Hand lettering on the Art Deco-era sheet music for a song entitled "Rosemary" was the model for this delicate monoline design called Deco Hotel JNL.

Good Sport JNL has nothing to do with any of the major sports activities such as baseball, football, basketball or soccer. Instead, the typeface gets its name from the sport of camping, as the lettering was spotted on an image of an old ad for the Colonial Forest-Master boy’s pocket knife. Good Sport JNL is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Sign Engraver JNL and Sign Engraver Oblique JNL reproduce the classic rounded letters and numbers engraved into plastic signs, desk nameplates and employee name tags.

Record Promotion JNL is based on a stencil version of the same classic font that inspired Album Cover JNL and Record Jacket JNL.

Jazz Trumpeter JNL is an unusual type design modeled after the title card for the 1945 movie comedy “The Horn Blows at Midnight” starring Jack Benny and is available in both regular and oblique versions. This Art Deco sans serif font has the distinction of being somewhat calligraphic, yet futuristic in its visual appearance… and even has some subtle hints of Blackletter influences.

In the days before vinyl sign lettering overran the landscape, talented neighborhood sign painters and show card writers made attractive displays for local merchants. Toucan Tango JNL is Jeff Levine's interpretation of a sign painter's sans serif letter with a distinctive inline.

The Nov. 26, 1921 issue of “The Moving Picture World” carried an ad for the dramatic film “For Your Daughter’s Sake” (originally tilted “The Common Sin” and produced in 1920). Hand lettered in an Art Nouveau sans serif style, the ad copy inspired Movie Drama JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

The original inspiration for Blue Parrot came from a short scene in the classic film Casablanca. For just a few seconds, the exterior of Ferrari's Blue Parrot night club is shown, complete with a wonderful hand-lettered sign... all in capital letters. Blue Parrot JNL was originally released in 2006, and it wasn't long before a few people noted that the font would also look good with a lower case alphabet. The idea of adding in lower case kicked around for a couple of years until Jeff Levine finally completed a revision of the font. In this version there's also an expanded character set thanks to the creative input of Michael Hagemann of Font Mesa.

Koehler Sans JNL was inspired by a set of cardboard sign kit letters made by the Koehler Sign Company of Missouri (presumably) in the late 1940s or early 1950s. Not much is known about them, other than the letters looked interesting enough to turn into a font.

Years before the many "modern" ways to creates signs and posters, the popular method was the rubber stamp printing set. Many of these sets used the classic DeVinne typeface, and were manufactured by at least a half dozen different companies. The "sign and chart printers" (as they were known) often consisted of both upper and lower case letters, numbers, punctuation, pointing hands and other symbols. "Hand Stamped JNL" puts all the fun of the rubber stamp printing set into an easy-to-use digital font with no messy ink spills or clean-up.

A set of vintage wood type printing blocks yielded the alphabet which was to become Chamfer Serif JNL. With its heavy vertical serifs and interesting character shapes, the design is unique when compared to the more familiar wood type offerings of the past.

Fun Signs JNL comprises twenty-six humorous signs from a 1930s-era sales list of products manufactured by the Koehler Sign Company of St. Louis, Missouri. Koehler manufactured a large line of stock cardboard "Blue Signs" (presumably blue backgrounds with white lettering) and alongside the many standard phrases used by various businesses was a list of funny sayings. Such placards were bought by merchants to either evoke interest in their services (such as in a bar or restaurant, or jokingly comment on their business policies (as in credit billing). These novelty signs are a fun addition to a flier, ad, web page or announcement and will leave your readers smiling.

Samuel Welo’s “Studio Handbook for Artists and Advertisers” was a popular book of inspiration for sign painters, graphic artists and designers from the 1920s through the 1960s. Many digital revivals of Welo’s hand lettered typography have been made available. Formal Notice JNL is one such revival, and is available in both regular and oblique versions.

A 1930s-era sign lettering template set manufactured for the National Carbon Company by Wrico (The Wright-Regan Instrument Company) yielded the familiar lettering that comprises Zoning Department JNL. This rounded-end typestyle was also widely used on architectural drawings, signage, blueprints and the like.

