-Retro-

TWINE SCRIPT is a bold and stylish cursive font with a unique feature: “split ends” that give it a light and energetic twinkle! TWINE SCRIPT was inspired by examples in a 1930s Speedball lettering guide by Ross F. George who inspired so many people’s love of lettering.

DEAR JUDY is a fun font with flair. This unicase font has its roots in 1960s design: quirky, bouncy serifed letterforms, all caps with cap-sized lowercase versions of some letters (AEMNR). Extra curls on some alternates too! DEAR JUDY was inspired by a hand-lettered paperback cover from 1963 called “Cover Girl Nurse.”

FUTURE PERFECT is a fun and bouncy font. This bit of retro futurism was inspired by an analog font reproduced in a book. I was attracted to its relatively condensed form; so many similar display fonts are limited by their width. Future Perfect is a grammatical tense, but it makes me think of time of the Space Needle and The Jetsons when the future just seemed full of big bright possibilities. The names here are the 2025 hurricanes; by 2026, we will have experienced one or more of them.

POLYBOY is a strong and stylish set of geometric fonts with roots in 1970s design. The set of 5 POLYBOY fonts includes 3 weights (Regular, Demi, and Ultra) and 2 striped variations (Inline and Double Line.) Most letters appear in 3 forms—lining caps, descending caps, and swash caps—taking your design from day to evening and beyond.

TRENTE NEUF is a fun and fancy font with Art Deco roots. Inspired by examples of hand-lettering from 1939, I strove to maintain the practiced casualness of classic pen and brush work. The fashionable letterforms were a big draw; I’ve included multiples as Opentype stylistic alternates.

BANKROLL was inspired by fonts used for 19th-century banknotes, stock certificates, and the like. Completely reimagined and redrawn, BANKROLL combines the Victorian mix of solid construction and decoration that people like about steampunk. In four varieties: Solid, Shaded, Outline and Engraved. If you want this look in an easy-to-use monogram format, check out Tablet Monograms.

Tablet Monograms have a bold and commanding look. Inspired by the kinds of lettering often found on old stock certificates and bank notes, Tablet Monogram come in 6 varieties including Solid, Outline, Shaded, and Shadow. It’s easy to type your own custom monogram using any combination of large and small initials and a choice of decorative elements.

Licorice Whip was inspired by an example from a 1920 book: “A most novel alphabet by Mr. G. E. Gustafson, Penman, Inter-State Commercial College, Reading, Pa.” It was once important for a professional to use the pen well, the visual equivalent of elocution. The neat thin-thick strokes show good control of the pen; along with the gaps, a shimmering effect is created, or perhaps the look of twisted ribbon. A full-alphabet companion to Cascade Monograms.

Mineral City was inspired by an example of 19th-century sans serif typography. Around that time, type designers took a cue from sign painters, omitting the finicky serifs and making the strokes more uniform. These early sans serifs fonts were categorized as “grotesques” or “gothics” and this is a particularly awkward one. (Later these would be refined into fonts like Franklin Gothic, and then neo-grotesques like Helvetica.) I’ve added more texture to give it the rustic flavor of crude printing, rough paper, worn surfaces, or even a hand-panted sign.

CAPITAL CITY is a bold font with an all-American spirit. Inspired by a poster from the 1960s or 70s, Capital City has heavy slab serifs at the bottom but is sans-serif at the top. With superscript small caps in the lowercase positions. Using the stylistic alternates feature of Opentype, you can also access superscript numbers and currency symbols. Version 1.1 has an expanded character set.