The hand lettered word ‘puzzles’ from the box cover of a 1940s set of metal “connected” puzzle pieces manufactured by the A.C. Gilbert Company was the initial typographic model, but some additions and changes were made. Instead of the right side of the ‘P’ being a semi-circle, it was changed to a more conservative ‘’squared’ look. After drawing out all of the necessary glyphs, the overall height of the characters was extended to make the letters and numbers appear taller and narrower. The end result is Narrow Deco JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

This decorative, scalloped thick-and-thin Art Deco type design is one of the many inspirations found within the pages of the 1934 French lettering book “L'Art du Tracé Rationnel de la Lettre”. Now in digital format, Fancy Deco JNL is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Solid Deco JNL was modeled after a small sign with the word "restaurant" in an unusual Art Deco solid lettering style. It was spotted within the same image of the Lenox Lounge in New York which gave forth the neon letters that became Sign Sans JNL.

Sheet music for the tune "Put Your Arms Around Me Honey" (from the 1937 film "Coney Island" starring Betty Grable, George Montgomery and Cesar Romero) has the song title hand lettered in a condensed Art Deco sans serif design. This became the basis for Deco Nights JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions. For trivia buffs, the song was written by Junie McCree and Albert Von Tilzer and was first featured in the Broadway show "Madame Sherry" in 1910 and was revived for a second time in the 1949 Judy Garland -Van Johnson film "In the Good Old Summertime".

A June 18, 1929 issue of the Hollywood trade paper “The Film Daily” ran an ad for a film called “The Power House”. The film’s title was hand lettered in an extra bold sans serif design with strong Art Deco influences. This is now available digitally as Deco Power JNL in both regular and oblique versions.

Hand lettering found across the sheet music cover of 1931's "Bend Down, Sister" [from the Eddie Cantor film "Palmy Days"] covered a couple of varying Art Deco styles; both made with a round-tipped pen nib. Deco Pen JNL combines the best of both styles into one design that's available in both regular and oblique versions.

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.

Deco is an Art Deco inspired chunky font. It has the irregular charm of a hand drawn font but the elegance of a classic Art Deco style font. It has enough humor and grace to be used in a wide range of applications. Its ideal use is as a display font.

Antique Decorations JNL collects more images of vintage letterpress embellishments [primarily from wood type sources]; redrawn in digital format and made available in one convenient font file.

There's nothing too fancy about Pool Deck JNL, which is based on an older typeface design. It's your basic sans serif condensed type style with a few unconventional letter shapes.

Decorative Arrows JNL is a collection of twenty-six decorative arrows provided in right and left facing directions.

More vintage cartoons, decorations, embellishments and various letterpress dingbats have been re-drawn and collected in Printers Decorations JNL.

Stencil Decor JNL is loaded with all kinds of antique designs, embellishments and borders to work well alongside your favorite stencil lettering to create a totally retro look. Of course, these designs also make beautiful additions to many other kinds of print and craft projects. PLEASE NOTE: The purchase of this font does not include the right to reproduce the images for resale as stand-alone products (including, but not limited to stencils, ink stamps, stickers, wallpaper, etc.). For this kind of use, contact Jeff Levine Fonts through the email address provided in the EULA to discuss special licensing options and fees.

Decorative Panels JNL is a collection of twenty-six border design panels inspired by old decal and rubber stamp catalogs of the 1940s.

Online auctions continue to be a surprising wealth of font design inspiration. In this instance, a number of silk embroidered Art Deco initials inside inverted triangles inspired Deco Pennant Initials JNL. The uppercase version is white lettering on a black background – similar to the originals. On the lowercase keys is a set of initials that are black on white with a black border. Since the inverted triangles resemble pennants, there’s a solid black blank on the left parenthesis key and a outlined blank one on the right parenthesis key. In this way, the initials could be used for monograms or interspersed with the blanks to form short banner messages.

Take a classic hand lettered Art Deco alphabet, add in a treatment of dual straight vertical lines and the resulting typeface is Double Line Deco JNL.

A makeup ad in the December, 1937 issue of Modern Screen magazine inspired Single Line Deco JNL, an Art Deco monoline which is available in both regular and oblique versions. The font is based on the hand lettered headline touting “Modern Eyes”.

Occasionally font projects are started, but then set aside for other designs and are subsequently forgotten for a while. Such is the case of More Deco Lettering JNL; a bold thick-and-thin sans modeled from vintage source material.

A 1963 image of the New View Theater in Los Angeles with its marquee’s Art Deco neon lettering was the inspiration for Silver Screen Deco JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

The cover of the 1943 sheet music for the song "Jeannie" offered up a hand lettered monoline Deco sans with varying width letterforms. From this design comes the aptly-named Thin Line Deco JNL.

A ìthick and thinî Art Deco sans lettering design was found within the pages of the May, 1936 issue of Modern Screen magazine. This condensed typeface has rounded terminals, similar to that made by a round nib lettering pen. This is now available as Deco Film Ad JNL in both regular and oblique versions.

