If you want to add authenticity to your vintage designs, check out these 1940s fonts that are perfect for giving your work that classic look. From old-school scripts to bold industrial styles, there’s something here for everyone. So take a step back in time and start creating with these vintage fonts today!
Fonts from the ’40s can be used for various design projects, including retro posters, vintage logos, book covers, movie posters, and more. Look no further than this collection if you’re working on a project that needs a 1940s-inspired font. These fonts are perfect for giving your designs an authentic, classic feel.
When using 1940s fonts, it’s important to keep a few things in mind. Here are some tips for using them in your designs:
- 1940s fonts usually have a high degree of readability, so they’re great for large blocks of text and headlines alike. However, some of them have details that can get lost in smaller sizes. So keep that in mind when choosing your font size.
- 1940s fonts can be tricky to pair with other fonts, so experiment until you find the right combination.
- Try using these typefaces in a design with other vintage elements, like distressed textures and vintage photos, to complete the look.
- Try using these fonts in unexpected ways for a more modern take on 1940s design. Pair them with clean, minimalist layouts for a stark contrast to really make your work stand out.
- 1940s fonts can be used for both digital and print designs. So have fun and experiment to see what works best for your project!
UNLIMITED DOWNLOADS: 50 Million+ Fonts & Design Assets
The Best 1940s Fonts
Now that you know a little more about ’40s fonts, it’s time to start using them in your designs. But, with so many options out there, it can be tough to know where to start.
To help you out, we’ve put together a collection of the best 1940s fonts available online. So whether you’re looking for a classic script, an art deco display font, or something more industrial, you’re sure to find the perfect font for your project here.
If you love fonts, you’ll definitely want to check out Envato Elements. With an Elements subscription, you’ll get unlimited downloads of 39,000+ fonts, plus millions of other resources like WordPress themes, stock photos, graphics, sound effects, and more. It’s the best value you’ll find in the design industry.
Kelluhan
Consider this decorative typeface if you’re working on a vintage label design, a 1940s-inspired logo, a magazine layout, or a vintage branding project. Kelluhan is clean and elegant, with smooth curves and beautiful ligatures. It’s a versatile font that works well in any size.
The zip file includes uppercase and lowercase characters, numbers, punctuation, ligatures, alternate characters, and multilingual support.
Lucky Lady
Handpainted script fonts were popular in the 1940s, especially on signs and advertising. Lucky Lady is inspired by the script you’d see on the side of airplanes in the US Air Force from WWII. This font screams “All American” and is a solid choice for your vintage-style projects.
The download includes uppercase characters, lowercase characters, numbers, punctuation, alternate characters, ligatures, swashes, and multilingual characters.
Rinjani Sans
Rinjani Sans is surprisingly modern-looking, and that’s because it’s inspired by the futuristic, art-deco Streamline typography of the ’30s and ’40s. It’s cool, contemporary, and retro, all wrapped up in one. An excellent choice for headlines, website headers, and logo designs.
The download includes all caps letters in three weights, numbers, punctuation, stylistic alternates, ligatures, and multilingual support.
Breamcatcher
This all-caps art deco typeface is classic, romantic, and minimalist. It’s a great choice for projects that call for a font with understated, modern elegance. Use it for vintage-inspired movie posters, event flyers, party invitations, wedding cards, and book covers.
The zip file includes four styles — Regular and Bold with Italics of each —with uppercase letters, numbers, punctuation, and multilingual support.
Mildistance
Here’s a script font that will instantly give you nostalgic feelings! Mildistance has the look and feel of old 1940s hand-lettered calligraphy. It’s perfect for your designs that call for a formal yet vintage typeface, such as party invitations, greeting cards, vintage labels, book covers, and old-style advertisem*nts.
The zip includes two versions — Regular and Outline, with uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, punctuation, alternates, ligatures, swashes, and multilingual support.
Stooges Races
This rough, sketch-style display font was inspired by early-era hand-drawn motorcycle posters. It’s an excellent choice for your graphic designs related to vintage motorcycles, automobiles, classic machines, retro games, Detroit, and anything industrial.
The download comes with all caps letters and numbers plus a bonus pack of vector old-school motorcycle silhouettes.
Monocle Typeface
Monocle is a thick headline font with some fancy, vintage-inspired details. It’s perfect for bold posters and flyers, headlines, website headers, book covers, quotes, and packaging — anywhere you want to make a statement with a bit of nostalgia, too.
The download comes with two styles — Regular and Outline, with uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and punctuation.
Fragtude
Fragtude is a perfectly paired font duo that consists of a bold, vintage script and an old-school serif that goes with it. Inspired by 1940s signage and lettering, this pair of fonts will bring back the good ol’ days when you use it for anything from packaging to logos and labels.
The font download includes two fonts with uppercase and lowercase letters (serif is all caps), numbers, punctuation, stylistic alternates, multilingual support, and bonus ornaments & ribbons.
Beauford Font
If you’re looking for a vintage-inspired script with a casual vibe — you’ve found it! Beauford Font has that classic 1940s hand-lettering look with a bit of fanciness with extra swashes and curls that were so popular in the good ol’ days. Use this for label and logo designs, signage, and greeting cards.
