Hand lettering used in the trailer for the 1943 movie musical “Broadway Rhythm” was the inspiration for Show Tune JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Key Largo JNL is a serif treatment of the lettering found in Gummed Letters JNL.

Inspired by an image of a 1960s rock and roll concert poster for “The Beach Boys Summer Safari”, this typeface captures the casual, informal lettering of the main headline and makes it available digitally. Evoking sunny days of fast cars, pretty girls and riding the waves, the playfully hand lettered Summer Safari JNL is available in both regular and oblique versions.

In the 1930s the WPA (Works Progress Administration) was involved with getting a number of Americans back to work during the Great Depression. One faction of the WPA's efforts was the Federal Art Project. Thin, condensed hand lettering on a poster for an Art Exhibition at the New Bedford Free Public Library is the inspiration for Art Exhibit JNL.

The hand lettered, condensed stencil title on a movie poster for the 1950 film “Customs Agent” inspired both the digital typeface and the font’s name. Customs Agent JNL is available in both regular and oblique versions.

California Bound JNL is based on the hand lettering found on the side of the old California Zephyr passenger trains; the route now being a part of Amtrak. This somewhat unusual Art Deco design is more utilitarian than decorative, yet it still captures the "Streamline Era" perfectly.

In the October 31, 1920 edition of Wid's Daily (the predecessor to The Film Daily), a block of ad copy from a 1920 film called "Down Home" had the text printed in such a fluent pen-lettered style that a bit of a shortcut was used at the beginning of the design process for this typeface. Normally, font inspirations are redrawn [and not by simply using auto-trace] except under specialized circumstances like this one where that feature is a help, rather than a replacement for the creative process. The entire block of text copy was auto-traced, then the necessary letters were selected from the available wording and cleaned up to remove any sharp points and irregular curves in an effort to make the end results as close to the original and unusual hand-drawn text. From there the missing characters needed to produce a finished type font were created utilizing the standard methods of drawing and font construction. The end results turned out very well. Using the film's title as its namesake, this design is now available digitally as Down Home JNL in both regular and oblique versions.

The cover of a 1950s-era catalog for the Freedman Novelty Company (of San Francisco California) had the word "Novelty" hand-lettered in an unusually angular type style against various geometric shapes somewhat resembling balloons. While the lettering was quirky enough to warrant re-drawing as a digital font, the shapes would have presented a visual nightmare in design and spacing, so simple black rectangles were substituted and the letters appear in white. Since novelty lettering of this type would never become "standard" in use, its function became the font's name, Limited Appeal JNL. There is just a simple A-Z and 1-0 character set along with basic punctuation.

Hand-cut wooden letters belonging to a long-defunct salad bar's signage were offered for sale in an online auction. The casual look of the lettering, the hand crafted feel and the rounded ends made for the perfect inspiration for designing Salad Bar JNL.

In the 1889 Franklin Type Foundry specimen book is a type face called “Armenian”. With lighter weight horizontal slab serifs than more traditional Western fonts, it could be pictured as being used as copy on wanted posters or town notices. This is now available as TV Western JNL in both regular and oblique versions.

Pop Tune JNL comes from the hand-lettered title on sheet music for "Does Your Heart Beat for Me?". This 1940s hit was co-written and made famous by Russ Morgan and His Orchestra. Many vintage pieces of sheet music employed hand-lettered titles and cartoon illustrations to emphasize the topic of the song itself.

Evening Wear JNL, drawn from the elegant monoline lettering used as titling on the sheet music for "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes", conjures up images of 1930s New York at its apex. Fine restaurants, elegant night clubs and couples decked out in their best evening apparel were of a time long past when "doing the town" meant really dressing up for the occasion.

A 1928 menu for the restaurant “Rotisserie Du Cardinal” had the word “Cardinal” hand lettered in quite an unusual Art Nouveau type design consisting of thick and thin lines using angles to form the letter shapes. This eccentric (yet charming) style of lettering is now available as Rotisserie Menu JNL in both regular and oblique versions.

Based on an example of [circa] 1950 Finnish embroidery lettering, Evening Out JNL is a classic Art Deco design with contrasting thick and thin lines. This elegant and stylish typeface is available in both regular and oblique versions.

A vintage photo (circa 1950s) taken outside one of the movie houses owned at the time by Miami-based Wometco Theaters showed a small hand lettered sign with the word “Wometco” painted in a stylized Art Deco alphabet. This inspired Theater Lobby JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Re-drawn from examples of vintage wood type, Primitive Tuscan JNL captures the essence of early letterpress printing of the 1800s; the styles of which were most closely associated with the Old West.

A 1930s hand-lettered poster for the play "The Cradle Will Rock", put on by the WPA (Works Progress Administration) Federal Theater Project is the source material for Talent Show JNL; available in both regular and oblique versions. Originally, the "R" and "L" had fish hook bends, but those two letters were revised to be more traditional in structure. The obvious Art Deco influence, along with what sign painters refer to as "stovepipe lettering" (straight lines with curved [bent] corners) is a simple, clean approach to retro-influenced titling.

A sample of monogram lettering entitled "Style 204 - Modern Block" (probably circa 1940s) yielded the thin Art Deco alphabet model for Dress Shirt JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Sheet music for the 1930s song "Josephine" had its title hand lettered in a simple, bold sans design that is recreated in Song Sheet JNL. This bold sans is perfect for titling wherever strong emphasis is necessary.

Big Band JNL is a classic Art Deco typeface in every sense of the word. Large, bold and innovative in its sectional construction, the font is based on a lettering example found in a 1941 Speedball® Lettering Pen instruction book. The basic alphabet was used for the model, with a new set of numbers and additional characters created by Jeff Levine in order to make this font fully functional in today’s digital designs.