The unusual, thin line hand lettering on the cover of the sheet music for 1936's "If You Love Me" was the basis for Light Line Deco JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

On occasion, when seeking retro source material for font designs, one can unearth interesting examples of typography that bridges decades with its ahead-of-its-time style. The songwriter credits on one particular piece of vintage sheet music had both the Art Deco influence but took on more of a techno look that was popularized in the 1980s. This hybrid of generations is the basis for Deco of Tomorrow JNL.

The prolific hand lettering of Samuel Welo is showcased in his “Studio Handbook for Artists and Advertisers” (published in both 1927 and 1960). A thick and thin Art Deco design in the 1960 edition – somewhat reminiscent of Futura Black (but with significant differences) is now available as Sign Work Deco JNL in both regular and oblique versions.

A set of rounded Art Deco initials set inside circular borders was found amongst the pages of the vintage French lettering book "Modèles de Lettres Modernes par Georges Léculier”. Now made into a digital font called Deco Spot Initials JNL, these classic letter forms are available in both the original white-on-black version and as a black-on-white alternate design.

An extra-bold, hand lettered type design with a casual feel was used for the 1942 movie poster “Tortilla Flat”. This served as the inspirational model for Movie Ad Deco JNL, and is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Great type font inspirations can come from any time period and any location in the world. A Febuary, 1932 issue of an Estonian woman’s magazine called “Eesti Naine” had its name hand lettered using a round nib lettering pen. This extra-wide Art Deco design is now available as Round Nib Deco JNL, and is available in both regular and oblique versions.

The same monograms found on a 1930s-era business card that inspired Golden Beach JNL are reproduced as Art Deco Monograms JNL. Left-side monograms are on the upper case A-Z, while the lower case a-z are the right side monograms. A vertical bar is on the period key for a centerpiece between the two initials.

Deco Semi Serif JNL was modeled from the hand lettered title on the sheet music cover for the 1933 song "Another Perfect Day Has Passed Away". This interesting design blend of serif, sans serif and partial-serif characters commands attention with its eccentric mix of letter forms, and is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Deco Geometric Stencil JNL was inspired by an example of a vintage Art Deco stencil type design seen in the Steven Heller-Louise Fili book "Stencil Type" (published by Thames and Hudson).

Sheet music for the title song from the 1933 Jean Harlow-Clark Gable film "Hold Your Man" has the movie title hand lettered in a dual line sans serif with Art Deco influences. This is now available as Dual Line Deco, and is available in both regular and oblique versions. The song itself was written by Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown, whose vast catalog of musical compositions was tapped for the 1952 musical classic "Singing in the Rain".

The hand lettered title on the cover of the 1938 sheet music for “If It Rains – Who Cares” featured a condensed Art Deco typeface made with a round nib pen. The square shaped characters with rounded corners were a perfect subject for a digital font revival, and are now available as Dip Pen Deco JNL, in both regular and oblique versions.

When people usually think of wood type, images of bold and ornate designs reminiscent of the Old West or the Victorian Era come to mind. In truth, wood type was manufactured well into the late 20th century, and only fell out of favor when the letterpress was replaced by the offset press and computerized typesetting. Although there are hard-core collectors who have started a small resurgence in the preservation and use of wood type, it's the digital interpretations of these classic faces that see the most use in today's electronic layout work. Deco Wood Type JNL reinterprets one of these later designs, a bold sans with a decidedly Art Deco influence.

Show Card Deco JNL is a hybrid of examples from hand lettered titles found on various song folios from the Carl Fischer Music Library circa the 1930s and is available in both regular and oblique versions. This particular typeface lends itself perfectly to show cards, posters, headlines and display titling which captures the modern, streamlined design of the Art Deco era.

Here’s a jaunty little Art Deco sans serif type design inspired by the headline of a feature article on Carole Lombard found in the August, 1937 issue of Hollywood magazine. This served as the inspirational model for Movie Star Deco JNL, and is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Eckhardt Poster Deco JNL is a continuation of a series of sign painter's fonts, and was modeled from a lettering example found within the pages of an old sign design manual. It is named, as always, in honor of the late Albert Eckhardt, Jr., the owner of Allied signs in Miami, Florida and Jeff Levine's good friend.

Titles hand lettered for articles appearing in the November, 1938 issue of Hollywood Magazine were done in a condensed Art Deco stencil style in just lower case. This novelty type design is now available as Deco Display Stencil JNL in both regular and oblique versions.

Deco Paragraph Initials JNL contains an alphabet based on the typeface Monthly Adventures JNL and is set within an attractively framed border. Suitable for personalized stationery, used as paragraph drop caps or as decorative monograms, these Art Deco-flavored letters add the charm and clean look of the "Streamline Era".

From the pages of the 1939 French lettering book “Modèles de lettres modernes par Georges Léculier” (“Models of Modern Lettering”) comes an attractive and unusual set of initial drop caps made from square letters adorned with multiple vertical lines. Originally designed as white letters on black backgrounds, an additional set with black letters on white backgrounds comprise Deco Drop Caps JNL; available in both regular and oblique versions.