Inspired by hand lettering on a 1939 World’s Fair Poster, Fair Play JNL is a bold, condensed design with spurred serifs and some flared characters… and is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Letterpress Illustrations JNL is another collection of dingbats, cartoons, catch words, embellishments and ad helpers all re-drawn from vintage source material.

Rail Line JNL is a font for the railroad enthusiast for making their own model train car emblems. The logos contained in this font are or may be the property of the various rail companies, their assigns and/or successors. Outside of non-profit hobby use or for historical/educational purpose under the Fair Use rules, any commercial application of these logos must be obtained by written permission by the respective logo owner or owners. Jeff Levine fonts provided Rail Line JNL strictly as a hobby font. We assume no liability for the use, misuse or misrepresentation of any of the logos contained within the font file.

Schoolyard Blues JNL is based on the hand lettered title found on the sheet music for the 1938 song "I Was Late for School". A condensed sans serif with chamfered corners, it reflects the Art Deco influences of the day in some of the letter forms. This type design is available in both regular and oblique versions.

In the early 1960s, the Duro Decal Company of Chicago, Illinois added to its line of water-applied decal lettering a retail sign cabinet of die-cut, pressure sensitive vinyl letters and numbers. Four of the six sizes offered for sale were cut from white plastic with a black outline and a secondary gold inline for a tri-color effect. Sign Stickers JNL emulates as closely as possible the look of these nostalgic pieces, complete with the slight shifts in line weight due to hand-cut silk screens and the printing process. For those of you who prefer to make your own multi-colored letters, a three piece fill font set is available for the low price of a single font purchase. Combine the backfill, midfill and frontfill layers for a truly retro look!

Art Nouveau lettering on the cover of sheet music for the 1911 song "The Skeleton Rag" (by Edward Madden and Percy Wenrich) is both the lettering inspiration and namesake for Skeleton Rag JNL.

Rhineland Roman JNL was modeled from the hand lettered title of some 1939 German sheet music entitled "Ich Hab'Mir Fur Grinzing", and is available in both regular and oblique versions.

The sheet music for the 1939 tune "Chico's Love Song (Ma-La-Ja Fa-La Pas-Ka Lah-Ta) [Cuban Double Talk]" may have had an odd title, but the main portion of it was hand lettered in an interesting style. Condensed letters with rounded corners complemented by sharp lines and angles give the characters an almost futuristic look, despite the fact that they were designed during the Art Deco era. This became the basis for Song Composer JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Lumberyard Stencil JNL was inspired by the image of an antique brass stencil that was probably used for marking various wood products by a lumber company. It's available in both regular and oblique versions.

The lettering for Fine Dining JNL was inspired by the opening titles for the 1940 Barbara Stanwyck-Fred MacMurray film "Remember the Night". A stylized Art Deco sans, the typeface conjures up images of elegant dining, being out on the town and all we warmly associate with the night life of the 1930s and 1940s.

Theater Tickets JNL was inspired by a photo of the marquee signage for Detroit’s Majestic Theater (built in1934), and is available in both regular and oblique versions. The theater was renovated and restored in 1987 and its marquee replicated the original one. What’s interesting is that the signage actually resembles squared pen lettering with rounded corners.

Lettering Lesson JNL is a bold serif alphabet found within the pages of the 1922 instructional booklet from the St. Louis Show Card School, and is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Poster Casual JNL is based on the hand lettered title on the cover of the 1929 sheet music for the song "Give Yourself a Pat on the Back"; touted at the time as being "the cheer-up song of England". Available in both regular and oblique versions, the font is perfect for applications where a less-formal look is desired in headlines or brief text.

Some vintage Beacon metal door letters used for identifying addresses on home and business buildings was spotted in an online auction from England. Those few letters were the inspiration for Home Address JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Arch Creek JNL is Jeff Levine's all-caps re-interpretation of a classic typeface of the past; Beton. Clean lines and slab serifs make this design a wonderful display face for attention-getting headlines. The beautiful watercolor print used in the font flag is by a good friend of Jeff's - Miami artist Michael George, and is used by permission.

