Ruslana Kolesnikova

The poster for the 1930 film “Show Girl in Hollywood” had the title hand lettered in a squared Art Deco style with some angled cross strokes. This became the basis for Dancing Girl JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

A photo of the now closed [circa-1953] Lowell Municipal Pool (at 1601 N. 28th St.) in Boise, Idaho shows the words “Municipal Pool” formed into the cement of the entrance to the above-ground swimming facility.

Both the lettering and building entrance designs harken back to the Art Deco era and the sign features stencil-like characters.

This inspired a typeface aptly named Municipal Pool JNL, and is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Unique and decorative signage for many drive-ins, motels, food stores and other businesses of the 1940s had what was referred to as “privilege signs” provided by one of the major cola brands.

Consisting of the brand’s emblem on a decorative panel, the remainder of the sign would carry the desired message of the storekeeper (such as “Drive-In”) in prismatic, embossed metal letters.

Inspired by the Art Deco sans serif style of those vintage signs, Privilege Sign Two JNL recreates the type design in both regular and oblique versions. The typefaces are solid black, but adding a selected color and a prismatic effect from your favorite graphics program can reproduce the look and feel of those old businesses.

This is a companion font to Privilege Sign JNL, which recreates the condensed sans serif lettering of other privilege signs from

the 1950s and early 1960s.

A 1930s travel poster from American Airlines had the airline’s name in a classic thick-and-thin Art Deco design of hand lettering. With the addition of angular spurs, some of the characters become semi-serif in nature.

This type style is now available as Travel Plans JNL, in both regular and oblique versions.

Classike is a high contrast squarish display typeface. Inspired by the Art Déco period from a modern perspective. Refined and elegant yet with a mechanical vibe, it is ideal for pairing with any functional font, it works especially well with Geogrotesque, from which it inherited its proportions and soul. Classike adds an exclusive touch and helps enrich your graphic voice. A Variable Font version is included with the family or as a separate style. Read some thoughts about the design process at the Emtype's blog. 

Office Staff JNL is a version [with serifs added] of Popularity JNL – a condensed Art Deco design based (for the most part) on a popular typeface known in some foundry books as ‘Radiant’ with some reinterpreted characters… and is available in both regular and oblique versions.

The words “Benny Goodman & His Orchestra” on an appearance poster for the band from 1936 were rendered in a beautiful semi-script style of hand lettering.

The thin and stylish Art Deco lettering of a neon sign above the Greyhound bus terminal entrance in a 1930s New York City photo inspired Transit Station JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

A 1930s WPA (Works Progress Administration) poster advertising an exhibit of New Jersey area posters had its main lettering rendered in a very condensed hand lettered interpretation of the ever-popular Futura Black Art Deco style.

This has now been re-drawn and digitized as Art Event JNL, in both regular and oblique versions.

Here’s yet another interpretation of the classic “thick and thin” sans serif lettering most popular during the Art Deco era.

This particular design comes to you through the courtesy of a hand lettered 1930s travel poster from the Pennsylvania Railroad. Some capitals are much wider than others, while the lower case ‘i’ is somewhat truncated.

Rail Travel JNL is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Erle Stanley Gardner’s beloved lawyer “Perry Mason” first appeared on screen in a series of six films with Warren Williams starring in four of them. The hand lettered opening title for 1935’s “The Case of the Lucky Legs” is a classic Art Deco sans serif design, and is now available as Courtroom JNL in both regular and oblique versions.

The hand lettered opening title for the 1935 movie “Thanks a Million” is rendered in a condensed, thick and thin Art Deco sans serif design.

It is now available as the digital typeface Stocks and Bonds JNL – in both regular and oblique versions.

The hand lettered title found on the 1924 sheet music for the tango “Sentimiento Gaucho” (“Sentimental Gaucho”) offered a different take on the thick-and-thin lettering that permeated the late 1920s through the Art Deco age.

A ‘slash’ or ‘swipe’ is cut through the characters (similar to “Directa JNL” – another take on this type of design).

Last Tango JNL is the digital recreation of this novelty lettering and is available in both regular and oblique versions.