An Art Deco sign font for shop fronts, labels and packaging.
Fanlight is a condensed inline display font. A fanlight is the half-round window above an old shop door, often painted with the name of the shop, and the font comes from that sign-painting tradition: tall, narrow letters with a fine line of light running through them. One word set in Fanlight reads from across the street. Set it on signs, shop fronts, labels and packaging.
Fanlight comes from the painted and gilded lettering on old shop doors and fanlight windows: tall, narrow capitals that fit a long name into a short sign. One detail runs through every heavy stroke, a fine line of light, and the rest of the letter stays quiet around it. The lowercase is built from the same parts as the capitals, so a mixed-case name keeps the voice of the sign.
It is one detail used as a system. Every heavy stroke carries the same narrow groove, at the same distance from its left edge, while the thin strokes carry none. The cut runs through stems, rounds, diagonals and figures, and that repetition makes the letters read as one family.
An average Fanlight capital is little more than half as wide as it is tall, so on the same sign a long name like BOOKBINDERS stands about 1.7 times taller than in square letters. That is what condensed faces are for: signs, labels, tabs and book spines.
In a narrow letter an ellipse pinches at the top and bottom, so the rounds take straight sides and turn only at the corners. The O holds about a quarter more white inside than an ellipse would, and C, G, Q, U and the figures follow the same plan.
A hairline that ends free on the baseline looks cut off, so Fanlight finishes it with a small round dot. The dot goes only on thin strokes that end free, in A, M, N, X, x and y; thick strokes stay square.
Fanlight has the accented letters for 30 languages written in the Latin alphabet, so the same sign font works in English, French, German, Polish, Turkish or Icelandic. Choose a language to see a line set in Fanlight.
Boulangerie, pâtisserie, café
French letters: à â æ ç è é ê ë î ï ô ù û ü ÿ œ
Bäckerei und Café, täglich geöffnet
German letters: ä ö ü ß
Panadería y café, abierto desde las siete
Spanish letters: á é í ñ ó ú ü ¡ ¿
Caffè e pasticceria, aperto dalle sette
Italian letters: à á è é ì í ò ó ù ú
Padaria e café, aberto às sete
Portuguese letters: à á â ã ç è é ê í ò ó ô õ ú
Bakkerij en koffiehuis, elke dag open
Dutch letters: á â ä è é ê ë í ï ó ô ö ú û ü ij
Forn de pa i cafè, obert cada matí
Catalan letters: à ç è é í ï ò ó ú ü ŀ
Bageri och kafé, öppet varje dag
Swedish letters: å ä ö é
Bageri og café, åbent hver morgen
Danish letters: å æ ø é
Bakeri og kafé, åpent hver morgen
Norwegian letters: å æ ø é è ê ó ò ô
Leipomo ja kahvila, avoinna joka päivä
Finnish letters: ä ö å š ž
Bakarí og kaffihús, opið alla daga
Icelandic letters: á æ é í ð ó ö ú ý þ
Pagariäri ja kohvik, avatud iga päev
Estonian letters: ä õ ö ü š ž
Piekarnia i kawiarnia, otwarte od siódmej
Polish letters: ą ć ę ł ń ó ś ź ż
Pekařství a kavárna, otevřeno každý den
Czech letters: á č ď é ě í ň ó ř š ť ú ů ý ž
Pekáreň a kaviareň, otvorené každý deň
Slovak letters: á ä č ď é í ĺ ľ ň ó ô ŕ š ť ú ý ž
Pékség és kávézó, minden nap nyitva
Hungarian letters: á é í ó ö ő ú ü ű
Brutărie și cafenea, deschis de la șapte
Romanian letters: ă â î ș ț
Fırın ve kahve, her gün yediden itibaren açık
Turkish letters: ç ğ ı İ ö ş ü
Bácús agus caife, ar oscailt gach lá
Irish letters: á é í ó ú
Taigh-fuine agus cafaidh, fosgailte gach latha
Scottish Gaelic letters: à è é ì ò ó ù
Okindegia eta kafetegia, egunero zabalik
Basque letters: ñ ü
Panadería e café, aberto todas as mañás
Galician letters: á é í ñ ó ú ü
Furrë buke dhe kafe, e hapur çdo ditë
Albanian letters: ç ë
Bakkery en koffiewinkel, elke dag oop
Afrikaans letters: á é è ê ë î ï ö ô û ü ý
Toko roti dan kopi, buka setiap hari
Kedai roti dan kopi, dibuka setiap hari
Panaderya at kapihan, bukas araw-araw
Filipino letters: ñ
Duka la mikate na kahawa, wazi kila siku
Yes. The Desktop licence covers personal and client work: signs, labels, packaging, invitations, merch and print-on-demand products.
Yes. Signs, shop fronts, window lettering and engraved plates are covered by the Desktop licence.
Yes. A logo set in Fanlight is yours to use; the font files themselves stay licensed to you.
Yes. Install the OTF on your computer or iPad, and any app that uses installed fonts can set it.
Yes, with the Web, App or ePub licence, sold on MyFonts and Gumroad. Our licence page explains the Gumroad licences in plain words; MyFonts uses its own.
Thirty languages written in the Latin alphabet, from French and German to Polish, Turkish and Icelandic. Each one is shown above.