Stencil Package JNL has its design roots in the brand name hand-lettered on the paper sleeves for the short-lived Stencil-It line of lettering guides produced in 1955 as a direct competitor to Stenso Lettering Guides. Formed by Bernie Aronson [a relative of the Libauers who owned the Stenso Lettering Company and who once worked for them] along with a financial partner (noted artist) Sidney Levyne, the company was soon put out of existence by a court action. It re-emerged in 1956 as the E-Z Letter Stencil Company and existed until the 1990s. Stencil Package JNL is available in both regular and oblique versions.

An unsold 1973 TV pilot for the series “Catch 22” (based on Joseph Heller’s 1961 book and the subsequent 1970 movie) had its title hand lettered in an extra bold stencil type style. Heller coined the phrase as a satire on absurd military rules and bureaucracy. Although the show’s title provided only five characters to work with, there was enough inspiration there to create the military styled Enlisted Stencil JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions. According to Wikipedia: “A catch-22 is a paradoxical situation from which an individual cannot escape because of contradictory rules or limitations.”

Flirtation Walk JNL was inspired by the lettering on the covers of sheet music for songs taken from the 1934 Dick Powell-Ruby Keeler movie "Flirtation Walk". The typeface features some stylized characters as well as the more familiar Art Deco character designs, and is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Retro Resort JNL contains twenty-six Deco-style hotels signs for recreating the flavor of the 1940s.

Press Run JNL is a reinterpretation of the classic typeface Cheltenham Condensed taken from actual screen captures of vintage newspaper headlines.

A piece of sheet music for “Broken Blossoms” circa the 1920s or early 1930s has its cover title hand lettered in a wide thick-and-thin Art Deco design. This is now available as Flower Shop JNL, in both regular and oblique versions.

An image found online of a vintage storefront sign for the Kraus Photo Shop was the inspiration for Photo Developer JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions. The sign featured a thick and thin Art Deco style lettering with an inline cutting through the thicker strokes. Before the advent of digital photography, and way before chain stores offered in-house processing, neighborhood photo labs were the only place for getting prints from your roll film (unless you wanted to send the film into Kodak for developing and printing). Customers of these stores could also purchase additional film, cameras and photographic accessories from the same location.

Ranch Hand JNL is a tall, condensed wood type with slab serifs. The font is somewhat bolder in weight than Nostrand JNL, but like its counterpart, fully captures the spirit and flavor of Nineteenth Century advertising, fliers and notices.

Bulk Weight JNL is a stripped down version of Inline Square JNL (based on 1930s sheet music hand lettering) with the inline removed. What is left behind is a thick, bulky, ultra bold lettering style suitable for attention-getting headlines. Bulk Weight JNL is available in both regular and oblique versions.

By the 1990s, the availability of font creation software opened the door to an explosion of creativity, experimentation and exploration into the world of digital typography by amateur and professional alike. The undisputed king of the freeware fonts was Ray Larabie through his Larabie Fonts website. It seemed at the time that Ray’s output was endless, and he amassed dozens upon dozens of fonts that ranged from the ridiculous to the sublime. In fact, Ray was the driving force of encouragement and a behind-the-scenes “mentor” who helped Jeff Levine Fonts get underway in January of 2006. As Larabie’s focus changed to higher-quality commercial type design with the launch of Typodermic, Inc., many of his “less than perfect” font experiments were withdrawn and shelved. Ray eventually turned those lost (and sometimes questionable) typefaces into a bundled zip archive released into the public domain through Creative Commons. One particular design “Boron” (circa 1996) featured computer-oriented lettering as if etched onto a circuit board. Running with this idea, and with Ray's approval, the electronic elements were stripped away, the characters cleaned up and modified, and the font reworked in Retro Checkbook JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Stencil-like lettering appearing on a 1930s WPA (Works Progress Administration) poster for the Pennsylvania Game Commission saying “Protect Our Birds” is the basis for Fall Fashion JNL.