Happy Trails is a font that is based on the lettering (all upper case) used on most Trailways buses from 1936 through the very early 1960s. It also has a newly created set of lower case letters which never existed before. The font was tweaked and digitized by Bob Alonso & John Bomparte. Happy Trails has not only the flavor of the early Trailways buses but also a folksy, Western feel to it, and it’s even a bit silly or goofy, a fun font that has a variety of uses.

New Alphabet was created as a four weight family in close collaboration with Wim Crouwel. His response in the late 1960s to the first device for electronic typesetting was a radical experiment designed to follow the underlying dot-matrix system. With his strong interest in grids, Crouwel worked within the constraints of existing electronic technology, to produce characters that worked with the mechanical means that conveyed them. His original New Alphabet experiments have now been further developed by The Foundry into a typeface family that also includes the dot version.

A rubber stamp printing set from the 1930s (or possibly earlier) was the model for Winery JNL. Containing a pleasant serif font, it also provided a few little touches unusual for such toy sets of the time. The horizontal crossbar of the H has a diamond embellishment, as does the horizontal stroke of the number 3. Additionally, the lower right tail of the G curves away from the letter and the Q has a spiral tail. Re-drawn from scans of the original stamp impressions, this typeface is available in both regular and oblique versions.

In the days of hand lettering, a common philosophy was "the problem creates the solution". Often times the layout artist would have to adapt the lettering style to fit the amount of copy on a line. A perfect example is during the early 1900s, when popular sheet music of the time almost seemed to be competing for how many words could be used within a song's a title. One such piece of sheet music offered up the tall, condensed and variable-width lettering found within Narrow Minded JNL.

The first cuts of Trade Gothic were designed by Jackson Burke in 1948. He continued to work on further weights and styles until 1960 while he was director of type development for Mergenthaler-Linotype in the USA. Trade Gothic does not display as much unifying family structure as other popular sans serif font families, but this dissonance adds a bit of earthy naturalism to its appeal. Trade Gothic is often seen in advertising and multimedia in combination with roman text fonts, and the condensed versions are popular in the newspaper industry for headlines.

Journalistic is one in a series of fonts designed for use in creating replica vintage newspapers. It is inspired by the nameplate of a New England newspaper from the 1920s. Its rough character is apparent at headline sizes, and it remains nicely legible at smaller sizes for diplomas and other formal documents. The OpenType font contains a variety of discretionary ligatures and contextual alternates, including the long s and other glyphs for classic German typography. Long s substitution can be achieved through either historical or titling alternate OpenType features.

Samuel Welo’s “Studio Handbook for Artists and Advertisers” contained dozens of hand-lettered alphabets used as inspiration for both the sign trade and for graphic designers. Intertitle Nouveau JNL – available in both regular and oblique versions – was originally an alphabet produced by a round lettering nib, and was first shown in the 1927 edition (later reprinted in the 1960 edition). It is reminiscent of the lettering used on intertitle cards of the silent film era. This font marks an amazing milestone - the 2000th release by Jeff Levine Fonts since its inception in January of 2006.

The specimen book Alphabete: ein Schriftatlas von A bis Z identified the pattern for this typeface as Stymie Black Flair. Although neither the designer nor the original foundry is identified, it bears a strong resemblance to the work of Dave West for Photolettering in the 60s and 70s. Big, beautiful and bodacious, it’s a natural choice for attention-grabbing headlines. Many alternate characters available: see the full character map. The PC PostScript, TrueType and OpenType versions contain the complete Latin language character set (Unicode 1252) plus support for Central European (Unicode 1250) languages as well.

astroluxtype’s Spacepod is a headline display font set. The font contains uppercase and lowercase letterforms with a minimum glyph set. The style suggests weird sci fi from the 1970’s or the far future... you decide? Is this the font for your sci fi western book cover title with a nod to The Matrix in the story or a poster for the movie remake of Westworld? Wherever your ship takes you in the universe Spacepod should be the letterforms on the side of your craft that states, “No rides for damn dirty apes!”

The design of this display face is based on the hot metal typeface Acropolis, issued by the German type foundry Ludwig Wagner in Leipzig in 1940. To further increase its usefulness a Cyrillic was added to it: URW Akropolis, redrawn and digitally remastered by Coen Hofmann for the URW Font Forum, is a true display design that should not be set below 48 point if you want to preserve it's fine details like the open triangular sections, e.g. in L, G, S, T etc. and gain the full typographic splendidness of this beautiful typeface.

