Vintage and Retro Typography Showcase
Typography talks the talk, to go along with the overall work’s walk, speaking volumes for the artist. This important design element surrounds people daily as they move through their routines, rarely taking notice. It’s literally everywhere. In advertising, product packaging, printed publications, graphic designs, and more. Accentuating and centralizing the overall theme of the design that it inhabits, communicating the message to the masses through creative inclusions in the work.
For decades this design tool has given rise to some truly elegant type that still have impressions echoing through design today. Revisiting these themes is a cyclical commonplace that the design community embraces with stunning results. In this article, we go retro, finding beautiful examples of vintage typography and the modern work they’ve inspired. Looking back, it’s easy to see why some of this type has stood the test of time and is still lingering in the design community today.
You may want to take a look at the following related posts:
- Celebration of Vintage and Retro Design
- Retro and Vintage in Modern Web Design
- 30 Beautiful Vintage and Retro Photoshop Tutorials
- Sexy, Bold and Experimental Typography
- Breathtaking Typographic Posters
Let the Good Types Roll
The Pen Is Mightier Than The Sword
2100 Victorian Monograms (via)
Last Click
Gaslight Menus
Gaslight is an American Brasserie in Boston’s South End district. The menus incorporate the feel of a traditional brasserie with an American twist. Designed at Tank Design by Rebecca Alden.
Kenneth Brøgger
October 26th, 2008 3:07 pmNice post. I simply love retro! I really like the “Polaroid”. It seems timeless… Love it! :-)
Paul
October 26th, 2008 3:08 pmReally Cool !
Retro all the way :)
Alexandre Giesbrecht
October 26th, 2008 3:33 pmRetro rox!
adam foster
October 26th, 2008 3:34 pmThe old ones are the best =] Interesting post.
Adam | codefor
Fernanda Prevedello
October 26th, 2008 5:26 pmlovely post!
Ole Martin Kristiansen
October 26th, 2008 5:52 pmEnjoyed this post quite a lot :)
Rodrigo
October 26th, 2008 6:52 pmwow, that was a smashing post! some really nice examples there. Definitely inspiring!
Gabriel
October 26th, 2008 8:25 pmit’s “confezioni”, not “conferioni”
an.gg.un
October 26th, 2008 8:51 pmgreat…
Ruan
October 26th, 2008 11:02 pmhaha! I actually have one of those Barringer & Brown’s Mustard tins at home.
Smashed!
Roland
October 27th, 2008 12:03 amHoly crap, someone spent some time google-ing images, collecting the decent ones and throwing them into a single post. What’s the point though? Why isn’t there a smaller selection with actual information about the fonts used (modern equivalents, alternatives, etc.) and why the choice of fonts has stood the test of time, as the post’s opening paragraphs warm us up to those kinds of fonts?
gmarez
March 8th, 2011 9:14 pmThey probably didn’t include the fonts because chances are that most of the fonts in retro packaging are either custom, a variation of Grotesque, or some otherwise some other font that is no longer published.
Tom
October 27th, 2008 12:32 amI love this, inspiring again, thanks!!
Boris Noll
October 27th, 2008 12:36 amI love such type of Typography its the way of the beauty to communicate :)
manzog
October 27th, 2008 1:44 amgreat post! I love Retro Design!
Gareth
October 27th, 2008 2:13 am@ Roland:
Its an Inspiration post, its supposed to get your senses tingling and not to tell you the facts about each and every one. Its not an article, just a showcase of work..
Rob
October 27th, 2008 2:21 amI do have a rather huge soft spot for typography, but retro typography pushes all the right buttons for me…. nice post :)
luxbrand
October 27th, 2008 3:20 amHmmm, no mention of House Industries http://www.houseind.com who were the first guys that sprang to mind when I saw retro typography.
Paul
October 27th, 2008 3:56 amVery nice typography post. Great inpiration source
Jason Beaird
October 27th, 2008 5:27 amVery inspiring. Great collection, Smashing!
Dee
October 27th, 2008 5:38 amThis is an awesome site…I love Retro!! this is one of my favorite sites..Thanks so much to those that put this all together..:)
IhateDesign
October 27th, 2008 6:51 ami love the style of cadillac, its a classic, but the examples going in the same way, luv it cheers!!
