Lonestar Western is a revival of the old classic slab serif font named Hellenic which was very popular in the middle to late 1800s. While watching an old western movie the opening credits caught my attention, it was the Hellenic font with spurs added which gave it a more western look.

Art Class JNL was re-created from the titling of a lettering booklet called "Drawlet Portfolio", published by the Esterbrook Pen Company in the 1930s. Drawlet pens were Esterbrook's answer to the popular Speedball lettering pens, and the booklet was an instructional manual on hand lettering with the pen nibs.

Montage was designed by Alan Dempsey. Like the name suggests, the design was inspired by the arrangement of elements such as torn paper, cut-outs, scratch board and stencilled letters. Montage is a creative, eye-catching alphabet of casually drawn letterforms set on a background of daub-like brush strokes.

Eckhardt Fancy JNL was named in honor of Al Eckhardt (1929-2005), a talented sign painter and good friend of font designer Jeff Levine. The design was inspired by a vintage alphabet found within a collection of decorative display alphabets from the type collection of the late Dan X. Solo.

The idea of the font Black Sirkka was, to develop a modern interpretation out of the general blackletter typefaces. Black Sirkka is a bastard with the typical characteristics of the blackletters, mixed up with modern, simple shapes from grotesk typefaces. The whole typeface was built up in a modular construction system.

Charles Beeler Jr. designed this in 1895 for Mackellar, Smiths and Jordan, which was part of the American Type Founders combine. The font had a short life because five years later ATF began an "off with the old, on with the new" program, and this font was an early victim.

British Stencil JNL was sketched from images of a vintage stencil set made by Reese and Sons of England that was being sold on ebay. In truth, this is a semi-stencil, as some of the characters are solid; lacking the breaks in the letter shapes so typical of stencil alphabets.

Originally, this 1870s wood type font was called Armenian. We came across a showing of alphabet at the South Street Seaport in New York, bought it and immediately drew the additional characters needed to make the font. We used it for some circus program work that was part of our livelihood.

ITC Veljovic Script was designed by Jovica Veljovic and displays an obvious calligraphic heritage. The designer was strongly influenced by German designer Hermann Zapf and Israeli designer Henri Friedlander. ITC Veljovic Script exhibits a crisp precision, as if the letters were cut in stone rather than drawn with pen and ink.

Between the most rigid geometric letterforms and the most expressive calligraphy works there are, undoubtedly, countless combinatory possibilities. Ingeo is just one of them. Located very close to a geometric approach it shows, however, a clear willingness to accommodate in its structure the calligraphic traits of our alphabet. In Ingeo geometry grows from the inside, meaning that all its counters are based on geometric shapes. Around them, contours are later defined. The solid mass resulting from that interaction is modulated in specific areas in a way that evokes the way a writing hand finishes a letter and starts the following one. Ingeo seeks to accommodate calligraphic features in its geometric structure without any complexes, in the same way a computer engineer writes a song or a poet admires the orbits of planets and satellites. In this vast and unmapped realm between seemingly opposing concepts is where Ingeo finds its playground. There, that interaction is pushed to its limits and the resulting letterforms are later confronted with typographical conventions to assess whether they survive. Ingeo comes with 695 glyphs in its character set with support for more than 270 languages. Among these glyphs you can find 5 stylistic sets, 19 useful science-related icons as well as 7 different designs for ampersands.

After exploring tessellations for several years, I decided to see how many ways I could tessellate puzzle pieces. I began with a square template and used the same asymmetrical shape for all four edges. By flips or rotation each edge could be fitted in four ways. Eventually I discovered that, given this way of forming tiles, there were 15 distinct shapes that tessellate and these shapes can take a total of 96 orientations. (A note in the November 2016 issue of Mathematical Gazette has the proof for the 15 shapes.) This typeface contains those 15 shapes and 96 orientations. A pdf note here shows some of the tilings possible using only one shape in a pattern. An unlimited number of patterns are possible if shapes are mixed. There are two members of the family, a solid style that must have different colors when used and an outline style. They can be used separately or they can be used in layers with the outline style on top of the solid style. For rows to align properly, leading must be the same as point size. (Earlier tessellation fonts from IngrimayneType, the TessieDingies fonts, lack a black or filled version so cannot do colored patterns.)