Boondock is another Imre Reiner design resurrected from the ashes of hot metal type for digital use. This wild paint font is a revival of the fascinating Bazaar brush type from 1956. Boondock has some very unique characters that combine to form a statement of casual but loud strength, seriousness and raw primal emotion. Great for short sudden-impact spurts, like book cover titles, single sentence headers, movie posters and music sleeves. Redrawn from original specimen by Patrick Griffin, and expanded with some built-in extras too add to the convenience of this digital version.

Letterpress type, crafted by H. Th. Wijdeveld, founding editor and chief designer of the legendary Dutch art and architecture magazine Wendingen, provided the inspiration for this typeface. The original design graced a 1925 issue examining the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, and Wijdeveld created his typeface by assembling bits of standard brass rules. This version features several of the meanders typical of Wijdeveld’s graphic design in the dagger, double dagger, ASCII tilde and ASCII circumflex positions. Both versions of the font include 1252 Latin, 1250 CE (with localization for Romanian and Moldovan).

Round, firm, and bursting at the seams with good humor, ITC Mister Chuckles is based on the premise that barrel shapes have pleasant associations. Think: beer-barrel polkas, a barrel of fun, or a barrel of laughs, and you'll get the idea. Designer Nick Curtis has combined sans serif sturdiness, a hint of 1930s deco and a handful of giggles in this remarkably versatile all-cap face. If the typographic occasion calls for mirth and merriment, invite Mister Chuckles to the party. You'll have more fun than a barrel of monkeys!

Lasting Impression JNL was rendered from scans of a 1930s rubber stamp printing set. At small sizes it has the look of hand-stamped lettering. At larger sizes, the user will see jagged and angular lines giving the font a kind of retro-grunge look. This typeface was the model for the more cleanly-drawn Casual Friday JNL, also by Jeff Levine. There is a limited character set, and both the spacing and kerning have been intentionally omitted so that the results will more closely resemble the uneven letter spacing of rubber stamps on paper.

New Letter Gothic was designed for ParaType by Gayaneh Bagdasaryan based on monospaced Letter Gothic font by Roger Roberson, 1956–62. Due to clear and easy-to-read lettershapes of Letter Gothic the font is rather popular now for display and advertising matters. The idea was to create a font similar to Letter Gothic in lettershapes but with proportional widths of letters. For use in both display and text setting. New Letter Gothic has been adjudged an Award for Excellence in Type Design at Kyrillitsa ’99 International Type Design competition in Moscow, 1999.

Because of the large influx of Irish immigrants during the late 1800s and early 1900s, it was not unusual for songwriters of the day to craft songs around Irish themes, offering a nostalgic link to their homeland. One such 1917 piece entitled "You Brought Ireland Right Over to Me" had the title hand lettered on the sheet music cover in a sans serif design reflecting the popular Art Nouveau movement of the day. This design is now available digitally as Retro Nouveau JNL, in both regular and oblique versions.

Vododeo JNL is directly named for the free-form sheet music title lettering from Jack Yellen and Milton Ager's "Vo-Do-De-O". The term itself was a catchphrase made popular during the era known as the "Roaring 20s". Yellen and Ager were responsible for such hits as "Ain't She Sweet" (1927) and "Happy Days Are Here Again" (1930) along with countless others. During his career, Jack Yellen provided lyrics to over 200 songs. As a side note, Yellen was married to a distant cousin of type designer Jeff Levine's late mother.

Metalet Modern JNL was based on the letters found within the Metalet Movie Titling Set manufactured by the Modern Display Advertising Company of Hollywood, California circa the 1940s. Each stamped metal letter would be affixed to the background surface via the use of miniature magnets. Once in place, titles for home movies or slides could be photographed, the letters then returned to their storage area in their box. The character shapes show unusual stroke movement, which means the original models used for these letters were most likely hand-drawn.

The Federal Art Project division of the WPA (Works Progress Administration) employed numerous artists, musicians, actors and other creative sorts in a effort to help many survive the Great Depression of the 1930s. One of the posters created by this project was for a "Card Party and Barter Benefit" with proceeds going toward the Nassau Art Teachers Benefit Fund - taking place at the Coca-Cola plant in Rockville Centre, New York. East Village JNL was derived from this poster, and is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Architype Crouwel is a collection of typefaces created in collaboration with Wim Crouwel, following his agreement with The Foundry, to recreate his experimental alphabets as digital fonts. Crouwel's most recognized work was for the Van Abbe and Stedelijk museums (1954 –72) where he established his reputation for radical, grid-based design. Architype Vierkant was developed from the few letterforms that Crouwel created for an opening spread in a 1972 Drupa catalogue, on the theme ‘typo vision international’ – this single reference showed an interesting interplay of the experimental ideas underpinning his controversial ‘new alphabet’ and Fodor.

