometry of the forms, and the sporty competitive look is stylistically expressed through the slopes and contrasts of the beams.

Art into type In 2008, Fontsmith were approached by their friend, Jon Scott, to investigate whether a typeface could assume the aesthetic of one artist’s body of work. Jon’s not-for-profit charity, Measure, was organising an event for the artist, Conrad Shawcross, whose giant mechanical installation, entitled Chord, was going on public display in the long-disused Kingsway tram tunnel in Holborn. Chord explores the way we perceive time, as either a line or a cycle. Two enormous machines with dozens of rotating arms and moving in opposite directions, weave rope with almost infinite slowness. An unusual brief Phil Garnham visited Conrad in his Hackney studio to get a feel for his work and ideas. “Conrad is a very clever and philosophical guy. He struggled to see how typeface design had any relevance to him and his art. This was going to be a challenge.” The artist presented the type designer with a pile of rope and a huge diagram of sketches and mathematical workings. “This was, in essence, my brief.” Phil developed three concepts, the simplest of which ticked all the boxes. “The idea of the strokes in the letterforms appearing and ending at peaks or points of origin fitted perfectly with Conrad’s idea of time occurring and ending at two ends of the sculpture.” Two versions Phil planned modules for two versions of the typeface: one with five lines in the letterforms and one with seven. He then drew the modules on-screen and twisted and turned them to build the machine that is FS Conrad. “This is not a simple headline typeface,” says Phil. “It’s not a rigid structure. It has varying character widths, and it’s informed by real typographic insight and proportions so that it actually works as piece of functioning, harmonious type.”

The first photo-typesetting machine in operation, the Uhertype, was introduced in 1925. It was a combination of manual phototypesetting machine and make-up machine. The machine’s typefaces were designed by Jan Tschichold. The patents on Uhertype were bought up at the time to prevent the invention of filmsetting spreading. Jan Tschichold has been very influenced by Gill Sans (1928) for this humanistic sans serif drawn in 1933/36 for Uhertype.

Plantin is a Renaissance Roman as seen through a late–industrial-revolution paradigm. Its forms aim to celebrate fine sixteenth century book typography with the requirements of mechanized typesetting and mass production in mind. How did this anomalous design come about? In 1912 Frank Hinman Pierpont of English Monotype visited the Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp, returning home with “knowledge, hundreds of photographs, and a stack of antique typeset specimens including a few examples of Robert Granjon’s.” Together with Fritz Stelzer of the Monotype Drawing Office, Pierpont took one of these overinked proofs taken from worn type to use as the basis of a new text face for machine composition. Body text set in Plantin produces a dark, rich texture that’s suited to editorial and book work, though it also performs its tasks on screen with ease. Its historical roots lend the message it sets a sense of gravity and authenticity. The family covers four text weights complete with italics, with four condensed headline styles and a caps-only titling cut. Plantin font field guide including best practices, font pairings and alternatives.

Guilloches were – in the old days – used to make the falsification of banknotes more difficult. The engraving of these intricate lines was done by a highly specialized mechanical machine, which was operated by an equally highly specialized engraving artist. Once the settings for a specific curve were changed back to zero it was very difficult, if not impossible to set them back to the old design. I have designed a useful set of Guilloches that join to form ribbons that create a kind of op-art 3d effect. Under the keys A-U and a-u you find joining pieces. Under the keys V-Z and v-z I placed start- and endpieces. 0-4 are different lenght straight extensions and 5-9 are not quite so straight extensions. All other keys are corner pieces that can be used as stand-alones or put in rows to make for superb decoration. With a little bit of experimentation and maybe colored overlays you can achieve super-phantastic designs. Your elegant type designer Gert Wiescher.

Kwaliteit is the result of a love story. The love story between a font designer and an old embossing label machine. The big bold letters produced by such machines are wonderful to convey a big bold message (big bold messages are fun!), but sometimes you just can't walk around with one of those antique label machines… That's why this font can come in handy! Its uses are numerous… be the boss of emboss!

This font is inspired by typography found on old German shop windows. It is a script font, but instead of imitating human handwriting and the gestures connected to it, the goal was to come up with a new writing flow and stroke order. As opposed to handwriting Latin script letters, which normally means drawing each character and then connecting it to the next one, the strokes of this font run across multiple glyphs. Intentionally, the design aims to achieve a flowing transition between each glyph without making use of contextual alternates, taking the limitations of classic machine lettering as a challenge.

a digitization of Remington Elite model typewriter machine alphabet

This display font has an oriental character reminiscent of brush stroke calligraphy and all things Japanese. My original working title for this font was ‘Spanner’, because the lower case ‘c’, with which the design began, looked rather like the head of a spanner. I originally had in mind something more mechanical, but as it evolved and developed the font itself obviously had other ideas!

David Berlow and staff drew Apres as part of a series designed originally for the Palm Pre smart phone, for use both on the device and in print marketing. Simple, open letterforms and generous proportions provide a clear, comfortable, and inviting experience for navigation and readability. The plain-spoken geometry is regular and balanced, without being static or mechanical, for a friendly and forthright familiarity; FB 2008

You've seen them all around -- on alarm clocks, tote boards, scoreboards and in many other venues we take for granted in our daily lives -- displays with letters and numbers that flip down to reveal other letters or numbers. Flipboard JNL is a digital recreation of these mechanical sign displays. There is a limited character set, and a blank panel is located on the equal sign keystroke.

The Gravity family is a unique series of heavy square slab serifs intended mainly for display usage. Gravity Normal exhibits impact with legibility. Gravity Nova is fine-tuned to showcase brawn and beauty. Gravity Supernova, the most audacious of the family, commands attention with its extremely dense, mechanical design. Each weight includes diacritics for Western and Central European languages and is tightly spaced for maximum impact.

Slightly off-kilter to give this rigid geometric a little personality, Contraption started as a digitization of a film typeface called Intrigue by Lettergraphics. From there, this mechanical typeface was expanded into a giant family of useful widths, weights, and obliques: from spindly thin and light weights, to chunky bold and blacks. An additional Inline style has been developed to further enhance the family dynamic.

Art deco The inspiration for FS Blake’s elegant, lightly geometric forms can be traced back to design of the 1930s; designer Emanuela Conidi was influenced by the typography of cool, European, art deco posters. FS Blake bears traits of the art deco style, from its thin weights to its heavy weights, giving a set of faces each with their own distinct character, but still with a strong family resemblance. Mechanical type Mechanical and organic shapes combine in FS Blake to create a harmonious whole of generous curves and cursive spikes. A strong, punchy contender in display sizes, it’s also got a gentle touch with small text in lighter weights. Lively, versatile and with plenty of character contrast between weights, the FS Blake family offers impact in whatever task it’s given.faces each with their own distinct character, but still with a strong family resemblance. Sketch book Great fonts still emerge from a combination of hand, paper and pencil. After filling her sketch book with ideas, Emanuela and Jason extracted the elements that both felt could work in a font. The process yielded a whole crop of starting points for future designs as well as a focus for FS Blake as a striking, characterful, almost industrial font.

Baby Garland is a beautiful script font with a modern and elegant feel. It has a classy look that can be used for logos, branding, invitations, stationary, cards, wedding designs, social media posts, and any other design that requires a handwriting touch. This font is PUA encoded which means you can access all glyphs and swash easily! It features varied base lines, fine lines, beautiful flying machines and incredible alternatives. Thank you