-Logo-Inspired-
My version of ROOSEVELT began with a request by Rob Case for the font once used on Aeolian pianos and organs. I drew the letters from analog examples, regularizing and filling out the set. Subsequently another correspondent, Richard Vance, told me the history of the design (at right) and showed me more examples of the original font in action, prompting the revised version which now includes small caps and a more conventional T. (The curvy one is now located at | and \.) If you like this font, please see my Celtic Knot Monograms. According to Rollin Smith’s “The Aeolian… continued
ROAD JESTER is bold and playful, suggesting the hand-lettered signs you might find in a sleepy beach town. Road Jester was inspired by the logo of Trader Joe’s, the offbeat grocery chain; additional characters were inspired by Basque-style lettering. A matching stencil font provides an exotic shipping crate feel. Don’t use this font to create your own Trader Joe’s merchandise as that would certainly be trademark infringement. “Road Jester” is an anagram of Trader Joe’s. ROAD JESTER 2.1 has an expanded character set and improved spacing and kerning.
RED CIRCLE is a bold and stylish geometric sans serif with its roots in Art Deco design. It was inspired by the hand lettering formerly used on Eight O’Clock coffees. Once associated with A&P stores, Eight O’Clock coffees, including Bokar and Red Circle varieties, were the most popular brand in the US from the 1930s, the age of Art Deco. Version 2.0 is a large and small caps font; alternate letterforms are accessed thru Opentype feature. It also features an expanded character set and improved spacing and kerning.
Plumber’s Gothic is my digital interpretation of the font formerly used by 3M to brand its products. According to their excellent corporate history, the “boxy, serifed…decidedly industrial” logo and font were designed by Gerald Stahl & Associates in 1960 and used throughout their product line until the late 1970s. “Unfortunately ‘plumber’s gothic’ no longer accurately reflected the image of the more sophisticated, higher-tech company that 3M had become.” (Thanks, John, for getting me started on this!) Includes upper- and lowercase, numbers, punctuation, and international characters.
OAKTAG is a set of 4 stencil fonts with a unique woven, serif design. The full set includes 4 fonts. The Regular and Outline can be used separately or layered together. The Blocks and Tiles varieties provide even more creative possibilities. OAKTAG was inspired by the one-character logo of Channel Four UK. I love the challenge of starting with one letter or number and imagining the rest of the characters. I recently learned that amazing icon was designed by Martin Lambie-Nairn. Version 2.0 has an expanded character set, and improved spacing and kerning.
KARTA was inspired by the 2-letter logo of the Johnston Paper company (below. I was stopped behind their delivery truck and quickly jotted it down.) Looks like folded paper or a paper construction. The set includes Regular and Bold which are outlines of the planes, and Solid which can be used separately or layered to create a color fill. Includes uppercase, numbers, punctuation, and international characters.
HONEYMOON is a retro, backhand script with a hand-written feel. It was inspired by the classic logo of the Holiday Inn hotel chain. Uniform weight, almost completely linking. Italicized it becomes a vertical script. Includes upper and lowercase, numbers, punctuation, and international characters.
The HONEST JOHN’S fonts are based on the old logo of the Howard Johnson’s restaurant chain. For missing letters, I consulted similar Deco fonts. There’s a solid Regular and outline Shadow version. Includes large and small caps, punctuation, numbers, and international characters.
The GOYA fonts (including light, medium, heavy, ultra, and inline)were inspired by the logo of the GOYA® food products company. Another Art Deco font–like Red Circle–but this time with a preference for the circle over the square. GOYA 2.0 now includes small caps in the lowercase positions of each font (not just re-scaled but also re-weighted) plus a whole new font GOYA INLINE. Goya in use, by Alter
ESQUIVEL is a sleek near-script inspired by an older Esquire magazine logo. Working from this December 1968 issue (with Lauren Hutton on the cover) I had only the title and one short heading inside to work from. The title evokes the original source, but pays homage to Juan García Esquivel, the Mexican emigré “multi-threat talent: quirky composer, eccentric arranger, enchanting performer, dashing showman” according to the liner notes (by Irwin Chusid) of Esquivel’s 1995 greatest-hits CD Cabaret Mañana. Works well italicized too. And there’s also the Engraved and Condensed versions too. Each font includes upper and lowercase, numbers, punctuation and… continued