Ablati is the commercial release of the font designed during the production of our new font design book, “Practical Font Design”. It is a new serif font in my continuing objective of designing book fonts that I can really use. In many ways, Ablati is a very different direction for me. Designed to produce gaphics to use in the font design book, I was forced to really reconsider many of my working methods to make them work for outside readership. Like all designers, my internal design processes can get really sloppy. The book helped me clean up my act. Taking my inspiration from one of my favorite fonts of all time {though I've never really been able to use it much}, Romic, by Colin at Letraset, I decided to design a unilateral serif font. In most ways, this is a normal serif for me in that it has caps, lowercase, small caps with the appropriate figures for each case. This font has all the OpenType features in the new set developed for the book. There are several ligatures for your fun and enjoyment: bb gg ff fi fl ffi ffl ffy fj ft tt ty Wh Th and more. Several alternative forms, a dozen ornaments, and more. Like all of my fonts, there are: caps, lowercase, small caps, proportional lining figures, proportional oldstyle figures, & small cap figures, plus numerators, denominators, superiors, inferiors, and a complete set of ordinals 1st through infinity. Enjoy! The Oldstyle and Small Cap fonts are an attempt to have most of the OpenType characters available to people still using Type 1 and TrueType fonts.

Victoriana arose from an inquiry from the Victorian Society for a Victorian font for their journal. As it turned out, no commission resulted, but interest in such a font was aroused in Andy Benedek. Basing the design on some woodblock letterforms, outlines of a basic set of characters were drawn. These, however, were modified to the extent that the final font bore little resemblance to the woodblock letterforms. As erstwhile cyclists, the font was named after the British and champion world track cyclist, Victoria Pendleton who was greatly admired.

“One Hundred Alphabets for the Show Card Writer” was published in 1919 to afford sign artists the ability to create signs and show cards in then-contemporary lettering styles. One such alphabet was big, bold and representative of the Art Nouveau stylings popular in the early part of the 20th Century. Most likely it was applied to store sales and public events that were casual and informal, for its letter forms are free of any constraints. This design is now available as Fun Time Nouveau JNL in both regular and oblique versions.

Palaima is a geometric display font, its name means word-image and is inspired by our aboriginal pictographs, Palaima was created to compose texts informal, where each character is an entertainment, featuring several variations of this font letters to make more enjoyable composition. Palaima has a set of characters that include swash, stylistic alternates, ligatures, fractions and twenty funny icons. Palaima was selected in the third Biennial of Latin American Typography "Tipos Latinos" also was honored by the Ruben Fontana's JournalTipográfica of Argentina "Best Latin American Typographic Creativity".

Mayblossom was named after an old French fairytale (The Princess Mayblossom),which is quite similar to the tale of Sleeping Beauty. Mayblossom font is a fairytale font. It was made with a magic wand (with a Unicorn hair core) onto centuries old parchment. The font was then blessed by 12 lovely fairies. Of course, I had the evil thirteenth one kidnapped before she could cast her spell. In other words, if your work requires a certain lightness, a pinch of fairy dust and a sprinkling of magic, then Mayblossom is your best pick.

The Romany™ typeface family is a delightful typographic confectionary that will bring affability and charm to both print and interactive design projects. Be it an online game, digital app, hardcopy packaging, or larger than life poster, Romany will deliver. When first designed by A.R. Bosco for American Type Founders in 1934, Romany was a single weight design. Relatively popular as hand-set type, Romany was not made into digital fonts – until now. The septuagenarian design was updated, reimagined and enlarged into a small family by Terrance Weinzierl.

