When you imagine 1950s fonts, you’ll be forgiven for thinking of utilitarian typefaces or even military-style fonts. After all, the 1950s was a post-war era. Surprisingly, the fonts from this decade are way more vibey than you might think.

50s fonts are iconic. Incredibly retro with some zany dimensions, you’ll enjoy incorporating these creative typefaces into your designs.

Whether you’re looking for the ultimate diner menu font or a typeface inspired by the bluesy rockabilly music of the time, you’ll find the perfect 1950s font for your design from the list below.

Most Popular 50s Font

The title of the most popular 50s style font goes to The Big Tickle. With touches of retro, rockabilly, and the typical 50s diner, this font embodies the best parts of the decade.

Top 1950s Diner Font

Look no further than the Hamburger Hop for your best 50s diner font. This bold typeface is a great fit for menus, classic logos, and retro posters.

Best Retro 1950s font

Les Paul serves up some great retro styles with a layered font family and a ton of old-school extras. With a mixture of inlines, outlines, and normal lettering, you’ll have a blast creating off-the-page copy that really stands out.

8 Best 1950s Fonts Reviewed

One of the best features of 1950s fonts is that they are so versatile. They can be added to any modern materials to give them a retro twist or vintage feeling.

Between big and colorful typefaces, script fonts, sharpie pen lettering, and militaristic stenciling, you’ll be amazed at the different styles they can achieve. Take a look at the best 1950s fonts below to see for yourself.

The Big Tickle

• Diner & retro style
• $$
• Serif, script & retro graphics

The Big Tickle font family was born from the smooth jazz and loud rockabilly music of the 50s. A mixture of playful serif typefaces, script fonts, and retro graphics, this font family will allow you to master the vintage look.

The font collection offers a range of weights so you can maintain an even color across the different sizes. You can alternate between uppercase and lowercase letters to generate a “bouncing effect” for playful wording.

This retro 50s font is ideal for any advertising, posters, or books that require a mid-century style.

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Palm Canyon Drive

• Monoline script font
• $$$
• 3 Weights & extras

For a more classic and upmarket 50s script font, Palm Canyon Drive is a marvelous choice. A monoline font inspired by 40s and 50s California, you’ll love the elegant cursive and rounded lines.

If you want to add a touch of golden-age Hollywood to your collateral, Palm Canyon Drive will add a classy yet unpretentious tone to your designs. From matchbook covers to postcards to posters at Tiki Bars, there’s a whole range of uses for this font.

This font includes a light, regular, and heavy version along with a variety of bonus glyphs. There are even additional glyphs including trendy catchwords for you to experiment with.

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Hamburger Hop

• Diner font
• $$
• 5 Alternate versions & 4 italics

Transport back in time to the traditional American Diner with the Hamburger Hop. Created for the purpose of decorating menus, this retro diner font includes a diverse range of regular, italic, outline, inline, and bold typefaces.

With a name like Hamburger Hop, you’d be right in thinking this is a traditional dish with a spring in its step! You can use this font for signage, menus, merchandise, or some good ol’ retro paraphernalia.

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Les Paul

• Retro & layered font
• $$
• 7 Styles

The groovy styles are not just reserved for 1970s fonts.

Enter Les Paul, a layered font family packing a personality punch. Filled to the brim with retro extras, this typeface was inspired by 50s postcards.

This font family comes with 7 different styles that can be layered and combined to achieve multiple looks.

The pack also includes type graphics that complement the fonts and can be used in some great retro patterns. And, it supports Western-European symbols as well.

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Carosello

• Hand-drawn sharpie font
• $
• Bonus vector fonts & bonus textures

This retro font from the 50s is a great fit for designers in need of a “by-hand’ touch to their art. A bit rough around the edges, this font resembles a big marker scrawl that’s typical of the era.

Don’t expect calligraphy fonts in this package. This typeface was created from a real sharpie pen to capture typical hand-written imperfections. It’s not perfect, but it embodies the retro and the basic.

This is a great font to use in hand-lettered quotes, motivational phrases, and vintage designs.

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Stencil 1952

• Vintage & utilitarian
• $
• Hand-drawn aesthetic

A utilitarian font that evokes a sense of nostalgia, Stencil 1952 is rustic with imperfect lines that add to its hand-drawn appearance.

If you’re looking for a simple, classic stencil font with a touch of the rugged, Stencil 1952 is the perfect fit. You can add it to war-themed materials or farm-style designs for a really tough appearance. 

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American Copper

• Classic cars & rockabilly
• $$$
• 24 Fonts

A vintage font originating from the love of an old American motorcycle logo, the American Copper family is a great addition to any designs with an automotive theme. It’s a strong, almost-masculine typeface. And, it will work with any promotional materials needing a “classic car” font and feel.

This font is also brilliant for music-related design needs, especially if you need a 50s rockabilly font or a rock ‘n roll typeface.

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Reckless

• Vintage & classic car font
• $$
• Bonus: Fabulous drop cap

Reckless is a connected geometric typeface. It has a hybrid style because it has the look and feel of blackletter, script, and even tattoo font.

Looking like it just came off an AC/DC album cover, this typeface would look at home on any 50s rock ‘n roll theme brochures or labels. It’s also suitable for any logos, games, and graphics relating to cars, vintage products, or retro looks.

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Final Thoughts: Best 1950s Font

The above list details 8 versatile and attention-grabbing 1950s fonts for every budget. If you’re operating on a tight account, there’s Carosello or Stencil 1952.

If money is no object, then Palm Canyon Drive and American Copper may be more your flavor. There are also plenty of typefaces for everything in between.

Whether its bold menus, vintage automotive designs or rustic stenciling you’re hoping to design, there’s a 50s font that’s up to the task.

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