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McKinley is a series of fonts with the bold but graceful style of hand-painted signs, inspired by the titles of several early silent films, including The Great Train Robbery, The Kleptomaniac, and others directed by Edwin S. Porter for Edison Studios. Available in Narrow, Regular, and Wide, with a separate Swash Caps font.
Bootstrap has a rough-hewn Western feel, like letters were made by an old-time blacksmith. The letterforms are bold and simple, with spurs and a rough texture. Bootstrap’s roots are in my Tapeworm font, reimagined for a new old look.
ACE OF CLUBS is a decorative display font with its roots in the 19th century. The unique trefoil or club-shaped terminals give it a certain jolliness, inspired by the former “lollipop” logo of the A&P supermarket chain. Starting with just 2 letters, I expanded it into a complete font with upper- and lowercase, numbers, punctuation, and the rest.
The Gilded Age is a set of ornate fonts with decorative details reminiscent of that period, the late 19th century in the US. Tricked out with “mustachio” serifs, spurs, and inlines, the Gilded Age captures the flashy ornamentation the name suggests. The set includes upper- and lowercase, with and without the engraved lines, and a large and small caps version including extra fancy large caps. Gilded Age was inspired by the titles of the film “Casque d’Or” (1952, directed by Jacques Becker). The film is set in La Belle Époque, the French equivalent of the Gilded Age.
The ALBANITA fonts were inspired by the city of Albany, New York, my hometown for over 30 years. Albany has a distinctive look and character that has often influenced my work, and that I’ve deliberately tried to capture here, if not literally. There are no “Egg” shaped letters, no Dutch-style peaks, no bricks. Albany includes many remarkable historic buildings, including the State Capitol and City Hall, repurposed railroad and industrial buildings, rows of brownstones and tree-lined streets, and an overall design that encompasses 4 centuries. Albany’s skyline is symbolized by the once-futuristic Empire State Plaza. Often the contrast between old… continued
These fonts were inspired by the classic mosaic tile signs of the New York City subway system, dating to the early 20th century. I’ve tried to maintain the somewhat quaint letterforms while regularizing them for contemporary use. There are 3 fonts (White, Black and Solid) that can be used independently or layered in different colors for endless variation.
VALENTIN is a sweet and simple cursive font. A mix of friendly and formal, Valentin’s vertical letterforms are in the French style. Valentin was inspired by 18th-century experiments in raised-letter printing for the blind. Designed by Valentin Haüy, this style is beautiful on the page and could be read by both blind and untrained sighted readers. Later designers would create more simplified raised-letter designs, eventually leading to the dot grid of the Braille system. VALENTIN 1.5 has an expanded character set and improved spacing and kerning. More legible versions of a few characters have been substituted and the originals moved… continued
THANKSGIVING was inspired by this handlettered “Buzza-type” motto (left). Grandma would have had a couple of these homilies tacked up in little frames. My partner, Al, collects them and I became interested in the lettering on this one in particular. The feel is of handlettering in imitation of print, rather than the other way around. Includes upper and lowercase, numbers, punctuation, and international characters.
SONNET is a set of fonts with the look of early letterpress printing; the bold and beautiful letterforms contrast with the roughness of the technology and paper of the time. This would be a good alternative to the overused and ahistoric Caslon Antique. Sonnet was inspired by a facsimile of Shakespeare’s First Folio as published by Thomas Thorpe in 1609. The full series includes many typographic features of the original, including italics, swash italics, small caps, old-style figures, long s, and more. Version 2.0 makes use of Opentype features for easier use. Now the Regular font also includes the Small… continued