The inspiration for this font made its first appearance in the 1897 American Type Founders specimen book, under the name "Lithotint". As the name suggests, the original was tinted gray (diagonal lines formed the body); this version is solid and spooky, too. The font contains a few ghostly graphics, including ghosts at the bracket positions, a haunted house at the backslash position, and a scary backdrop at the ASCII tilde and ASCII circumflex positions. Both versions of the font include 1252 Latin, 1250 CE (with localization for Romanian and Moldovan).

Edda Pro is another art nouveau revival by German type designer Ralph M. Unger. Edda Pro is based on Edda, designed in 1900 by Heinrich Heinz Heune for Schelter & Giesecke, Leipzig, Germany. Unger redesigned the beautiful forms, completed and expanded this outline caps-only typeface for the profonts library. Also, he added a nice collection of very useful frames and ornaments in EPS format supplied with the OTF version of Edda Pro.Edda Pro can be used for anything in advertising, signmaking, posters, restaurants, hairdressing, paint, wallpaper and so on.

Jongleur is a multifaceted hand-drawn display typeface based on a Maury Nemoy lettering from 1957. Packed with handy OpenType features, the font makes automatic substitutions when you turn on the contextual alternates, creating an interesting hand-lettered feel. If you're in a messy mood, use the stylistic alternates instead! The font also brings an extra set of alternate letterforms you can pick by hand to spice up your compositions. Great choice for titles and small amounts of text, perfect for posters, book covers and a wide range of applications.

Brody’s fonts borrow elements from both Art Deco and non-Western styles. His designs received international recognition for their innovative, computer-oriented style, reaching almost cult status. Four original Brody fonts are available from Linotype Library GmbH: Insignia, Industria-Solid, Industria Inline and Arcadia. For your convenience, we have gathered all four into one package. Insignia has the basic forms of constructed grotesque fonts and was influenced by the New Typography of the Bauhaus during the 1930s. Its image reflects the Zeitgeist of that age, suggesting technology and progress.

Tucked inside the November 5, 1927 issue of a German signpainters' trade paper was a single sheet headed Der Schilder und Schriftenmaler, which featured an alphabet called "Neue Fraktur". An exuberant (if somewhat unconventional) combination of Art Deco sensibilities and blackletter forms, the font retains its freshness, even today. Included in this version are Deco bishops fingers at the bar and broken bar positions, and a styling, horn-blowing herald at ASCII circumflex and tilde positions. Both versions of the font include 1252 Latin and 1250 CE (with localization for Romanian and Moldovan) character sets.

The compendium Alphabete: ein Schriftaltas von A bis Z listed the pattern for this family of faces under the name Chicago which, owing to the number of other faces using the same name, makes its origins difficult to ascertain. Nonetheless, its soft lines and round forms have a timeless appeal makes this family an excellent choice for both headlines and text use. Both versions of this font include the complete Latin 1252, Central European 1250 and Turkish 1254 character sets, along with localization for Lithuanian, Moldovan, Romanian and Turkish.

The Techno sound of the 1990s, a personal computer, a font creation software and some inspiration had been the sources to the F2F (Face2Face) font series. Alessio Leonardi and his friends had the demand to create new unusual faces that should be used in the leading german techno magazine "Frontpage". Even typeset in 6 point to nearly unreadability it was a pleasure for the kids to read and decrypt the messages. About Al Retto: "Al" means "Alessio Leonardi" and Retto "straight", but if you read it as an italian world means "in the a**".

Portsmouth Second Fleet is the rag tag, wild bunch companion to Portsmouth. It is a strong, sturdy typeface with historical character. Its inspiration comes from the height and strength of the wooden tall ships that sailed into port in their day. With caps and small caps, this typeface is great for headlines or subheads for design projects that need a historical or retro feel, such as from the 1940s and earlier. Two different styles that can be layered allow for different colored drop shadows, outlines and fill for even more customization.

The evocative and original Retrofit is based on typefaces of the 1940s and 50s, which extolled the virtues of American products in glossy magazines for the new suburban consumer. Oversized terminal bulbs and occasional slab serifs lend a rhythm and a bouncing baseline provides just the "zing" to spice up that bland typographic treatise. Retrofit's easy familiarity can be seen on children's books, games, food packaging, and other places where a kid friendly note is needed. Retrofit has been adapted by Quickutz for their punched letter cutting tool, and re-named "Maggie".

Poplar is an Adobe Originals typeface designed by Barbara Lind in 1990 for the Adobe Wood Type series. Poplar, a Gothic condensed, was designed from photographs taken by Rob Roy Kelly of the one surviving copy of an 1830 William Leavenworth type specimen book. Leavenworth possessed unusual artistic abilities, and his treatment of the letterform counters as narrow slits made it the only wood type of its kind displayed during the nineteenth century. Poplar is an excellent display face, its simplicity making it useful for a broad range of work.

