Stencil Sheet JNL was modeled from an antique brass stencil sign that was custom hand punched for the customer. Sets of punch dies were available for years that allowed rubber stamp shops and similar trades to make custom stencils out of sheets of zinc or brass.

Eckhardt Sans JNL continues Jeff Levine’s “mini series” of fonts modeled after hand-lettering used by sign painters; and named after his good friend, the late Al Eckhardt of Allied Signs in Miami, Florida. Clean and somewhat condensed, this sans face has chiseled edges on many characters and the warmth of the lettering once made by brush or ink pen. Use this font in conjunction with any casual typeface to invoke the days of sign shops and talented lettering artists.

An example from the vintage lettering book "100 Alphabets Publicitaire" ("100 Advertising Alphabets") provided the inspiration for French Lettering JNL. This stylized Victorian [or Western] type face evokes the era of fanciful lettering design from the late 1800s. Available in both regular and oblique versions.

The 1915 sheet music for the tune "Dancing the Jelly Roll Song" by Nat Vincent and Herman Paley featured the title hand-lettered in a sans serif design strongly influenced by the Art Nouveau movement of the early 20th Century. This formed the basis for Jazzy Roll JNL.

Boot Camp JNL has the same roots as Jeff Levine's Condensed Stencil JNL, as they were both modeled from a set of vintage brass interlocking stencils made by the Stafford Manufacturing Company. The previous font was drawn from limited examples of the stencils seen in an online photograph, so a number of the basic characters had to be improvised. Since then, a nearly complete set was obtained and the alphabet and numerals are truer to the original design. Additionally, both Regular and Oblique versions of Boot Camp JNL are available.

An antique, hand-cut metal stencil for the Chicago-Burlington rail route stating “CB&Q RR – Private Property” inspired the sans serif stencil design Midwest Railway JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Looking similar to a Deco-era classic typeface, Van Alt JNL has slightly different character shapes, but pays due respect to its inspiration by the original...

Drawing Tablet JNL was created based on those two words hand-lettered on the cover of a sketch pad from the late 40s - early 50s. It is reminiscent of the popular Deco typefaces of the time.

Nouveau Eccentrique JNL is a novelty Art Nouveau lettering style found on some 1920s sheet music cheerfully entitled "I'm Glad I Can Make You Cry".

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.

Sheet music for the song "Beyond the Blue Horizon" from the motion picture "Monte Carlo" had the movie title in hand-lettering reminiscent of the Futura Black style, but with an inline stripe through each character. These few letter examples were the basis for Gambling Resort JNL and conjure up the Nouveau Riche spending their nights in Monte Carlo packing the roulette wheels, blackjack tables and slot machines.

One of the charming features of vintage wood type is the unusual interplay of stroke widths or letter shapes that can vary from character to character. In today's world of digital perfection, a set of letters, numbers and punctuation marks must conform to rigid standards of uniform lines, balanced curves and other form-and-function rules that has often removed the human feel from the overall type design. While this is fine when applied to most text fonts and some modern display faces, Old Wood JNL is a simple throwback to an earlier time when type design was an artistic, not engineering endeavor. Modeled in part from vintage source material, this wood type design retains that charming imperfection of a time long passed.

Sometimes a font idea can come from the most unlikely place. While watching a DVD of the 1950's TV Sitcom "My Little Margie", Jeff Levine spotted some unusual deco-styled numbers on the floor indicator of the apartment house elevator. Expanding this into a full character set, Desk Clerk JNL is the result.

In a specimen book from Stevens, Shanks & Sons, Ltd. of London (circa1930s) “Royal Gothic” was their version of a classic grotesk sans that had been in use as far back as 1899 when the Keystone Foundry called it “Charter Oak”. The terms "gothic" and "grotesk" were equally applied to early sans serif typefaces – at first not well embraced by printers as being too ugly (grotesque) for use. One familiar characteristic of early grotesk fonts (such as this one) is the numerous variations of character widths and shapes. By combining those two terms into a font name, the digital version of this design is called Gothic Grotesk JNL, and is available in both regular and oblique versions.

The playful, casual hand lettering on the 1941 movie poster for “Blondie Goes Latin” inspired Latin Fiesta JNL which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Morning Paper JNL is part of a small series of fonts re-drawn from screen captures of original vintage newspaper headlines. The typefaces are classic wood and metal faces that were popular in all forms of print of the time. This sans is a companion to Final Edition JNL and Evening Paper JNL.

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.

Nobody Home JNL is unusual in nature as it combines two vintage typestyles into one font. Both have been used for home and property identification for decades and still remain popular. Over the years the letters and numbers have been made of cast steel, aluminum, brass and plastic. The alphabet is in a distinctly bold, asymmetrical style, while the numbers almost take on a calligraphic feel. There is just a basic character set - alphabet, numerals and simple punctuation. While the font has been reasonably spaced and kerned, it's best to remember that neither type design was made with digital technology in mind, so it's suggested to adjust your layout manually for optimum results. Nobody Home JNL is best-suited for replicating street addresses, apartment numbers on doors, and homeowner (or apartment house) names on buildings - whether in print design or as plotter-cut vinyl graphics.

Wall Sign JNL is a sign painter's chamfered sanserif found in an instructional manual from 1905. A popular lettering style of the day, it features an abridged vertical on the G, a flattened right side on the Q and a truncated horizontal on the 3.

Stenciling Cards JNL is the digital equivalent of the individual letter and number stencils used to paint markings on walls, crates, boxes, etc. Use this type design when you want a reversed stencil look. Kern it super tight for a continous word stencil.

