retro
adjective
ret·?ro ?re-(?)tr?
: relating to, reviving, back in time, or being the styles and especially the fashions of the past : fashionably nostalgic or old-fashioned
Retro style is imitative or consciously derivative of lifestyles, trends, or art forms from history, including in music, modes, fashions, or attitudes. In popular culture, the “nostalgia cycle” is typically for the two decades that begin 20–30 years ago.
Definition
The term retro has been in use since 1970s to describe new artifacts that self-consciously refer to particular modes of the past.
Many people use the term to categorize styles that have been created in the past.Retro style refers to new things that display characteristics of the past that seeks to recapitulate, focusing on the products, fashions, and artistic styles or bygone eras. The English word retro comes from the Latin prefix retro, meaning back in time.
font
In earlier forms of metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a “sort”) for each glyph (letter and type shapes). A typeface consists of various fonts that share an overall design.
In the 21st century, with the advent of desktop publishing computerised fonts, the terms “font” and “typeface” are often used interchangeably, although the term “typeface” refers to the design of typographical lettering, whereas the term “font” refers to the specific style of a typeface, such as its size and weight.
In both traditional typesetting and computing, the word “font” refers to the delivery mechanism of the typeface. In traditional typesetting, the font would be made from metal or wood type glyphs: to compose a page may require multiple fonts or even multiple typefaces.
Surfing Retro Font Trends: Icons + Design
Some many font types have grown in popularity in recent years, one of which being the custom retro font.
So what is a retro font?
As the name suggests, retro fonts are a typographic style influenced by the 50s (or earlier) to 70s overarching design trends.
Retro font plays an essential role in today’s design. One of the main reasons is that the font can make designs have personality, and a sense of nostalgia. For designers, nostalgia has the power to appeal to their targeted fan based audience: take for example the success of Urban Outfitters, Fender guitars, and Levis jeans.
Nostalgia is able to create a sense of closer warmth of community and connection to past positive experiences and values. Hence, designers employ retro fonts as one of the means to create nostalgia in contemporary designs that can entice audiences.
But looking more cloesely at those designers of the past, and their lives together with unique approaches, at NGS we tend to get under the skin of the era and regenerate a living past.
In Memory of James Cooper
Further Reading: The Great Retro Sign Painter James Cooper
The late James Cooper of Bristol-based Dapper Signs got into the industry after undergoing a double lung transplant in 2007. ‘I thought, “Why am I doing odd jobs when I’ve got this second chance?”’ To create this sign for a local cafe he painted, dry-brushed and sanded the wall before finishing with a muddy spray.
https://wedesignforum.co.uk/bloggers/an-evening-with-dapper-signs
Glass Signage Restoration Replication.
Before & After