Boldstrom is a heavy-handed, all caps, display font available in 5 versions. Emphasis was put into strong line weight, minimal contrast, and tight curves. This family is defined by very broad stems with comparatively thinner cross strokes. Spacing was condensed to ensure the characters fit snug against one another. This was done in part to minimize negative space while also creating tension. The result is a powerful looking sans serif designed to command attention and make a statement. Boldstrom will be best used in large format print, titling, books, movie posters, or company logos.

Mafuta is a round, happy font, named for the Zulu word for "fat". In tribal societies in Africa, where food was often scarce and almost never easily come by, it was considered desirable to appear "well fed". Roundness was a symbol of high status in the tribe, and a sign of wealth. The up-beat, bold outline of the font celebrates the confidence of people who feel comfortable being who they are. The font manages to be both contemporary and African. It is best used for posters and for headings.

A mid-1950s hand lettered ad for Stenso Lettering Guides provided the inspiration for Stencil Company JNL, now available in both regular and oblique versions. The Stenso Lettering Company of Baltimore, Maryland pioneered easy-to-use and inexpensive lettering devices with guide holes for accurate spacing. Originally designed by a school teacher (Ruth Libauer Hormats) around 1940, the company was family run until it was sold in 1962 to Ottenheimer Publishers. They in turn sold the line to the Dennison Manufacturing Company, and it was discontinued in the 1980s after Dennison merged with Avery.

Steinwald font was named after a mountain range slash nature park in southern Germany. I have to admit that I have never been there, but this font was just screaming for a good German name and I settled on Steinewald (which, in German, means Stone Forest). Steinwald was made by hand and cleaned up by computer. It looks quite neat, but its edges are a bit rough, giving it ‘ye olde handmade look’! Use it for your posters, your product packaging and your supermarket signs. Comes with extensive language support.

Page No. 508 was designed by William Hamilton Page in 1887 as one of a series of designs for die-cut wood types for the firm of Page & Setchell of Norwich, Connecticut. Page & Setchell was the successor to The William H. Page Wood Type Company and was sold to the Hamilton Manufacturing Company of Two Rivers, Wisconsin in 1891. 508 is a heavy all-caps font designed for headline work. It has a strong presence that reverses out well (light-colored type on a dark background). Great for retro style posters.

Ossuary is a font in which each letter is formed using a uniquely arranged pile of skulls. The font was originally designed to be caps only, but small caps were added for convenience. There is now a character for each typeable letter of the American English keyboard. The font was inspired by images from the Kostnice ossuary in Sedlec, Kutna Hora near Prague. (Google it.) Whether you are fascinated or repulsed, such images have a mystery about them. They demand your attention. That is the feel this font was intended to capture.

A circa-1951 toy set called “Kusan Kavalcade of Letters” was comprised of molded plastic letters and numbers a child could play with, trace and arrange to learn their alphabet and numerals. Typographically, the design was all over the place – from sans serif characters to those with some spurred serifs and even some stenciled characters because of the nature of manufacture. As odd as this combination seems, it was novel enough to be turned into a digital typeface called Stencil Playthings JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

The Kimchi font had its starting point in the making of the film "Cloud Atlas", based on the novel by David Mitchell and directed by Lana & Andy Wachowski and Tom Tykwer. A first version of Kimchi was created for "Papa Song" – an underground fast food restaurant in a futuristic Neo Seoul in the year 2144. It was used for the menus, advertisement and packaging. Kimchi was later further developed to become a useable typeface: it works for headlines, street art stencils and of course as logo font for korean fast food restaurants.

MVB Hotsy Totsy is Akemi Aoki’s first typeface design. Aoki created the letters in cut paper. Once digitized, the design was expanded to offer several weights and styles. Exaggerating the triangular serifs and tapering strokes of “Latin” typefaces, MVB Hotsy Totsy is the perfect party face, appearing frequently on board games, product packaging, and in children’s books. It is named for (what was at the time) a dive bar in Albany, California. The bar has since been renovated but its neon sign was preserved, a local landmark of San Francisco’s East Bay.