Decode is a retro styled font, referencing the art deco typography from the 1920's and 30's. The font is designed to be in keeping with the art deco style but with a contemporary and modern finish making it a stylish font for all kinds of work. The typeface is available in 3 complimentary styles. Use one on its own as a headline font or combine all three to create eye catching typographic displays. Each version comes with deco styled caps with an alternate uppercase to add extra variation to your work.

Say hello to a new Typoforge member! Nisse is a display font family that consists of 4 styles (including italics). The regular and rough versions differ in the amount of wear. It’s inspired by Rex typeface first published by „The Jan Idzikowski and Co. Foundry“ in 1930. Nisse has a high amount of detail making it ideal for large prints and poster design. It is specified by a huge amount of automatic alternates. Each basic latin letter has five versions, the numbers have thee versions and extended latin letters have two versions.

This sans serif type was completed in 1985, a descendant of the earlier serifed Congress shown for the first time at the Association Typographique International Congress, which proved to be so popular in 1980 at Kiel; designed to present a style equally appealing in European languages. Many characters are more condensed than is usual, while others have been exaggerated. The concept being to bring an equality of importance to the whole, producing a collection of International characters working together in harmony on the page-a common aim that Europeans wish of any Congress.

The English roundhand has always occupied the central position in the group of faces appropriate to the social printing handled by engravers, and their contemporary imitators, thermographers. At the end of the nineteenth century when engraving was mechanised by the pantographic engraving machine, the traditional roundhands found their way onto pantographic pattern plates. Embassy is a traditional roundhand of vigorous contrast with straightforward capitals with ball terminals; it was transferred from such an engravers’ pattern plate to the Fotosetter at Intertype about 1955. Alphatype’s Yorktown is similar, but appears to have less contrast.

The Teapot Dome scandal was a 1920s bribery scandal involving Secretary of the Interior Albert Bacon Fall. Fall leased Navy petroleum reserves at Teapot Dome in Wyoming [along with some California reserves] at low rates with no competitive bidding. The San Francisco Examiner for Feb. 20, 1924 ran the two line headline “U.S. Senator Named as Oil Stock Speculator; Whitney to Face Quiz Today on Slush Fund”. The headline was set in a condensed, slightly squared sans serif typeface. This is now available as Special Edition JNL in both regular and oblique versions.

Designed by Les Usherwood. Argus is a flared serif font family. Its analog form was designed by Les Usherwood (Typsettra) in the 1980’s, and Paul Hickson (P&P Hickson) and Steve Jackaman (ITF) designed the digital version exclusively for the Red Rooster Collection in 1992. Argus is an expressive, graceful typeface that was inspired by Baroque typography. Its diamond-shaped punctuation shares similarities with other glyphic typefaces, such as Arthur Baker’s ‘Baker Signet.’ The font family gives a beautiful gravitas to any project, whether it be packaging, motion picture, or magazines.

Kopik is a modern hand-drawn script inspired by the 1960's architectural handwriting style practised by draftsmen. Originated using a Copic 1.0 Multiliner pen, then traced digitally using a stylus and tablet to help reduce imperfections. The result is a simple, readable, monolinear typeface with a marker pen quality suitable for a wide range of written applications. Details include 440 characters, three weights with matching italics, alternative a, g, and y four numerals variations. Opentype features inferiors, superiors, fractions and language support covering Western, South and Central Europe.

This font set was created in collaboration with the Philadelphia Museum of Art to coincide with the Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary. This font set includes faithfully reproduced letterforms digitized directly from images of impressions made by Benjamin Franklin and his printing office circa 1750. The printing conditions of the time involved handmade paper with textured surfaces and handmade inks which were hand-applied for each impression. By digitizing the printed type in its real-life state, an authentic look of Franklin's actual work is achieved and, ultimately, has a timeless appeal.

Thorowgood was originally released by the Stephenson Blake typefoundry in the UK. The types were first cut by the English typefounder Robert Thorne, predecessor of William Thorowgood, and first shown in his specimen books in the early nineteenth century. The fat face was revived in roman (1953) and italic. The S and the C appear to be smaller than the other capitals. Most serifs are flat and thin horizontals. In the italic the main strokes of h, k, m, n, and r are curved inwards at the foot.

A meeting of Byzantine and Art Deco forms, Aphasia began as a series of handwritten captions to accompany drawings in the early 1990s. The drawings were abandoned to allow the lettering to become the real composition. Playfully set in blocks of verse with each line shaped through free-association, the only visual rule was that all the lines of capitals be of equal length. The challenge of the game required extensive abbreviations, ligatures, small caps, and superiors. With the advent of Letraset’s FontStudio program, the project moved into the typographic realm.