Seamless wood pattern: Stock vector #30282652, by Diane Labombarbe (2013), from iStock. I rotated this sideways and retouched in Illustrator to camouflage the most noticeable repeating elements, then imported to Photoshop for colorization and other adjustments. Note: the site-wide page background texture, which incorporates this pattern and the next (below), shows up only on laptop computers and larger, not mobile devices with their smaller screens.
Secondary site-wide page background
Seamless scratched rusty grunge texture: Stock vector #47229418, by Sylverarts (2014), from iStock. This distressed pattern was overlaid and ghosted back on top of the image just listed, in Photoshop, after first editing in Illustrator to remove the black background, then deleting or disguising obvious repeating artifacts. (I may also have rotated this image as well.)
Background image: By Brigitte Werner (user werner22brigitte) on Pixabay, image #1998604 (2017).
Wood piece: By user Pexels on Pixabay, image #1866654 (2016).
Fonts: “Hermit” and “Blog,” Near Myth Legends, by John Roshell (2002). “Spirit,” Aquiline, by GroupType. (Original design from 1500s, influenced by Ludovico degli Arrighi, this revival created in 2006.) Lowercase “p” hand-modified to shorten descender.
Background image: By user malerapaso on iStock, image #814265736 (2017).
Fonts: “The Self-Employed Seas,” Rinse, by Ray Larabie (2007), a loosely interpreted grunge version of the vintage classic Goudy Heavyface Italic. “So… How was it…,” Goudy Heavyface Italic, by Morris Fuller Benton (1925). I tried Rinse for the latter as well, but the grunge texture at the smaller size just looked like something was wrong with the font.
Background-texture image: By user rawpixel on Pixabay, image #3205415 (2018). I made the image much darker than the original with a Levels layer in Photoshop.
Fonts on car tags: “McMinn Central,” Modula Serif Bold, by Zuzana Licko (1985). “Chargers,” Fette Fraktur, unknown designer (original design 1875, remake by Linotype, 1989). I modified the capital “C” to be sportier and not so ornate, and more legible to non-Germanic American eyes. “Big Sky,” Mesquite, by Joy Redick (1990). “Outfitters,” Grecian Bold, by Jordan Davies. (Original design 1846, this revival 2005.) “Get Outside Yourself,” Blaze, by Patty King (1995).
Fonts below car tags: “The Design Leader,” Sofia Script, by Chuck Davis (2005). “In Custom Promotional License Plates,” Woodmere Spurs, by John Davis (2012).
Background image: By user benoitb on iStock, image #644549868 (2017). From a canvas by 16th-century painter Pierre Van Der Oudera, line-engraving version created in the 19th century. Image here is a photograph of a print from the engraving.
Background image composite: Consists of five photos I took with my smartphone on actual jobs. Three are visible on any-size display. The remaining two, which flank the far-left and far-right sides, come into view only on large computer monitors with a wide aspect ratio.
Fonts: “Hang Almost Anything on a Wall…,” Nelson Rugged and Nelson Bold, by Laura Worthington (2011). Larger words set in Nelson Rugged (more or less the “regular” weight) and smaller words in Nelson Bold to better equalize the perceived weights of each. “Beautifully,” Origins, also by Laura Worthington (2010).
Background image: By user vm on iStock, image #690651280 (2017).
Fonts: Decorative capital “P,” Origins, by Laura Worthington (2010). All other lettering, Friz Quadrata Roman, by Ernst Friz, very likely in partnership with Edward Benguiat (late 1960s or thereabouts).
Background image: By Enrique Meseguer (user darksouls1) on Pixabay, image #2212281 (2017), a Photoshopped version of original photo #2025447 (2017) by Yayuk Lumina (user Oyay) on Pixabay.
Fonts: “Reverie,” Diego, by Silas Dilworth (2008). “Origin — early 17th century…,” Kallos Medium, by Phill Grimshaw (1996).
Background image: By user Cam4Heroes on Pixabay, image #1674482 (2016).
Fonts: “Nobody Gets in to See the Hermit, Not Nobody, Not No-How,”Furst, Castcraft/OptiFont. “Well, okay, except…,” Dwarven Axe Italic, by Nate Piekos (2009).
Some arcane history here: Furst is a two-weight knockoff of Feinen, by Henry Mikiewicz (1983), a four-weight family I purchased from Compugraphic for use in my phototypesetting business back in the 1980s/90s. For some reason the original is no longer available, but I always remembered it longingly.
One tends to suspect a copyright or licensing dispute over the design, or some strange legal settlement with the rights going to clueless or cantankerous owners with little business sense. The font design was so well done it’s hard to believe the original would not be available nowadays, since almost every other font under the sun from the past has long since been digitized for sale.
Some years back, Feinen was available from Datascan for a time (maybe in the 2000s or thereabouts), but the pricing was shockingly high, perhaps triple to quadruple going market rates, if I recall. To me it smacked of a misguided, let’s-shoot-ourselves-in-the-foot attempt by Datascan to extort whatever they could get for it since they were the only source, which is one reason I suspect some kind of strange legal situation.
Aside from Furst, another lesser-quality knockoff of Feinen’s bold weight only is available as Baldur, by Patrick Michael Murphy (1999).
Background image: By Pete Linforth (user TheDigitalArtist) on Pixabay, image #2035404 (2017).
Fonts: “404 Error” and “You’ve Landed in the Middle of,” Bolyar Bold/900, by Vassil Kateliev and Jordan Jelev (2013). “Nowhere,” Bolyar Woodcut One DemiBold/700 Ornate, by the same designers (2016). “A Hermit’s Paradise,” Election, by Thaddeus Szumilas (2009). Caveat: Election is wonderful design-wise, but the wordspace character is honkin’ huge, and letterspacing is not up to professional font-production standards. Just be prepared to hand-kern almost every character if you get the font.
