RetroSupply Co. is a design studio and creative market that revolves around midcentury design aesthetics. Established by Dustin Lee, RetroSupply Co. has become one of the most well known resources for design assets that recall the familiar styles of the 40s, 50s, and 60s.
Part of its success is certainly due to Dustin’s approach to design. Ever since he was a child, he was enamored by midcentury design, finding plenty of examples of it in his uncle’s old hardware boxes, pulp comic books, and cone-top beer cans. His grandmother’s house was a place Dustin referred to as a “retro lab,” an oasis filled with old memorabilia and midcentury objects. During an extended stay, he spent time sifting through her attic and garage in search of unique textures, visiting nearby antique stores, and scanning decades-old product boxes. This enabled him to discover ways to effectively distill the “old” from aged items and replicate those textures in a way that could then be applied to digital design applications.
It sounds like an awful lot of work, but the best things usually are. Dustin uses plenty of real-world materials to craft his digital assets, including wood, ink, and paper, 60-year old wax oil crayons, foil, garage grime, and even coffee and oil spills to create authentic effects in graphic design projects.
RetroSupply Co. has earned a solid reputation as a go-to resource for midcentury design assets and its portfolio includes everything from textures to print effects, layer styles, brushes, and fonts.
One of RetroSupply Co.’s most recent fonts is Authority, an all-caps type design inspired by the style of government typography that was commonplace in 1970s New York. Those letters set an almost subconscious tone for those who lived in the city at that time; even though public typography is something that’s just out there – everywhere – we don’t often take notice of the effect it has on our lives and behavior. It’s subtle, to be sure, but such government-designed fonts communicate authority without aggression; whether they’re telling you to “STOP” or directing you to the nearest train station, you just sort of do what you’re told.
(If only we had that power over others in our own day to day lives, right?)
Authority gives you that power, at least within your graphic design projects. It carries itself with a tall and slightly condensed stature that demands attention, while squared corners provide a sense of strength and silent command. It doesn’t feel forceful, however; there is no feeling of aggression in its posture – just confidence, fortitude, and dominion.
Authority includes three styles that simulate the natural aging of public signs over time, with corresponding italics for each. Standard offers the freshly printed, so-crisp-the-ink-is-barely-dry variant of Authority’s letterforms, while Rounded presents as slightly worn and used. Distressed has a weathered appearance that suggests it’s been out there in the world for quite some time now. It’s been around the block once or twice (or a thousand times), and it’s seen some things you can only imagine. Oh, the stories it could tell.
Authority is especially well suited to logos, headlines and subheadings. It’s a strong choice for signage, displays, advertising, posters, product packaging, merchandise, and apparel, particularly those with a masculine tone.
Authority offers multilingual support to Basic Latin, Western European, Catalan, Baltic, Turkish, Central European, Romanian, and Pan African Latin languages for global accessibility.
RetroSupply Co. currently offers more than one hundred products through YouWorkForThem, an incredible variety of fonts, vector brushes, textures, layer styles, and more. If you love midcentury design elements, you have got to check out the rest of RetroSupply Co.’s portfolio because it is absolutely packed with great stuff you won’t want to miss!
