Fonts are one of the most powerful weapons in a designer’s arsenal. They can change the way one perceives a design. Fonts can make or break a design instantly. Proper usage of fonts or typography sets the scene for your design and conveys a visual message before your client/visitors even start reading. The retro look has been around for a while and shows no signs of slowing down. In the first of a 5-part series I have rounded up 10 amazing, absolutely free retro fonts that will put the "quirky" back in your designs hinting at a postmodern past that was rich with big circles, psychedelic swirls, vinyl sofas, cute volkswagons, candy striped milkshake bars, big happy flowers, space invaders and whimsy jukeboxes. And that is not all. Each image also comes with some design tags that the font conjured up for me. These tags are a great inspiration source, they tell you what the fonts could work best with. Click on the images to go to the source of the font.

METRO RETRO
Design tags – circus, carnival, neon, poster, jazz, billboard, burlesque, theater, glitz, motel, signage.

Airstream
Design Tags – fashion, glamor, betty cooper, tart, popsicles, coiffer, stepford wives, polka dots, bakery, chic, cafe, slender

Fontleroy Brown
Design Tags – musicals, pleasantville, elegance, panache, honey, restaurant, marilyn monroe

Floraless
Design Tags – pranks, fun, humor, play, kids, casual, comics, speech, labels, milk can, flyers, hippy

Verve
Design Tags – black-tie, gilded, red-carpet, beauty, upper-crust, opera, diamonds, leather, moustache, pinstripe, magic, upholstered

Stripes Caps
Design Tags – patriot, university, woodgrain, scientist, map, numberplate, fancy, lines, sunburst, beetle, invitation, embossed

Rickles
Design Tags – groovy, funky, psychedelic, tea-parlor, tarot-cards, kaftans, craziness, daisies, spring, girl-brigade, shrieking-groupies, smilies

Return Of The Retrobats

Forty Second Street
Design Tags – headline, joe’s burgers, mafia, graffiti, pop, bubblegum, bangles, yellow, plastic

Dymaxion Script
Design Tags – rockets, tees, techno-funk, concentric, science-project, robots, blue, vans, beach, style, bell-bottoms