Steven Le

Pacific Atoll JNL is a stylized slab serif type design based on the movie title lettering for the 1942 wartime film “Pacific Rendezvous”, and is available in both regular and oblique versions.

According to Wikipedia, “…an atoll (sometimes known as a coral atoll), is a ring-shaped coral reef, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim.”

Ghost Sign JNL is a spurred serif type design based on the faded lettering of an antique brick wall sign for Homer Hardware [located in Homer, NY] and is available in both regular and oblique versions.

From Wikipedia:

“A ghost sign is an old hand-painted advertising sign that has been preserved on a building for an extended period of time. The sign may be kept for its nostalgic appeal, or simply indifference by the owner.

Ghost signs are found across the world with the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Canada having many surviving examples. Ghost signs are also called fading ads or brickads. In many cases these are advertisements painted on brick that remained over time. Old painted advertisements are occasionally discovered upon demolition of later-built adjoining structures. Throughout rural areas, old barn advertisements continue to promote defunct brands and quaint roadside attractions.

Many ghost signs from the 1890s to 1960s are still visible. Such signs were most commonly used in the decades before the Great Depression.

Ghost signs were originally painted with oil-based house paints. The paint that has survived the test of time most likely contains lead, which keeps it strongly adhered to the masonry surface. Ghost signs were often preserved through repainting the entire sign since the colors often fade over time. When ownership changed, a new sign would be painted over the old one.”

Town Meeting JNL (available in both regular and oblique versions) is a modified version of Mud Creek JNL (which was based on Tuscan Egyptian – a classic wood type).  The side spurs were removed and the split serifs were replaced by slab serifs.

“News Gothic” has been a reliable workhorse of a font since it was created by Morris Fuller Benton and first offered for sale in 1908 by American Type Founders.  

A clean, legible design used for text copy, it can also double as a light headline face.

This reinterpretation (named Columnist JNL) is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Wood Clarendon JNL is based on Hamilton Clarendon Condensed (circa 1899) and is available in both regular and oblique versions.

The design of this typeface retains many of the charming (but slight) design irregularities often found within pantograph-cut wood type from the 1800s through the early 1900s.

This reinterpretation of Caslon Rounded showcases one of the early attempts of type foundries to create a novelty ‘rounded’ typeface for general use.

While the lettering might easily convey a more modern look of 1960s or 1970s pop typography, its roots definitely lay in the later part of the 19th Century and the heyday of wood type design.

Wood Rounded JNL is available in both regular and oblique versions.