Expert: LizaL - 6/27/2005

Question
Hi LizaL,

Thank you for your time you took to answer my question about those spheres. Your tips worked perfectly!

I'm probably a bit late to hop on the latest trends and stuff but I'm quite fond of retro style websites. You know websites using script-fonts and stuff like that. A little example of what I mean, you can find at this image: http://www.suzuki.be/img/img_home_nl.jpg

Do you have any links to sites which have a similar look or also look a bit retro for me to get a bit of inspiration ?

Best regards and thanks again !

Kenneth De Buck

Answer
Hi again Kenneth!

This is so ironic -- I just this weekend finished a freelance job involving retro graphics. I love that look! And I don't think you're late hopping on the "latest trends,: because I don't think this type of look will ever go out of style.

I was actually doing several companion-piece print jobs, so I was looking at and thinking more about fonts, but I did run across some cool retro sites.

About the fonts, though -- I'll throw this out real quick -- the best place I've found for fonts (all types of fonts) is www.myfonts.com. Their search engine is great; just type in "retro" and you'll get some of the neatest-looking fonts.
http://www.myfonts.com/

The one shown in your example kind of looks like one I have called Draft Beer, and I got it from MyFonts.com. If this link doesn't work, go to MyFonts.com and type "draft beer" in the search engine:
http://www.myfonts.com/search?search%5Btext%5D=draft+beer

Now prepare yourself for a bunch of links -- not all look exactly like your sample, but they are all retro-looking, and will no doubt tweak your imagination!


For retro-looking Web sites:
1. The Altoids site is kinda retro:
http://www.altoids.com/

2. One I've always liked is Second Story; it's *kinda* retro; it has certain retro aspects, anyway. It's a nice Web site, though, regardless:
http://www.secondstory.com/

3. Girls Who Wear Glasses -- sells vintage fonts and graphics; the site's a little confusing, though:
http://www.girlswhowearglasses.com/retro.html

4. This is just plain bizarre -- supposed to be the late 60s or early 70s maybe?
http://www.kakupacal.com/

5. Kinda neat:
http://www.rotodesign.net/index.html

6. Here's an article on creating retro-look Web sites:
http://www.sitepoint.com/article/get-look-design-templates/4

7. It's not what you're looking for, but it's cool!
http://www.happykreg.com/

8. This has some good retro parts:
http://www.buyarock.com/

9. Busy, and retro:
http://www.naildistribution.com/

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For retro clip art and fonts:
1. Havana Street has a lot of neat art, both stock scenes and individual pieces:
http://www.havanastreet.com/

2. Tack-o-Rama has a bunch of stuff like fonts, graphics, etc.:
http://www.tack-o-rama.com/

3. Another good retro font site is fontdiner.com -- and their Web site is pretty cool, too:
http://www.fontdiner.com/

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Well, I hope this gives you something to think about, LOL! Inspiration's all over the Web, it seems; just a matter of figuring out what works best for you.

Let me know what you come up with -- I'd like to see it.

Lisa