The name and design inspiration for Theater Bar JNL comes from an image of an old bar with an overhead neon sign in very stylized sans serif lettering (most likely from the 1940s) and is available in both regular and oblique versions.

In the June 18, 1929 issue of “The Film Daily”, the curvy and casual hand lettering found within the ad for the movie “Such Men are Dangerous” belies that this was actually a pre-code drama. Digitally redrawn as Movie Arts JNL, it is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Opz Popz JNL is a collection of fifty-two designs based on geometric designs and pop art (reminiscent of the 1960s). These images are perfect embellishments for retro-themed work projects.

An ad in the May 3, 1928 issue of “The Film Daily” for the movie “Drums of Love” featured extra bold, sans serif hand lettering in an Art Deco style. This is now available as Drum Rhythm JNL in both regular and oblique versions.

Hand lettering isn’t a perfect art form, and this is why it often has an appeal over formal typesetting. Individual interpretation can lead to variations in style, character shape and overall design concept. Case in point: The hand-drawn title for the1933 sheet music “Why Can’t This Night Go on Forever” is a simple Art Deco sans, however it mixes character widths and even angles the letter ‘C’ in a nonconventional way. Deco Design JNL is the digital version of this alphabet, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Spring Season JNL is a decorated and stylized Art Deco slab serif design from1935 which is based on the hand lettered title on the sheet music for “Paris in the Spring”. The characters are cut through with both a straight line and a wavy, spoked line which looks something like a thorny vine. Spring Season JNL is available in both regular and oblique versions.

In the 1959 premiere season of “The Untouchables” (based on the book by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley) the opening title jumps off of the cover of the book and stretches out into tall, extremely condensed lettering. This inspired the type font Federal Agent JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

The condensed, spur serif hand lettering for the title on the 1906 sheet music cover of “Gee! But this is a Lonesome Town” inspired Nouveau Spur JNL; which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Sloppy Stencil JNL is a distressed stencil typeface similar to Packed JNL.

John Sigvard ‘Ole’ Olsen and Harold Ogden ‘Chic’ Johnson were musicians-turned-comedians who rose to fame in the zany 1938 Broadway musical review “Hellzapoppin'”. They reprised their roles in the 1941 film adaptation of the show, and the opening title card of the film has “Hellzapoppin'” hand lettered in a tall, condensed sans serif design with an inline. This is now available as Wild Comedy JNL in both regular and oblique versions.

Soldier Stencil JNL is a re-working of a vintage example of a sign painter's "block" or "chamfer" font design into stencil form. The result is Soldier Stencil JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Duluth, Minnesota's Horace P. Brouillet Syndicate (later known as Syndicuts, Inc.) was one of a number of stock cuts providers to the letterpress trade in the decades preceding paper, then electronic clip art. Brouillet's "Typeps" catalogs offered a wide range of images covering numerous subjects, as well as cartoons, catch words and automotive logos. Many of these images have been reproduced in a number of royalty-free clip art publications over the years. Twenty-Six of these newly-redrawn catch words are found within Business Helpers JNL in two styles. On the capital keys are the original white-on-black designs, modeled from the vintage source material. The lower case keys have the phrases separated from the decorative ovals and are in black type.

The cover of a 1932 edition of “Sunset magazine” (a publication for homeowners living in the west and southwest area of the United States) featured a lovely Art Deco serif alphabet that is now available as Western Suburbs JNL in both regular and oblique versions.

Just two capital letters from a sign inspired Box Lunch JNL from Jeff Levine. The restaurant - an early 1950s favorite in Miami Beach, Florida specialized in fried chicken meals and other delights of the day - long before the big corporate chains took over the local landscape.

Sign Man JNL is a reworking of Sign Shop JNL, with a lighter font weight and a number of changed characters (including extended horizontal crossbars on the B,E,F,H,K,P and R).

A period piece is something of or pertaining to a specific era or time. Anything evoking a knowledge or feeling of an era can be labeled as such. The aptly named type font Period Piece JNL reflects the hand lettering found on the cover of early 20th century vintage sheet music entitled "My Baby's Arms" (from the stage production of "Ziegfeld Follies of 1919"). Although strongly akin to the coming Art Deco movement in its lettering style, Period Piece JNL still contains a strong influence of the Art Nouveau era of the 1900s through the 1920s.

Years before the "Jet Age", and way before computers and satellite television turned us into jaded "armchair travelers", the ocean voyage aboard giant steamships to distant ports of call beckoned many to travel the Seven Seas. Far away lands had a magic and mysticism to them, for few Americans knew anything about those places unless they read about them in books or saw travelogs at their local theaters. Many songs were written with themes of romantic South Seas travel, and one vintage piece in particular entitled "Down Where the Trade Winds Blow" offered up the hand lettering which served as a model for Sea Cruise JNL.

Bit Part JNL is an extra condensed monoline sans serif typeface that's well suited for movie credits, disclaimers and other forms of tight-fit word copy. Inspired by just the numbers "65" on the cover of a 1965 high school yearbook, this retro font will fit a lot of copy into a small area. The typeface is available in regular and oblique versions.

It's a wood type! It's a stencil font! It's BOTH! Clarenwood Stencil JNL was originally designed as a solid alphabet (Clarenwood JNL) modeled from vintage wood type. The stencil treatment was applied to add a fresh look to a classic lettering design.

Another variant to the ever-popular Art Deco sans lettering with solid centers (no counters) was found in the hand-lettered title on the cover of the 1933 song "There's A Ring around the Moon". This became the basis for the digital typeface Moonlit Walk JNL, available in both regular and oblique versions.