10 Free Vintage Fonts Perfect for Retro Design

Good designers transport their audience to another time and place through their understanding of the artistry of a particular time period. To truly capture the essence of an era, you have to take every detail into consideration. While most people grasp the need to use appropriate colors, fashion, graphics and architecture in their work, they often neglect one of the most important steps: selecting an appropriate font. To truly complement your retro design, we have gathered 10 fonts that hark back to the golden days. What was originally all the rage in the 1940s can be reinvented for the 21st century. 1. Matchbook – Fun and masculine, this font is suitable when working on advertisements for men’s products. From men’s apparel to cologne, Matchbook font takes us back to a time when men drank dirty martinis, smoked cigarettes and closed deals. 2. Hill House – Love this font. It’s based on the handwriting of architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928) who designed the Hill House in Glasgow, Scotland in 1902. If ever you find yourself visiting Glasgow, you are sure to see Hill House font on most local shop signs. 3. Seaside Resort – Close your eyes and be whisked away to a bungalow overlooking the sea before you. This font is perfect when used in a vintage design for retro inspired products or as a typeface on brochures for a theatrical period piece. 4. Fontleroy Brown – Perfect for that romantic wedding invitation. Its curves make it sophisticated but not uptight. This font is also great to use on clothing labels for a line of vintage inspired dresses. 5. Riesling – Clean lines mixed with over exaggerated curves makes this retro inspired font popular for wine labels and other high end gourmet products. Simply put, Riesling is subtle, sexy and elegant. 6. Dymaxion – Dymaxion typeface is reminiscent of a fast moving car because all the letters seem to merge into each other. Try using this font in a menu for a retro café with a vintage Corvette on the cover. 7. Upper East Side – Chic refinement and glamour. The wide and slender lines of this font are what make it so attractive. Terrific for business cards and promotional materials for a trendy bar or products that remind us of the days when men wore 3-piece suits and hats. 8. Bazar, Medium – Reminiscent of a font that might have been used on the wrapper of a good Cuban cigar. This font could be utilized for postcards promoting a theme night at a club. 9. Rocket Script – Doesn’t this font take you back to the days of Drive-in theaters?! Get your poodle skirts and saddle shoes on for this one. Fantastic choice for an advertisement depicting 1950s era vintage collectibles. Also a nice choice for a 50s themed party. Use the Rocket Script font for invitations and party favors. 10. Anastasia – The Ss are like ripples in a calm ocean, cool and sophisticated. The Anastasia font works well for designing logos to be used on promotional materials like shirts or custom printed business letterhead. These 10 free vintage font styles are just a fraction of the free retro font types on the internet today. Each has a distinct personality and harks back to a time when “bigger” was certainly better. We hope this free font selection inspires great ideas! Be in touch and let us know how it goes www.4OVER4.COM.