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Retro fonts. 11 free vintage faces for signs, menus and labels.

Caprasimo, Shrikhand and Chicle lead 11 free retro fonts chosen by eye, each group tied to its own source: soft heavy serifs, art deco posters, wood type and painted scripts.

All 11 retro fonts

11 of 11 shown

  • Soft & heavy

    Caprasimo

    A heavy soft serif with fat round bowls and blunt wedge serifs; its description names the Cooper series of the early 20th century.

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    width 0.59 em · x-height 0.5 em · ink 78% · contrast 2 · 1 weight

  • Soft & heavy

    Shrikhand

    A heavy italic with ball ends and teardrop counters, drawn after the hand-painted shop lettering of Gujarat, as its description says.

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    width 0.62 em · x-height 0.53 em · ink 79% · contrast 2.8 · 1 weight

  • Soft & heavy

    Chicle

    Narrow, heavy letters with soft, rounded joins: a compact retro label face.

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    width 0.39 em · x-height 0.5 em · ink 78% · contrast 0.8 · 1 weight

  • Art deco

    Limelight

    High-contrast geometric letters with round bowls, the art deco sans its description names: theatre-marquee glamour.

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    width 0.61 em · x-height 0.53 em · ink 57% · contrast 4.2 · 1 weight

  • Art deco

    Righteous

    Heavy, rounded geometric letters with streamlined curves; its description starts from deco poster capitals by Robert Berény.

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    width 0.52 em · x-height 0.53 em · ink 63% · contrast 1 · 1 weight

  • Art deco

    Monoton

    Capitals drawn in parallel lines like a neon tube; its description names the 1931 inline type Prisma.

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    width 0.76 em · x-height 0.7 em · ink 36% · 1 weight

  • Art deco

    Poiret One

    Thin geometric letters with deco and constructivist touches, as its description says: light and elegant on a label.

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    width 0.46 em · x-height 0.45 em · ink 20% · contrast 1.1 · 1 weight

  • Wood type & western

    Rye

    Spurred, flared serifs of wood-type posters, as its description says: a saloon sign.

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    width 0.6 em · x-height 0.57 em · ink 55% · 1 weight

  • Wood type & western

    Ultra

    Fat slab serifs in the manner of Clarendon and Egyptian wood type, as its description says: heavy and warm on a poster.

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    width 0.73 em · x-height 0.54 em · ink 85% · contrast 2 · 1 weight

  • Painted scripts

    Pacifico

    A round, heavy brush script; its description traces it to 1950s American surf culture.

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    width 0.46 em · x-height 0.47 em · ink 87% · contrast 1.9 · 1 weight

  • Painted scripts

    Lobster

    A bold, condensed script with joined letters and ligatures such as ff, like painted sign lettering: a diner sign or a label.

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    width 0.44 em · x-height 0.56 em · ink 62% · contrast 2.7 · 1 weight

Retro letters borrow from old signs, posters and labels; each group names its own source, so a soft heavy serif, a deco poster, wood type and a painted script are not all called one decade. Retro is our label for these letters; the numbers on each card are measured.

Soft serif, deco, wood type or script: which retro font fits

For a menu or a shop sign that should feel warm and old, start with Caprasimo, a heavy soft serif with ink on 78% of the letter box. Limelight has the highest stroke contrast here, 4.2, for marquee glamour on a poster, and Poiret One is the lightest, with ink on 20% of the letter box, for a fine label. Ultra sets fat slab serifs at 85% ink for a wood-type headline, while Pacifico, the darkest pick at 87%, and Lobster are the scripts for a diner sign or a label. Every pick here comes in one weight, so pair a heavy face with a lighter one rather than looking for a bold.

Soft & heavy

3 fonts: Caprasimo, Shrikhand, and Chicle

Fat, rounded letters with soft serifs or ball ends: the lab’s retro style, drawn after early 20th-century soft serifs and hand-painted shop signs.

For a café menu header, a jar label or a shop sign that should look generous.

Shrikhand is the heaviest of the 3, with ink on 79% of the letter box, and Chicle the narrowest at 0.39 em a letter.