The download comes with upper and lowercase letters, numbers, punctuation, ligatures, alternates, swashes, and web fonts.
Palm Canyon Drive
When your design calls for a class mid-century modern monoline script, look no further than Palm Canyon Drive. Inspired by California in the ’40s and ’50s, this font is classy yet unpretentious. It would look great on a movie poster, a book cover, as home decor, a wedding invitation, a logo — truly anywhere you want something with that cool MCM vibe.
The zip file includes upper and lowercase letters, numbers, punctuation, alternates, catchwords, and multilingual support.
Addressotype
Addressotype is a vintage industrial sans-serif font that was inspired by advertising from the 1940s. This tall, geometric, retro font is an excellent choice for projects that involve themes like military, industry, postal service, work ethic, and manufacturing.
The download includes uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, punctuation, multilingual support, and web fonts.
URW Akropolis
This display font was based on a similar vintage font created in 1940 but digitally remastered to be more practical today. To preserve the fine details in this beautiful typeface, use this one for large headlines over 48 points in size.
The download includes uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, punctuation, and multilingual support.
Marianas
Marianas is a cross between a 1940s mechanical-style font and a smooth 1920s artistic font. The result is a cool industrial-looking, art deco sans-serif that’s great for editorial layouts, social media graphics, video game covers, and more.
The download comes with uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, punctuation, and multilingual support.
Pitcher
Pitcher is a bold, vibrant, retro sporty script font with tons of Americana vibes. It couldn’t be more perfect for sports team logos, beer and bar logos, banners, posters, flyers, t-shirt designs, and packaging.
The download includes uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, punctuation, contextual alternates, ligatures, swashes, multilingual support, and ornaments.
Strikeout
And if the previous one didn’t “strike” your fancy… Strikeout is another baseball-inspired script font from the 1940s and ’50s. This beautiful, bold script has a casual, hand-lettered look ideal for logos, packaging, posters, social media, and quotes.
The font download comes with uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, punctuation, and multilingual characters.
Sho Card Gothic 1948
Based on the pen and brush lettering books of the late 1940s, Sho Card Gothic 1948 is a mid-century modern typeface perfect for headline copy, website headers, vintage poster designs, packaging, logos, and magazine covers.
The download includes uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, punctuation, and multilingual support.
LHF Handyman
Perfect for creating vintage, old-fashioned logos designed like the ones you’d see in the 1940s, LHF Handyman is a fresh take on traditional Gothic sign lettering. It comes with a regular version and a lined convex version. Use this typeface to make classic-style logos, signs, and posters.
The download includes two fonts, with all caps letters, numbers, punctuation, and multilingual support.
Ticket Booth
The glamorous art deco style was popular in the 1940s, and here’s another font inspired by that movement, with square letter shapes and rounded corners. Ticket Booth would be good for headlines, logos, labels, social media graphics, and more. Use it anywhere you need to inject some of that retro style.
The download includes two fonts — Regular and Oblique, with uppercase letters, numbers, punctuation, and multilingual support.
Unicorn
When you need to create a bold headline in a very small area, turn to a condensed font, like Unicorn. This super condensed display font is perfect for website headers, editorial layouts, flyers, posters, and social media graphics. It was inspired by a font seen on a furniture ad in 1943!
The font download includes two styles — Regular and Italic, with uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, punctuation, and multilingual support.
Grayson
Grayson is another art deco typeface inspired by vintage store signage from London, New York City, and other major cities in the 1940s. The font is clean, legible, memorable, and perfect for branding projects, logos, advertising, and signage. How will you use it?
The zip file includes uppercase characters, lowercase characters, numbers, and punctuation.
Free 1940s Fonts
We always recommend using premium fonts for your commercial projects, but our list wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t include some of these free 1940s fonts, too! Just remember to always check the license before you use them, as many free fonts are only free for personal use.
Atomic Age
Inspired by ’40s and ’50s-era scripts, Atomic Age is reminiscent of the connected script nameplates you’d see on American cars. This one looks good in any size.
Monsieur La Doulaise
Monsieur La Doulaise is a digital version of a hand-lettered Bluemlein script from the 1930s. These gorgeous scripts became virtually extinct with the advent of digital typography, but now they’ve been brought back to life!
Crescendo
An elegant and stylish art deco font that’s perfect for making wedding invitations, flyers, wall art, and more. This one is giving serious Great Gatsby vibes.
Advertising Script
Reminiscent of the cool, casual, mid-century script from the 1940s and ’50s, Advertising Script comes in a bold version and a thin, monoline version.
Mr. Dafoe
Mr. Dafoe is an elegant brush script inspired by vintage calligraphy. Use it for greeting cards, party invitations, and social media posts.
Start Using These 1940s Fonts Today!
If you want to add authenticity to your vintage designs, choose a font from this list of the best 1940s fonts. With various styles to choose from, there’s something for everyone here. And don’t forget, 1940s fonts can also be used to add a touch of timeless class to modern designs! So experiment and see what works best for your project.
Enjoyed this post? Pin it to Pinterest and follow us to see more like it!
