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The MARITIME FLAGS fonts are based on the international flag code. Each flag represents a letter or number. These would be flown on board a vessel, not printed. However, the monochrome font can be used to add a decorative or nautical motif. The set includes the single-color font as shown in black on this page; plus separate red, yellow, blue and black fonts. It’s not possible to make a real color TrueType or OpenType font. But you can fake it by layering separate fonts! In a program that allows layering, type your text, then change it to the Black flag… continued

MADFONT was one inspired by the great MAD magazine logo, the older, un-italicized one of course. It was one of my first fonts, released back in 1998, the work of a fan who grew up reading MAD and loving its parodies and graphics. MADFONT was retired but now it’s come back and brought two friends: Bars and Thorns. The two previously unreleased fonts are standard wood type variations that increase the value of this cheerful, circus, Wild West design. Each font includes caps, numbers, punctuation and international characters. Check out this fun furniture commercial. It’s worth watching all the way… continued

LIBELED LADY was inspired by the hand-lettered titles of the film of the same name (1936). It’s an enjoyable romantic comedy directed by Jack Connolly and starring Jean Harlow, William Powell, Myrna Loy, and Spencer Tracy, art directed by Cedric Gibbons , William A. Horning, and Edwin B. Willis. The opening titles are a fine example of Art Deco lettering, appropriate to the style and tone of the film. Somewhat regularized and fleshed out, the font remains faithful to the original. Dan X. Solo laments the scarcity of period Art Deco fonts; consider this a reconstruction of one that never… continued

Rudolf Koch designed these nature-inspired images to coordinate with his rough-hewn classic Neuland. I’ve recreated them as a companion to my BRIDE OF THE MONSTER fonts. I’ve included all the available images, flipped and rotated some for easy use, and the original German accented characters–Ä, Ö, Ü–styled to match the “Bride” varieties.

KING XMAS is a versal, or Lombardic, alphabet inspired by a small sample in a 1930s Speedball book. The current version combines two fonts in one: solid in the uppercase positions, white-starred letters (like the words above) at the lowercase position. It pairs nicely with a bold blackletter font like Fette Fraktur. Now with Arabic numbers in v2.5.

KING HAROLD was inspired by the embroidered lettering on the famous Bayeux Tapestry. The Tapestry was made c.1073-83 and records King Harold’s adventures and loss at the Battle of Hastings to William the Conqueror, with a special appearance by Halley’s Comet. It measures 230 feet long (69 meters) and is one of the great examples of Romanesque art. Although armed with photographs, including some very good close-ups, I still wanted more detail to get the right feel. So I embroidered all the letters and numbers I needed, in imitation of the style of the original, and made the font from… continued

Like its predecessor Calaveras, HEARTLAND is a take-off on the classic 60s flower font Daisyland*. This time I’ve substituted hearts for the original flowers. For the animation on this page, companion fonts containing just the hearts (pink) and more background hearts (maroon) were used; these are available à la carte. Includes 2 versions of each letter, plus numbers, punctuation, and international characters. *The Daisyland font appears under that name in the Dan X. Solo font books from Dover. There is a nice shareware version called FLORALIES by Keith Field and a free but bumpy adaptation (called Daisyland and uncredited) in… continued

HARLEQUIN was inspired by this poster from the 1953 film Kiss Me Kate (detail at left). It has a jolly jester’s hat feel and also resembles turned wooden spindles. Includes caps, numbers, punctuation, and international characters.         As seen in use in these “personalized totes for the eco-check girl,” from Label Me Lisa.      

A fun little font with a second-hand history. The basic idea came from my recollection of a rough sketch.* The handprints are combined with a knockoff version of Morris Fuller Benton’s classic Hobo font. Besides the hands, it differs from regular Hobo in that it is much bolder and has descending lowercase letters. Includes caps, lowercase, numbers, punctuation, ligatures, international characters, and several pairs of black handprints. *A proposal for a “hands on” event, the sketch came from a brainstorming session of the “Young Turks Committee” at The Arts Center of the Capital Region, which included Lisa Roche, Donna Brunig,… continued

GOOD VIBES is my digital version of the Letraset font “Good Vibrations” designed by Trevor Hatchett and released in 1973. Janet Wilson, one of my dear font correspondents, sent me a scan of an unused sheet of the Letraset original. In redrawing the font, I’ve maintained the same number of lines per character and the uniform width of the Hatchett design. Not entirely successful here–the gradient stripes can turn to strobing, dithering detail onscreen. It’s much better used BIG in print (>60 pt.) With rub-down Letraset you would have been able to choose to use parts of letters; I haven’t… continued