Searching the internet for interesting type ideas leads one to many unusual items for sale online. An antique, hand-cut metal stencil from France with the word “Bagagens” [luggage] provided a condensed Art Deco design in a semi-stencil format (some solid letters, others with traditional ‘breaks’ within the characters). The digital version of the type style has a more traditional stencil character set. Garment Bag Stencil JNL is available in both regular and oblique versions.

AllSmiles is a sunny little face in which all the letters smile at you. It can be used in notes and cards of congratulation or in celebrating good-news announcements. In the update of 2011, emoticons were added in the appropriate unicode slots (unicode 1F601 to 1F640 slots). For the sad version, see BringInTheFrowns, and if you only want to proclaim a little joyfulness, you can temper the feelings with a plain version of the typeface, FebDrei.

Coltan Gea is a Slab Serif typographic family with 6 Weights plus the italic versions all include small capital letters and cryptocurrency symbols. It is a geometric, minimalist typeface, with neo-grotesque modulations and slightly rounded corners. The typeface has alternative letters and numbers, small caps and advanced OpenType functions. The proportions, metrics and kerning I have configured meticulously for a perfect reading in any size. The complete package includes the roman version in VariableFont format.

Sheet music from the 1921 edition of the Ziegfeld Follies provided the blueprint for this sparkly, sprightly font. Upper and lowercase characters are identical, with the exception of the letter s, which offers a version of the letter with a big caboose rather than an overbite. Named for David Bowie’s 1972 breakthrough album. Both versions of this font contain the Unicode 1252 (Latin) and Unicode 1250 (Central European) character sets, with localization for Romanian and Moldovan.

Here’s another gem by Ross F. George from the Speedball Text Book. It was originally entitled simply Bold Display (Modern Alphabets on Parade) and had a graduated spatter pattern. This version omits the pattern, but keeps the bold, brassy lines. Use it whenever you need an unusual and dynamic headline with a strong retro vibe. Both versions include the complete Unicode Latin 1252, Central European 1250 and Turkish 1254 character sets, with localization for Moldovan and Romanian.

This in-yer-face kinda face is based on a broad brush font from "The New ABC of Showcard & Ticketwriting" by C. Milne, published in Australia in the late 1930s. Brought to my attention by Ms. Kat Black, and named in honor of Ms. Kat's grannie, to whom the book originally belonged. The Postscript and Truetype versions contain a complete Latin language character set (Unicode 1252); in addition, the Opentype version supports Unicode 1250 (Central European) languages as well.

A little-known design by Futura designer Paul Renner gets a long overdue update by Linda Hintz and Toshi Omagari, in this reliable and impactful industrial sans serif. Neue Plak offers more weights and widths than the original 1928 design, extending its use for branding, editorial, logos and UIs. The pair based their updated and extended version on the original Plak wood type, uncovering lost details and incorporating them as alternates – including the choice between open or strikethrough counters. Neue Plak's outwardly stubborn personality is counteracted by unexpected details, which make for an unusual juxtaposition of severe and playful. “It felt like we should pay Paul Renner more tribute,” says Hintz, who spent time researching the typeface in Hamburg's Museum der Arbeit. “The forms themselves are partly quirky, partly really fun, but with a German stiffness that makes for a strange mix.” Neue Plak offers 60 weights, including a new text version that pairs well with the display weights, and allows the design to function in print and digital environments, and for a wide range of uses. Neue Plak Text Variables are font files which are featuring one axis and have a preset instance from Thin to Black.

This font is a latin based version of the ogham alphabet used in the writing of the old irish language. It can be used on Latin keyboards. I will make a unicode font version of this font in the future. Ogham (/ˈɒɡəm/ OG-əm, Modern Irish: [ˈoː(ə)mˠ]; Middle Irish: ogum, ogom, later ogam [ˈɔɣəmˠ] is an Early Medieval alphabet used primarily to write the early Irish language (in the "orthodox" inscriptions, 4th to 6th centuries CE), and later the Old Irish language (scholastic ogham, 6th to 9th centuries). There are roughly 400 surviving orthodox inscriptions on stone monuments throughout Ireland and western Britain, the bulk of which are in southern Munster. The largest number outside Ireland are in Pembrokeshire, Wales. The vast majority of the inscriptions consist of personal names. According to the High Medieval Bríatharogam, the names of various trees can be ascribed to individual letters. For this reason, ogam is sometimes known as the Celtic tree alphabet. The etymology of the word ogam or ogham remains unclear. One possible origin is from the Irish og-úaim 'point-seam', referring to the seam made by the point of a sharp weapon.