In older American slang, a "bum steer" is a bad tip, some bad advice or being sent in the wrong direction (to name a few examples). Bum Steer JNL was modeled from some playful hand lettering found on a piece of early 20th Century sheet music entitled "When Uncle Joe Plays a Rag on His Old Banjo". It's very possible that "Hobo" (a popular type design of the time) was a strong influence on the sheet music's style of title lettering. It seems that songwriters in those bygone days were prone to cramming as many words from a line of their song into the title itself. Another such example of a wordy song title which coincidently is in keeping with the theme of a "bum steer" (pun intended) is a novelty number from 1915: "Cows May Come and Cows May Go but the Bull Goes on Forever" (words by Vincent Bryan, music by Harry Von Tilzer). [It's kind of self-descriptive, don't you think?]

A 1940s British music collection of classical music piano pieces entitled "The Great Masters Series" had its title hand-lettered in a free form, casual sans serif with a cartoon style. This is now available as Just Great JNL.

Vintage sheet music for a song from the Broadway Musical “Kiss Me Kate” is the inspiration for Katydid JNL. The play’s name was written in a ball-and-line type of lettering which somewhat resembles either 'Tinker Toys' or celestial mapping.

Piacere is a spacious, full of air typeface with broad letters and wide serifs. Design of serifs inspired by the sound waves of pleasant classical music. In musical terms, piacere means pleasure, so type with pleasure, or “Digita con Piacere”!

The 1920s Art Nouveau movement spawned a number of beautiful hand lettered pieces of sheet music from that era. Attractive and narrow, the characters found on the title page of one such piece of music was the inspiration for Easy Money JNL.

The typography was created from the observed similarities between some musical symbols and the letters of the alphabet. Realizing that there were not typefaces which used this language, decided to implement this idea, providing a new typographic style closer to the musical symbolism.

Sun-tanned, smooth, and fluid. Suave Script is based on disconnected calligraphy originating from a how-to lettering book from the 1950s. The uppercase letters dance, and then dance some more - Samba, Tango, Mambo or Candombe - take your pick. The lowercase flows like honey waiting to be licked off the comb. A rare gem - depicting the sweet hustle and bustle of life of a history-rich urbanism. Suave Script is at once fashionable, human, and creative. For this new Pro version a number of endings, ligatures and an extensive range of languages were covered (Western and Eastern European, Baltic, Turkish, Maltese and Celtic)

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".

This font was inspired by music from the band Mae.

This font was inspired by music from the band Asteria.

This font was inspired by music from the band Silverstein.

Just like my previous typefaces, my new one, Smooth Buggaloo, also finds its roots in music. The Boogaloo was a popular music style in the 60s, a mixture of Latin and Rock and Roll music. Later Salsa took over this genre. Latin music represents a vibrant, lively and an uncontrollable need to move. In Smooth Buggaloo, you will recognize a swing, flair and a hint of seduction. But despite its vibrancy it can also be understood as a serious, simple and clean typeface. The characters vary between a handwritten and a designed look. Smooth Buggaloo is very suitable for any graphic purpose, like logo- and poster design and it can also be used for longer texts.

This font was inspired by music from the band Dropout Year.

According to Wikipedia, Tin Pan Alley is the name given to the collection of New York City music publishers and songwriters who dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century. The name originally referred to a specific place: West 28th Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues in Manhattan. With this in mind, Tin Pan Alley JNL, a typeface based on the bold hand lettering from a vintage piece of sheet music is aptly named.

Yayazout JNL is the Rock and Roll equivalent of Jeff Levine's other "Love Generation" font, Positive Vibe JNL. This typeface emulates the innovative and outrageous styles of the late 60s-early 70s design period where the message was the music and the music was the message...

Chocolate Bar JNL emulates hand-lettering on the sheet music for a song selection called "Shoe Shine Boy" from Connie's Hot Chocolates of 1936 (an all-black musical revue). The lettering was not found in the song's title, but rather in the name of the show itself.

Rather Jazzy, Rather Loud: a family of two quite distinct fonts that perform together handsomely well. Both fonts include 2 versions for each letter, easily reachable through keyboard upper and lower keys. They also come packed with Contextual Alternates functionality to instantly cycle the alternates, providing a realistic handcrafted feel: just turn on the feature in any OpenType savvy application and let the music sound. Rather Loud brings yet another cool feature: lots of interlocking pairs that will add that nice extra twist your projects sometimes ask for. Trigger the discretionary ligatures feature button (OpenType savvy applications needed!) or pick up your choices through a glyphs palette or character map. Jazzy? Loud? I'd Rather Both, for sure!