Vintage sheet music was initially a partial inspiration for what started out as a simple retro typeface, but the basic hand-lettered design from the Art Deco era lent itself to some further experimentation. Geometric shapes were added to the original monoline letters and numerals and the end result was a marvelous display face called Cafe Society JNL. During the 1930s, "Cafe Society" was popular slang for the financially privileged during the Great Depression who dined at fine cafes while others who were able to eat out did so at diners and cafeterias. Available along with Cafe Society JNL is the original version, Cafe Society Monoline JNL.

From the same page of a vintage German lettering textbook entitled “50 Alphabete fur Technikur und Fachschulen” (loosely translated to “50 Alphabets for Technicians and Specialized Schools”) that inspired Trippy Hippy JNL comes Eleckatrical Banana JNL. It’s another novelty, free form Art Nouveau hand lettered alphabet that works well in recreating 1920s period pieces or for designing a retro-inspired rock and roll concert poster reminiscent of the 1960s. The name of the typeface is from a line in the 1966 pop hit “Mellow Yellow by Donovan (Leitch), and his extended pronunciation of ‘electrical’: “…E-lec-a-tric-cal’ banana is going to be the very next craze…” Caps only Fonts. Eleckatrical Banana JNL is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Highbrow Cafetorium JNL is a very "minimalist" font in the sense that there's only the basic lower case characters and essential punctuation. The lettering is based on a neon-and-bulb wall sign for a long-closed cafeteria on Lincoln Road in Miami Beach, Florida. The 'b', 'd', 'k' and 'l' have unusually high verticals.

An image spotted on the internet of a brass shipping stencil for the Royal Quality Brand (for the John H. Fitch Company of Youngstown, Ohio – a coffee and spice merchant). The lettering style for “Royal Quality” was a hand-cut, condensed, slightly flared sans serif with various character flourishes, giving the letters a stylish, somewhat regal look. Expanding on this idea, a full character set was developed and redrawn digitally as Royal Stencil JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

A page from an 1880s type specimen book presented a unique "Barnum"-like design with top horizontal lines much thinner than the bottom ones. Titled "Ten Line Antique Compressed No. 7", the design transcends the years; for it's not only an antique wood type font, but is also reminiscent of the 1960s hippie counterculture movement. Antique Unique JNL is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Picture yourself on a New York subway station platform with the location name set into the tiles on the wall. Borough Hall JNL evokes the feeling of urban industrialism at its best.

Based on the sheet music title lettering for Al Jolson's 1920 song "Grieving for You", the casual style of Nouveau Work JNL is available in both regular and oblique versions.

By any stretch of the imagination, Yorso Square JNL is an imperfect font...by design! Taking a page from the elementary school projects of years past, this sans serif face is square and blocky... looking as if it was manually constructed in haste with a ruler and pencil - just as a student might do for a book report cover, science fair project or class poster. If you need a type face that shows the innocence of youth, or possibly a bit of urban audacity - Yorso Square JNL is your choice of lettering!

The hand-lettered title on the poster for the 1933 musical comedy film “Melody Cruise” was rendered in an Art Deco thick-and-thin style with ‘engraving lines’ placed within the letters.

A 1940s travel poster for the Florida East Coast Railway (which then carried passengers but is now a freight line) had the railroad’s name hand lettered in a bold Art Deco sans. This inspired Passenger Train JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

During the early years of the 20th Century, America's fascination with automobiles was just beginning. The cover for a 1916 piece of sheet music for the comedy song "On the Old Back Seat of the Henry Ford" had the title hand lettered by a round nib pen in an Art Nouveau style. This is now available digitally as Running Board JNL.

A title card listing the supporting cast of the 1950 Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame drama “In a Lonely Place” provided the hand lettered slab serif type design that served as the model for Post Production JNL – available in both regular and oblique versions.

A set of plastic pin-back letters served as the model for Monthly Meeting JNL. Pin-back letters were primarily used on cork bulletin boards for changeable notices and announcements.

The beautiful hand lettering on the sheet music cover for Will R. Anderson's "Good Night Dear" (circa 1908) features quaint, semi-calligraphic lettering in the Art Nouveau Style. The song itself was popularized by Billie Burke [best remembered as the Good Witch in “The Wizard of Oz”] in the musical comedy "Love Watches".

Sheet music from 1910 with another one of those ridiculous thirteen word titles (“I Love My Steady but I’m Crazy for My “Once-in-a-While’”) had the lengthy verbiage hand lettered in a bold serif typeface with slightly spurred serifs. This has been recreated in a digital typeface with a much shorter name: Weekend Date JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

West Fork JNL is based on the classic wood type Latin Extended (Hamilton, 1888) and is available in both regular and oblique versions.

The hand lettered cast credits for the 1939 film “Golden Boy” (starring Barbara Stanwyck, Adolphe Menjou, William Holden and Lee J. Cobb) was the model for Golden Moment JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

A typographic conundrum presented itself with the hand lettered title on the cover of the 1919 song "I Am Always Building Castles in the Air". The capitalized portion ["Castles in the Air"] was a hybrid mix of a few Art Nouveau-influenced rounded letters, yet along with this were squared letters with rounded corners (reflecting the upcoming Art Deco movement to take place in about another decade). As a complete alphabet, it didnít mix as well as in those few short words. What to do? It was decided to go with the squared look and save the rounder characters for a future project. The end result became Last Date JNL; available in both regular and oblique versions.

Sales Book JNL was recreated from sample letters found in the wood type section of an old printer's supply catalog.

Oil Barrel JNL is roughly based on lettering spotted in an online auction of custom brass stencils made for marking different petroleum grades on oil company barrels.