Mark Aplet
October 27th, 2008 7:00 amI love this old style typography I really like The Pen Is Mightier Than The Sword – http://www.seblester.co.uk/ because the flourishes are so perfectly executed. If your into this retro typography search around for tin typography or tin can type. There is a lot of really neat stuff on old cans. like in this picture: http://www.pixeljunkie.org/index.cfm?BlogID=273
pica-ae
October 27th, 2008 8:19 amwow, that is very cool indeed!
wonderful collection of beautiful designs
Joseph
October 27th, 2008 8:27 amLovely selection of old typefaces.
Kema
October 27th, 2008 9:03 amYou’ve got to be kidding me. Just random photos for ‘inspiration?’ How about a detailing of the fonts used, or the techniques for kerning or otherwise which led to the creation of these pieces?
This is worthless.
mabigreen
October 27th, 2008 1:51 pmi love these collection… very nice inspiration. i will use it for my next work ;)
Joachim
October 27th, 2008 1:52 pmNice collection, love it :) How is the “ampersand” not a plain E? Can’t see no t.
g0ma
October 27th, 2008 5:38 pmwow! great collection! thanks!
Will
October 28th, 2008 6:13 amNice stuff. I can also recommend the Universal Penman if you want to go retro properly…
http://www.amazon.com/Universal-Penman-Picture-Archives/dp/0486206165
Pan Kierownik - Fajne Chłopaki
October 28th, 2008 8:27 amRetro Polish labels – from comunist era you can found also at http://www.pantuniestal.com
pointer
October 28th, 2008 12:12 pmold days… some of these are just super duperlicious
djichtus
October 29th, 2008 5:28 amHello,
This is all great retrospective of typography, I appreciate a lot
Thanks
Toni
October 29th, 2008 8:33 amBe retro to avoid outdating.
Justafa
October 29th, 2008 9:33 amRetro saga is never-ending.
bangbouh stock
October 29th, 2008 12:15 pmgreat collection. thanks!
Marcello
October 30th, 2008 1:37 amReally inspiring!
PS: I quote Gabriel, it “Tenucci Confezioni”, not “Tenucci Conferioni”
Stephen Coles
October 30th, 2008 1:28 pmVery well curated, men. Here’s my favorite recent find.
Stephen Coles
October 30th, 2008 1:29 pmHmm, your comment preview is not so accurate because it truncates any anchor text to “Link”. Should remedy that.
Ruth
November 1st, 2008 3:17 pmAwesome! Typography rocks my world!!
Odair
November 6th, 2008 2:16 amGreat pictures…
Jane
November 21st, 2008 8:20 amIt would be great if you could like to my kodak packaging on flickr rather than fffound. Many thanks. http://www.flickr.com/photos/maraid/179274962/
Vitaly Friedman & Sven Lennartz
November 22nd, 2008 4:47 pm@Jane (#43): the link was updated, thank you and sorry for inconvenience.
Andrew
December 1st, 2008 10:37 amBeautiful resource! Thanks!
boudj
February 2nd, 2009 6:58 ama good dose of inspiration !
Red Labor
February 10th, 2009 5:02 amWe used to have some cool screen printed wallets with vintage type from old theatre posters ; they’re sold out now but they look cool!
Royal wallet: vintage theatre typography wallet http://resisttoday.com/store/bags/105
Iron wallet: vintage typography remix wallet http://resisttoday.com/store/bags/103
Isaiah Q
February 20th, 2009 11:33 amI really like the “Last Clicks.” Really beautiful showcase, thank you for sharing.
tom@plasticprinters
April 9th, 2009 10:27 ami always love trying to create stuff like this. or throw elements of retro into my designs.
Grafiko
June 2nd, 2009 4:35 amGreat collection, thanks for sharing
DelightfulGoodness
April 1st, 2010 5:22 pmA beautiful collection. I love the texture of a lot of these, they look like the would be great to touch.
reef
June 22nd, 2010 4:07 amlike it, feels like go to the past… “retrographic”.
Irena
November 12th, 2010 12:12 pmAMAZING! Thanks for posting!
Paul Clift
December 16th, 2010 4:20 pmThe coke one is awesome. How strong a brand is that, that you can recognise it from the letter L, which is not actually in the Coke logo. Superb.
BLU:72 Creative
April 7th, 2011 6:06 amSome ‘very’ cool designs here, great to see!!
Slim
April 26th, 2011 1:16 pmI love retro design that is original and creative…
Tonuke
May 7th, 2011 6:05 amBeautiful example of vintage typography used in a contemporary context
http://www.betleywhitehorne.com/bwlog/2011/05/live-the-language/