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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
[By the way, did you know there is a brand new Smashing Wordpress Book? Push WordPress past its limits!]
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.
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Robert Bowen is an emerging author, celebrated podcaster and poet, and most recently the co-founder and imaginative co-contributor of the creative design and blogging duo at the Arbenting Freebies Blog and Dead Wings Designs.
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Loading ...- 48 Comments
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October 26th, 2008 3:08 pmReally Cool !
Retro all the way :)
- 3October 26th, 2008 3:33 pm
Retro rox!
- 4
- 5October 26th, 2008 5:26 pm
lovely post!
- 6October 26th, 2008 5:52 pm
Enjoyed this post quite a lot :)
- 7October 26th, 2008 6:52 pm
wow, that was a smashing post! some really nice examples there. Definitely inspiring!
- 8October 26th, 2008 8:25 pm
it’s “confezioni”, not “conferioni”
- 9October 26th, 2008 8:51 pm
great…
- 10October 26th, 2008 11:02 pm
haha! I actually have one of those Barringer & Brown’s Mustard tins at home.
Smashed! - 11October 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?
- 12October 27th, 2008 12:32 am
I love this, inspiring again, thanks!!
- 13October 27th, 2008 12:36 am
I love such type of Typography its the way of the beauty to communicate :)
- 14October 27th, 2008 1:44 am
great post! I love Retro Design!
- 15October 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..
- 16October 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 :)
- 17October 27th, 2008 3:20 am
Hmmm, no mention of House Industries http://www.houseind.com who were the first guys that sprang to mind when I saw retro typography.
- 18October 27th, 2008 3:56 am
Very nice typography post. Great inpiration source
- 19October 27th, 2008 5:27 am
Very inspiring. Great collection, Smashing!
- 20October 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..:)
- 21October 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!!
- 22October 27th, 2008 7:00 am
I 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
- 23October 27th, 2008 8:19 am
wow, that is very cool indeed!
wonderful collection of beautiful designs - 24October 27th, 2008 8:27 am
Lovely selection of old typefaces.
- 25October 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.
- 26October 27th, 2008 1:51 pm
i love these collection… very nice inspiration. i will use it for my next work ;)
- 27October 27th, 2008 1:52 pm
Nice collection, love it :) How is the “ampersand” not a plain E? Can’t see no t.
- 28October 27th, 2008 5:38 pm
wow! great collection! thanks!
- 29October 28th, 2008 6:13 am
Nice 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
- 30October 28th, 2008 8:27 am
Retro Polish labels – from comunist era you can found also at http://www.pantuniestal.com
- 31October 28th, 2008 12:12 pm
old days… some of these are just super duperlicious
- 32October 29th, 2008 5:28 am
Hello,
This is all great retrospective of typography, I appreciate a lot
Thanks - 33October 29th, 2008 8:33 am
Be retro to avoid outdating.
- 34October 29th, 2008 9:33 am
Retro saga is never-ending.
- 35October 29th, 2008 12:15 pm
great collection. thanks!
- 36October 30th, 2008 1:37 am
Really inspiring!
PS: I quote Gabriel, it “Tenucci Confezioni”, not “Tenucci Conferioni”
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- 38October 30th, 2008 1:29 pm
Hmm, your comment preview is not so accurate because it truncates any anchor text to “Link”. Should remedy that.
- 39November 1st, 2008 3:17 pm
Awesome! Typography rocks my world!!
- 40November 6th, 2008 2:16 am
Great pictures…
- 41November 21st, 2008 8:20 am
It 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/
- 42November 22nd, 2008 4:47 pm
@Jane (#43): the link was updated, thank you and sorry for inconvenience.
- 43December 1st, 2008 10:37 am
Beautiful resource! Thanks!
- 44February 2nd, 2009 6:58 am
a good dose of inspiration !
- 45February 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 http://resisttoday.com/store/bags/105
Iron wallet: vintage typography remix wallet http://resisttoday.com/store/bags/103 - 46February 20th, 2009 11:33 am
I really like the “Last Clicks.” Really beautiful showcase, thank you for sharing.
- 47April 9th, 2009 10:27 am
i always love trying to create stuff like this. or throw elements of retro into my designs.
- 48June 2nd, 2009 4:35 am
Great collection, thanks for sharing
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Nice post. I simply love retro! I really like the “Polaroid”. It seems timeless… Love it! :-)