During trips to the Miami Beach Public Library as a youth, Jeff Levine first caught sight of the signs made with a product called the Webway Sign Cabinet, manufactured by the Holes- Webway company of St. Cloud, MN. Having purchased an old set, Jeff has carefully re-drawn the alphabet and unique contrasting numbers from the original assortment, adding in an extended character set to his font.
A sales catalog sheet from the American Decalcomania Company circa the late 1940s-early 1950s provided some hand lettering that served as the inspiration for Sign Painter JNL. Emulating the look of characters made with a round pen nib, this Deco-style typeface conveys nostalgia and charm seldom found in advertising of today.
In the 1909 edition of the Atkinson Sign Painters’ instruction books is an extra bold sans serif alphabet and numerals called “Advertisers’ Thick and Thin Plug”. This hand lettered display face is now available digitally as Sign Lettering JNL in both regular and oblique versions.
A font with all the symbol signs used by the U.S. Department of Transportation, as provided for in the MUTCD (Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices). Drawn to meet the US DOT's exact specifications for highway signs.
There was a time in this country when many young people studied a trade via a correspondence course through the mail. While this method still exists, it's now more common to find students taking online classes. From an early-1960s course in sign painting comes Sign Merchant JNL, a classic brush stroke type design popularized on show cards and posters.
In 1948, Joseph Struhl pioneered an innovative do-it-yourself sign kit for retail merchants. Die-cut letters and numbers made from flexible sheets of vinyl with the ability to adhere to smooth surfaces by static electricity; his "Magic Master Interchangeable Sign Kits" became a great success. Jeff Levine has paid tribute to this innovative method of in-store advertising with Sign Maker JNL. Because of their die-cut shapes, the design style of the static cling letters have unique characteristics. Companion fonts (based on other Struhl sign kits) are Cling Vinyl JNL and Cling Vinyl Clear JNL.
Sign Stencil JNL was modeled from some vintage lettering stencils spotted in an online auction that were part of a store sign making kit. A variety of styles, sizes and designs were contained within a carrying case along with paints, brushes and instructions on how to paint attractive signs.
Window Sign JNL is a solidified re-working of Sign Stencil JNL; originally modeled from some vintage lettering stencils that were part of a store sign making kit.
Stock Signs JNL is a collection of fifty-two signs resembling those made by engraving letters into plastic using a pantograph process. There is also a pair of blank signs on the parenthesis keys. To make your own signs or layouts emulating this classic look, try Sign Engraver JNL, which is the font used for these designs.
Sign Production JNL somewhat resembles Sign Kit JNL but there are some noticeable differences. The letters and numbers in Sign Production JNL are bolder, wider and have some slightly different character shapes. The common theme is that both fonts were designed from die-cut letters and numbers found in the Webway Sign Cabinet, manufactured by the Holes-Webway Company of St. Cloud, Minnesota until its demise in the 1980s.
Sign Decal JNL is an outline version of Sheldrake JNL - lettering based on original water-applied decal transfers once made by the Duro Decal Company (now Duro Art Industries) of Chicago.
Sign Template JNL is based on one of the many plastic lettering guides manufactured by the now-defunct Wright-Regan Instrument Company (also known as WRICO). Aside from their engineering and drafting templates and tools, WRICO had a line of "Sign-Maker" sets which featured various styles of lettering, special ink pens and metal alignment guides to assure clean, crisp lettering with little effort.
Donkey Sign is a spectacular decorative font with a Graffiti style and with a sign decorative inside for your design look awesome. It will elevate a wide range of design projects to the highest level, be it branding, headings, wedding designs, invitations, signatures, logotype, wall art illustration, apparel, labels, and much more.
The addition of serifs to an existing typeface can drastically change the look and feel of a design. Sign Card JNL and its oblique version is just such a treatment of Sign Shop JNL. By adding the serifs, there is not only a brand-new Art Deco typeface possessing a regal and formal style, but a distant resemblance to a Russian Cyrillic font with its mechanical form and function.
An elegant, yet informal Roman alphabet with Art Nouveau influences was found amidst the pages of the 1922 edition of “The Expert Sign Painter”. It is now available digitally as Sign Expert JNL in both regular and oblique versions.
Sign Shop JNL was inspired by a set of ceramic titling and display letters similar to those used to model Entitled JNL and made by the Mitten's Display Letter Company of Redlands, California. The distinctive retro feel adds a great touch to any project. Bold, Deco and Oblique versions were created by Jeff Levine for extra visual impact.
Signs of Yesterday JNL brings another twenty-six vintage signs inspired by a series of decals once made by the Duro Decal Company (now Duro Art Industries) of Chicago. This font complements the original twenty-six designs found in Too Much Information JNL. There are two blank sign panels on the parenthesis keys for use in creating custom retro signage.
Sign and Display JNL is a long-overdue companion font to 2009’s Sign and Poster JNL. The original design models were Art Deco influenced die-cut cardboard letters and numbers manufactured by the Duro Decal Company of Chicago. Square in shape with rounded corners, the thick cardboard letters were used for making show-cards and other display signage. Subsequently, Duro used the same style of lettering to manufacture water-applied decals for boat identification and other uses. It was a set of these decals (with a black outline and yellow interior) that inspired the outline typeface Sign and Display JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.
Sign and Poster JNL is modeled after a popular style of die-cut letters and numbers that was used for making signage and show cards. A strong Deco influence is seen in these letterforms and blends well into most design projects.
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 1932 fan magazine from Spain entitled “Films Selectos” (“Select Films”) had those words hand lettered in a decorative Art Deco type style that was a cross between the “Futura Black” style of stencil influenced display lettering and “Fiesta” lettering. This hybrid design is now available digitally as Dance and Sing JNL in both regular and oblique versions.
A vintage hand lettered sign for a carnival game was the basis for Sign Display Casual JNL, a classic example of the "one stroke" casual text lettering that sets sign painters apart from sign manufacturers.
Unique and decorative signage for many drive-ins, motels, food stores and other businesses of the 1940s had what was referred to as “privilege signs” provided by one of the major cola brands. Consisting of the brand’s emblem on a decorative panel, the remainder of the sign would carry the desired message of the storekeeper (such as “Drive-In”) in prismatic, embossed metal letters. Inspired by the Art Deco sans serif style of those vintage signs, Privilege Sign Two JNL recreates the type design in both regular and oblique versions. The typefaces are solid black, but adding a selected color and a prismatic effect from your favorite graphics program can reproduce the look and feel of those old businesses. This is a companion font to Privilege Sign JNL, which recreates the condensed sans serif lettering of other privilege signs from the 1950s and early 1960s.
Sign and Design JNL is a casual brush alphabet modeled after an Alf R. Becker design that appeared in Signs of the Times Magazine. Thanks to Tod Swormstedt of ST Media and the American Sign Museum for providing the reference material to make this font.
This family was inspired from the set of fontfaces used by Francisco Del Hierro, to print in 1726 the first Spanish language Dictionary from the Spanish Royal Academy (Real Academia Española, Diccionario de Autoridades). These two Transitional styles are said to have been the first set of official typeface in Spain, like the French “Reale” (take a look at our "[/fonts/glc/1790-royal-printing/ 1790 Royale Printing)". In our two styles (Regular & Italic), fontfaces, kernings and spaces are as closely as possible the same as in the original. This Pro font is covering Western, Eastern and Central European, Baltic and Turkish languages, with standard and “s long” ligatures and twin letters in each of the two styles and a few Italic swashes inspired from the font used in 1746 by the same printer for another edition from the Royal Academy.