font_designer: Jeff Levine

Amidst the pages of the 1946 foreign-printed “100 Alphabets Publicitaires” (“100 Advertising Alphabets”) was an example of a beautiful vertical script type design with a somewhat calligraphic look. This became the work model for...

A 1950 reissue of the 1934 tune “With My Eyes Wide Open I’m Dreaming” had the title of the sheet music hand lettered in a semi-calligraphic sans serif design. This became the model for...

The sheet music cover of Lew Brown and Albert Von Tilzer’s 1917 wartime song “Au Revoir, But Not Goodbye (Soldier Boy)” had its title hand-lettered in a condensed sans serif design with the influence...

The basis for Series A Signage JNL is Highway Gothic; a type style design formally known as the FHWA Series. The font was developed by the United States Federal Highway Administration, and originally consisted...

From the 1917 sheet music for “The World Has Been So Mean to Me” comes a wonderfully hand lettered chamfered sans with varying widths and character shapes, now released digitally as Sentiment JNL in...

The cover of the vintage sheet music for “This Little Piggie Went to Market” (from the 1934 film “Eight Girls in a Boat”) features a hand-lettered sans serif with intermittent chamfered angles. This became...

Before the mid-to-late 1970s, when retailers started to embrace UPC (universal price code) technology on a grand scale, pricing merchandise took on many forms. One method especially popular with variety stores (such as Woolworth’s,...

Shopping Spree JNL was inspired by the hand lettering on the title card for the 1938 film “Fast Company” starring Melvyn Douglas and Florence Rice.

Alf Becker graced the pages of “Signs of the Times” magazine month after month for decades, presenting attractive and unusual hand lettered alphabets as inspiration for other sign painters and show card writers. From...