25 Retro Fonts Perfect for Nostalgic Design

From retro logos to letterheads, designs with a nostalgic and vintage vibe are still very popular. If you’re wondering what is a good retro font for your project, we’ve got you covered with 25 amazing typefaces. 

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Serif fonts

Nothing screams retro as serif fonts do.

They are, after all, an old style of typography that made it even in the digital era. Serif fonts are characterized by extra strokes at the ends of the letters’ swashes and improve legibility (as well as looking fabulous!). Here are some of the best vintage-looking ones.

1. Roca (purchase only)

This elegant and timeless font comes in Latin and Cyrillic, as well as two different styles and six weights. You can experiment with different swashes and ligatures. Some specific letters have slanted legs, which also add to the retro-looking vibe. Roca makes a great font for logo design, letterheads, and even body text.

2. It’s a Kind of Magic (free)

What a suitable name for such a cute and playful font! This typeface is inspired by the 70s, the color explosions of the Flower Power movement, as well as the groovy designs that came with that time. 

It’s a Kind of Magic is a layer type font and a reinterpretation of the freehand typography made at that time. It is meant to be a display font but goes well for other personal and commercial projects too.

3. Ephemera Fascia (purchase only)

If you want an old-school retro font, with a serious throwback to 19th-century building facades and railway signage, we got you. Ephemera Fascia comes in five different styles in all uppercase lettering. It is great to use for headings, logotypes, badges, packaging, etc.

4. Stranger Font Collection (purchase only)

Not a font, not a font family, but a collection of 11 different eye-catching typefaces. Stranger Font Collection is definitely worth your money (licenses start at just $15), since you can experiment a lot with these American vintage fonts, inspired by old denim labels, jeans ads, the old West and apothecary elements.

5. Black Drama (free)

Black Drama is a tasteful and ornamental free retro font. It consists of two display serif fonts in two styles. Apart from that, it comes with alternate characters, ligatures and vintage style decorative frames and floral elements. It would make for a perfect beer logo font, or retro signage. 

6. Killarney (purchase only)

Killarney is a bold and heavy serif typeface inspired by vintage letterforms in old ads. It possesses clean lines and sharp edges, juxtaposed with elegant curves and ligatures. It also has a slanted version and is best used for logos, headlines, packaging and label designs.

7. Magic Retro

Magic Retro is a highly decorative retro aesthetic font with 25+ ligatures and 80+ alternates in lowercase and uppercase. If you’re looking for a cool sticker font, this one is a timeless choice.

Sans serif fonts

Sans serif fonts are cleaner and have no additional strokes at the endings of letters. But the lack of additional ornaments doesn’t mean these can’t make great old-school retro fonts. A lot of font styles from the 20th century are in fact sans serifs. So, here are some of the options for you to explore.

8. Bros Rover (free for personal use)

This sans serif font with luxurious ligatures will be a great addition to a logo, heading, packaging design, or a letterhead. The gentle swashes and wide circular movements give it a sense of grace and class, but it’s still compact and more condensed than many typefaces with long ligatures. It also has a noir-like appearance, for extra flair.

9. Market Deco (free)

This Art Deco-inspired vintage font is the epitome of “less is more”—it’s clean, simple and evergreen. If you want simplicity that is also reminiscent of a nostalgic, 18th-century aesthetic or are making an Art Deco logo, this is the font for you. 

10. Gin and Soda (free for personal use)

Yet another display typeface on this list, Gin and Soda looks like it should be embossed on the packaging of whiskey. To me, it’s reminiscent of a “Peaky Blinders” aesthetic and definitely gives a strong 1920s vibe.

11. Franks (free)

This free retro font by designer Philippe Moesch is slender and simple, based on circular shapes and a minimalistic style. Since its look is very light and adaptable, you can experiment with bolder colors and shapes in your design, without oversaturating the overall creation too much.

12. Geomancy (free for personal use)

If you want a bulky and bold typeface that will surely attract attention, Geomancy fits that criteria. Retro, as it seems, is a term hard to define. It can mean “looking like it’s from two centuries ago”, but it can also remind us of the 90s and the ads and packaging of those days. It could also make a cool travel font for a channel about city escapes.

13. Typo Layer (free)

This geometric font duo is a Bauhaus-inspired blocky type. It’s definitely not the most legible font and even looks a bit abstract, but if you’re looking for a minimal and simplistic vibe, it will definitely suit your needs. Thanks to the chunky lettering it could make for a great construction font.

Script fonts

Script fonts have a special flair in them, like calligraphy inscriptions and free-flowing cursive handwriting. They are usually used as secondary fonts, but with the right typeface and measure, you can utilize them for anything you want.

14. The Bayland (purchase only)

If you’re in the business of designing stickers, The Bayland is a lovely 60s font that will give a breath of cool and groovy to your design projects. It comes with different styles and ligatures, as well as otf and ttf format. Apart from sticker design, it’s suitable for t-shirt applications, logos, posters, headings, etc. 

15. Lazer 84 (free for personal use)

No, it’s not a poster for a David Hasselhoff film, it’s just the mockup for this brush font. If your type of old school retro font means 80s neon lights and graffiti-inspired typography, revamped into the “vaporwave” style in recent years, Lazer 84 will suit your design needs for sure.

16. Rechtman (free)

Recthman is a hand lettering, calligraphic typeface. It looks like it’s written in ink, and will make a great letterhead or packaging font.

17. Bobbers (free for personal use) 

‍Bobbers has a strong 1950s varsity vibe. So, it could make a great gym font, or a logo font for athletic apparel. Be sure to apply bigger font sizes, as small lettering might not be legible.

18. Rocket Script

Rocket Script is reminiscent of old futuristic TV shows, such as The Jacksons. Although it’s very eye-catching, this retro style font is still quite legible. 

19. Candy Inc. (free for personal use) 

Candy Inc. is a gorgeous brush font, perfect for coffee shop branding. If you’re using it on print materials, such as flyers, using a single-color background is better to ensure the texture of the font is noticeable.

Decorative retro fonts

Retro style fonts are pretty ornamental by themselves, but some possess small details and additional elements that make them very decorative. In the case of using such a typeface, you don’t need too much to impress.

20. Paralines (free)

‍Paralines is a font that successfully marries the Art Deco-style metal rods, a minimalist industrial style, and a futuristic vibe. As the name suggests, it’s made out of parallel lines with a natural curve and sharp edges.

21. West Side (free)

West Side is a cute, cutout collage-inspired font that can be used for poster design or children’s books. It is block-style and handcrafted, and will definitely offer your design projects a retro feel.

22. Ansley (free)

Ansley is a slab serif retro design font that has both uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and glyphs. It might not be suitable for logo design, but it makes a great heading and letterhead font.

23. Cannes (free for personal use)

Doesn’t Cannes remind us of glitz, glam and elegance? Like its namesake, this font is stylish and tasteful—perfect for branding, packaging and many other uses in graphic design.

24. Action Is (free)

Here’s another retro style font reminiscent of old cartoons and movie credits lettering. This completely free retro font comes with fun curly lettering and ornamental details. It could make for a great book cover font. With a skilled designer, you could even use it on website, so long as it fits your brand identity design.

25. Hippie Movement (free for personal use)

What would a list of cool retro fonts be, without at least one hippie-style font? This retro typeface looks like it stepped straight out of the 60s. It certainly isn’t for everyone, but if you want to add that retro flair to your business, Hippie Movement is the font for you. 

Conclusion

We hope this gives you some ideas on what is a good retro font for you to use. Whether you need help designing retro-inspired marketing materials, logos, and more, our professional design team can help.

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