Surf and Turf JNL was redrawn from hand-lettering on a souvenir folder for an event believed to be sponsored by Miami Beach's exclusive Surf Club on March 19, 1938. Entitled "Steeplechase Pier March 19 Surf Club Stroller", it's now lost to time whether the event recreated some of the fun and games of Atlantic City's famed Steeplechase Pier at the Surf Club, or if this was a special event trip to the New Jersey venue. It's also highly possible that the Steeplechase Pier referred to in the title was the one at Coney Island.

Snippity Snap is a font made up of glyphs I cut out from black paper with some household scissors, then pasted onto white paper. When I was cutting out the shapes, my children asked me what I was doing, and when I told them, they thought it was pretty cool and started cutting out shapes from paper themselves. The result is a house filled with paper cuttings, which I keep finding everywhere - even in my bed. Snippity Snap is a very nice font for ads, book covers, packaging and children's books. Enjoy!

The French publication “La Lettre Dans le Decor et La Publicite Modernes” (“The Letter in the Modern Décor and Advertising”) was a 24-page booklet showcasing the then-current trends of the time (circa late 1930s-early 1940s). On one page was found a squared, extra bold sans serif alphabet set with strong Art Nouveau influences, yet it was ahead of its time by taking on the look and feel of 1980s techno typography. They say “everything old is new again”, and Nouveau Techno JNL is now available digitally in both regular and oblique versions.

Fortuna has some resemblance with handtexted characters based, loosely, on the classic italic. But, like Ad Hoc, Fortuna is drawn on a monitor in every detail. The name is Latin and means fate, luck. The composer Carl Orff was actual at the time when I worked with Fortuna, because he had been born 100 years earlier. Orff's Carmina Burana were being introduced on the radio when I was wondering what to call my most recent creation. The song cycle begins with a song to Fortuna: a fated choice of name. Fortuna was released in 1995.

My kids asked me what killed the dinosaurs. I told them it probably was a meteor strike off the coast of Yucatán in Mexico. So, when I made this font, that little talk about the meteor hitting earth came to mind and a font name was born! Meteor strike is a slightly slanted brush font. It was made with my Chinese ink and a cheap brush (like most of my brush fonts). Meteor Strike comes with an attitude and a cheeky grin. It will sure leave a lasting impact on your designs!

“Tropical Type” was Alf Becker’s 148th submission to “Signs of the Times” magazine (a publication for the sign trade) where for years Becker would provide a monthly lettering design to inspire other sign writers. This particular design has more of a Far East flair to it, and was redrawn digitally as Travel East JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions. Special thanks to Tod Swormstedt of the American Sign Museum and S.T. Media Group for providing the sample image from which the font was derived.

The 'VanderHand' font is a friendly and easy to use handwritten font. It is so loaded with ligatures it could easily pass for actual handwriting. The font was created with a felt-tip brush pen and so there are natural thick and thin parts in the characters. All writing was done upright with tightly fit characters. As a result this font has a unique 'instant logo' quality. But you should really try this out for yourself. O, and the font was written by Jeroen van der Ham. It's his handwriting. That's why it's called VanderHand.

An interesting hand lettered example of Art Deco lettering (minus the letter ‘L’) was spotted on Pinterest and served as the inspiration for Deco Sketch JNL. Because there was no attribution as to the age or source of the alphabet, it can only be surmised that it was a scan from a 1930s or 1940s source. The original showed many of the irregularities of pen lettering, and had rounded terminals. The digital version has been redrawn more uniformly with flat terminals. Deco Sketch JNL is available in both regular and oblique versions.

The WebType family was designed to be used on screen with web design applications.

This handwritten font was designed with Ashley Sanderson at Flying High In First Grade.

Inspired by old French poster art. This typeface was cut from an old rubylith.

Futuretro is a font that transfers you to a bygone age that never was.

Lawyerbait was designed to be a clean, light and easy to read display face.