The Vanderfont Type Collection contains fonts by illustrator turned type designer Joe VanDerBos.

With allusions to mid-20th century advertising art and retro-kitsch, Joe’s fonts might be mistaken for revivals. While that’s a high compliment, it’s a misplaced one as well. All of the Collection’s faces are originals. Retrofit and Beachbuoy are modern products filtered through a life spent scanning old magazines and shooting backward glances at faded billboards. With the past slipping away so quickly, timelessness is a virtue Joe holds highest as a type designer. He says: “By making faces today that look like something from yesterday, I feel I’m making something that will outlast trends. I try to imagine what Retrofit would have looked like in a magazine ad from 1953.

That’s my inspiration. Create faces that will intrigue a reader 50 years from now.”