Art deco

4 fonts: Limelight, Righteous, Monoton, and Poiret One

Geometric letters with high contrast, inline strokes or streamlined curves: the lab’s art deco style and the poster and metal types of the 1920s and 1930s their descriptions name.

For a cocktail list, a cinema-style poster or a hotel name.

Righteous is the heaviest of the 4, with ink on 63% of the letter box, and Poiret One the narrowest at 0.46 em a letter.

Wood type & western

2 fonts: Rye and Ultra

Slab and spurred serifs of the wood type that printed 19th-century posters: the lab’s western style.

For a western poster, a barbecue menu or a bold flyer headline.

Ultra is the heaviest of the 2, with ink on 85% of the letter box, and Rye the narrowest at 0.6 em a letter.

Painted scripts

2 fonts: Pacifico and Lobster

Heavy brush scripts that join like sign-painter and label lettering.

For a diner sign, a surf shop or a label that should look painted.

Pacifico is the heaviest of the 2, with ink on 87% of the letter box, and Lobster the narrowest at 0.44 em a letter.

How we choose retro fonts and what the numbers measure

Can I put these retro fonts on a menu, a label or a shop sign?

Licence answers for the 11 retro fonts, use by use
Free fontLicencePrintSellingLogo
CaprasimoOFL 1.1✓✓✓
ShrikhandOFL 1.1✓✓✓
ChicleOFL 1.1✓✓✓
LimelightOFL 1.1✓✓✓
RighteousOFL 1.1✓✓✓
MonotonOFL 1.1✓✓✓
Poiret OneOFL 1.1✓✓✓
RyeOFL 1.1✓✓✓
UltraApache 2.0✓✓✓
PacificoOFL 1.1✓✓✓
LobsterOFL 1.1✓✓✓
  • Print (menus, posters and signs): yes for 10 of them under OFL 1.1, Condition 5.
  • Print (menus, posters and signs): yes for Ultra under Apache 2.0, Section 2.
  • Selling (labels, shirts and goods sold): yes for 10 of them under OFL 1.1, Condition 5; the font file itself may not be sold on its own (Condition 1).
  • Selling (labels, shirts and goods sold): yes for Ultra under Apache 2.0, Section 2.
  • Logo (a diner, shop or band name): yes for 10 of them under OFL 1.1, Condition 5; OFL FAQ: logos are allowed.
  • Logo (a diner, shop or band name): yes for Ultra under Apache 2.0, Section 2; the licence grants no rights to the licensor’s own trademarks (Section 6).
  • Read the OFL 1.1 text
  • Read the Apache 2.0 text

Questions about retro fonts

Which retro font should I start with?

Caprasimo (soft & heavy), Limelight (art deco), Rye (wood type & western), and Pacifico (painted scripts) open the groups. Caprasimo heads the page, with letters 0.59 em wide on average, an x-height of 0.5 em and ink on 78% of the letter box.

Are these retro fonts free for a menu, a label and a logo?

Yes: 10 of them are under the SIL Open Font License 1.1 and Ultra is under the Apache License 2.0; both licences allow menus, posters and signs, labels, shirts and goods sold, and a diner, shop or band name.

Which decade are these retro fonts from?

Not one. Each group follows what its fonts’ descriptions name: Caprasimo the Cooper series of the early 20th century, the art deco faces the posters and metal types of the 1920s and 1930s, Monoton the 1931 inline type Prisma, Rye and Ultra wood type posters and the Clarendon and Egyptian slab styles, and Pacifico 1950s American surf culture.

Which of these retro fonts is the heaviest?

Pacifico, with ink on 87% of the letter box, then Ultra at 85%; Poiret One is the lightest of the 11 retro fonts, at 20%.

How were these retro fonts chosen?

The lab’s retro (soft, heavy, curvy) and art deco faces; wood type and painted scripts are added by hand. 14 fonts of the catalogue pass that rule. We set “Fresh coffee · open late” in each of them, and in other candidates, on contact sheets, then chose 11 different families by eye: 5 from the pool and 6 added by hand, with 29 candidates left out for a stated reason.

Beyond retro fonts: other moods and jobs