First published in 1938, Letters and Lettering by Paul Carlyle and Guy Loring was a textbook on lettering examples and how to do them. On one of the pages was found a solid black (counterless) Art Deco sans serif design that in its many variations so typified the era. The example shown in that book served as the model for Postmodern Moderne JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

The Wright-Regan Instrument Company (Wrico) was one of the leading manufacturers of lettering templates for many years. Aside from their own line of products, they also did custom manufacturing. A series of lettering guides called “Mimeostyle” for the A. B. Dick Company of Chicago (produced for use in making mimeograph machine printing stencils) featured an art Deco squared letter design with rounded corners. This is now available digitally as Template Sans JNL, in both regular and oblique versions.

Most folks might picture wood type lettering as the fancy styles of the 1880s which so perfectly evoked images of the Old West. Occasionally there is an exception to that rule, as an online image of some vintage wood letters with an Art Deco influence inspired a revival as a digital type face. Wood Lined JNL features a bold alphabet with an engraved line throughout the characters, and is available in both regular and oblique versions.

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.

F.W. Woolworth was once one of the giants of the variety store chains, along with the likes of Kress, S.S. Kresge, McCrory’s, Neisner Brothers, Ben Franklin and others. In 1960, the company brought out a new corporate logo with a type design harking back to the Art Deco style of the 1930s and 1940s. A photo of one of their old store fronts (despite having only eight letters to work with) inspired the digital interpretation of the signage as Bargain Shopping JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

In the 1960s it was a popular trend to personalize one’s possessions with your initials. From wallets and handbags to eyeglasses; from luggage to even cars, initial personalization was the fad of the time. The British division of Gulf Oil offered for sale a set of gold metallic stick-on initials for 25 pence, complete with two Gulf logos so the company could get some extra advertising mileage out of the promotion. These extra-wide, bold initials served as the idea model for Personalization JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Stencils have played a number of roles over the years, from decorative patterns to military markings; from labeling shipping containers to a student’s school project. One unusual application of a stencil alphabet was some metal letters spotted for sale at an online auction site. These antique letters were used for promoting the current show on a theater marquee just as plastic ones are used nowadays. Following the auction images as a guide, the Roman stencil font from those marquee letters is now preserved digitally as Talent Stencil JNL; which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

In the July 24, 1915 issue of “Dry Goods Reporter” is a demonstration of hand lettering rendered with the use of a “speed pen”. Two suggested examples cited in the accompanying article were the Payzant pen and the then-new Speedball pen. An ornate Art Nouveau serif alphabet is displayed, with some examples having delicate floral elements entwining the letters. The initial alphabet was auto-traced, then cleaned-up and modified to recreate the core design of the basic (unadorned) letters. The numerals, punctuation and all additional characters were then made from scratch. Nouveau Rose JNL is the finished result, and is available in both regular and oblique versions.

A piece of British sheet music for “You’re Sweeter than I Thought You Were” [from the 1935 film “Jack of All Trades” starring Jack Hulbert] provided inspiration for a digital typeface based on the credits for Hulbert and the film that rather than the song’s title. What’s interesting is the lettering style was influenced by Art Nouveau at a time when Art Deco was gaining in popularity. The result is Sweet Treats JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions. (According to Wikipedia, John Norman ‘Jack’ Hulbert (April 24, 1892 – March 25, 1978) was a British actor, director, screenwriter and singer, specializing primarily in comedy productions, and often working alongside his wife Cicely Courtneidge.)

The “Trixy Toy Educator” was a 1930s-era set of letters and numbers (along with a few animal shapes) for teaching children, and was manufactured by the Durrel Company of Gardner, Massachusetts. Die cut from thick cardboard, the 40 piece set also included a rack to display the characters, presumably for little ones to practice the correct order of the alphabet and basic numerals or to spell simple words like ‘dog’ or ‘cat’. Whomever came up with the idea, they used the most rudimentary and unusual ‘type design’ shapes in the A-Z and 0-9, but they were just odd enough to inspire a digital type version of them. School Age JNL is available in both regular and oblique versions.

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.