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Vintage and Retro Typography Showcase

By Robert Bowen, October 26th, 2008 in Inspiration | 94 Comments | Forum

By Robert Bowen

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.

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Published in Inspiration, October 26th, 2008
Tags: calligraphy, handwriting, inspiration, lettering, retro, typography, vintage

1.

Kenneth Brøgger (October 26th, 2008, 3:07 pm)

Nice post. I simply love retro! I really like the “Polaroid”. It seems timeless… Love it! :-)
2.

Paul (October 26th, 2008, 3:08 pm)

Really Cool !

Retro all the way :)
3.

Alexandre Giesbrecht (October 26th, 2008, 3:33 pm)

Retro rox!
4.

adam foster (October 26th, 2008, 3:34 pm)

The old ones are the best =] Interesting post.

Adam | Link [codefor.com]
5.

Fernanda Prevedello (October 26th, 2008, 5:26 pm)

lovely post!
6.

Ole Martin Kristiansen (October 26th, 2008, 5:52 pm)

Enjoyed this post quite a lot :)
7.

Rodrigo (October 26th, 2008, 6:52 pm)

wow, that was a smashing post! some really nice examples there. Definitely inspiring!
8.

Gabriel (October 26th, 2008, 8:25 pm)

it’s “confezioni”, not “conferioni”
9.

an.gg.un (October 26th, 2008, 8:51 pm)

great…
10.

Ruan (October 26th, 2008, 11:02 pm)

haha! I actually have one of those Barringer & Brown’s Mustard tins at home.
Smashed!
11.

Roland (October 27th, 2008, 12:03 am)

Holy 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?
12.

Tom (October 27th, 2008, 12:32 am)

I love this, inspiring again, thanks!!
13.

Boris Noll (October 27th, 2008, 12:36 am)

I love such type of Typography its the way of the beauty to communicate :)
14.

manzog (October 27th, 2008, 1:44 am)

great post! I love Retro Design!
15.

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..
16.

Rob (October 27th, 2008, 2:21 am)

I do have a rather huge soft spot for typography, but retro typography pushes all the right buttons for me…. nice post :)
17.

luxbrand (October 27th, 2008, 3:20 am)

Hmmm, no mention of House Industries Link [www.houseind.com] who were the first guys that sprang to mind when I saw retro typography.
18.

Paul (October 27th, 2008, 3:56 am)

Very nice typography post. Great inpiration source
19.

Jason Beaird (October 27th, 2008, 5:27 am)

Very inspiring. Great collection, Smashing!
20.

Dee (October 27th, 2008, 5:38 am)

This is an awesome site…I love Retro!! this is one of my favorite sites..Thanks so much to those that put this all together..:)
21.

IhateDesign (October 27th, 2008, 6:51 am)

i love the style of cadillac, its a classic, but the examples going in the same way, luv it cheers!!
22.

Mark Aplet (October 27th, 2008, 7:00 am)

I love this old style typography I really like The Pen Is Mightier Than The Sword - Link [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: Link [www.pixeljunkie.org]
23.

pica-ae (October 27th, 2008, 8:19 am)

wow, that is very cool indeed!
wonderful collection of beautiful designs
24.

Joseph (October 27th, 2008, 8:27 am)

Lovely selection of old typefaces.
25.

Kema (October 27th, 2008, 9:03 am)

You’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.
26.

mabigreen (October 27th, 2008, 1:51 pm)

i love these collection… very nice inspiration. i will use it for my next work ;)
27.

Joachim (October 27th, 2008, 1:52 pm)

Nice collection, love it :) How is the “ampersand” not a plain E? Can’t see no t.
28.

g0ma (October 27th, 2008, 5:38 pm)

wow! great collection! thanks!
29.

Will (October 28th, 2008, 6:13 am)

Nice stuff. I can also recommend the Universal Penman if you want to go retro properly…

Link [www.amazon.com]
30.

Pan Kierownik - Fajne Chłopaki (October 28th, 2008, 8:27 am)

Retro Polish labels - from comunist era you can found also at Link [www.pantuniestal.com]
31.

pointer (October 28th, 2008, 12:12 pm)

old days… some of these are just super duperlicious
32.

djichtus (October 29th, 2008, 5:28 am)

Hello,
This is all great retrospective of typography, I appreciate a lot
Thanks
33.

Toni (October 29th, 2008, 8:33 am)

Be retro to avoid outdating.
34.

Justafa (October 29th, 2008, 9:33 am)

Retro saga is never-ending.
35.

bangbouh stock (October 29th, 2008, 12:15 pm)

great collection. thanks!
36.

Marcello (October 30th, 2008, 1:37 am)

Really inspiring!

PS: I quote Gabriel, it “Tenucci Confezioni”, not “Tenucci Conferioni”
37.

Stephen Coles (October 30th, 2008, 1:28 pm)

Very well curated, men. Link [www.flickr.com]
38.

Stephen Coles (October 30th, 2008, 1:29 pm)

Hmm, your comment preview is not so accurate because it truncates any anchor text to “Link”. Should remedy that.
39.

Ruth (November 1st, 2008, 3:17 pm)

Awesome! Typography rocks my world!!
40.

Odair (November 6th, 2008, 2:16 am)

Great pictures…
41.

Jane (November 21st, 2008, 8:20 am)

It would be great if you could like to my kodak packaging on flickr rather than fffound. Many thanks. Link [www.flickr.com]
42.

Vitaly Friedman & Sven Lennartz (November 22nd, 2008, 4:47 pm)

@Jane (#43): the link was updated, thank you and sorry for inconvenience.
43.

Andrew (December 1st, 2008, 10:37 am)

Beautiful resource! Thanks!
44.

boudj (February 2nd, 2009, 6:58 am)

a good dose of inspiration !
45.

Red Labor (February 10th, 2009, 5:02 am)

We 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 Link [resisttoday.com]
Iron wallet: vintage typography remix wallet Link [resisttoday.com]
46.

Isaiah Q (February 20th, 2009, 11:33 am)

I really like the “Last Clicks.” Really beautiful showcase, thank you for sharing.
47.

tom@plasticprinters (April 9th, 2009, 10:27 am)

i always love trying to create stuff like this. or throw elements of retro into my designs.
48.

Grafiko (June 2nd, 2009, 4:35 am)

Great collection, thanks for sharing