Maybe a pixelfont.
Or The Foundry's "Fodor" face, based on Wim Crouwel's original - it rules.

hhp

Go to Font Dinner and take a look around. Nice retro fonts.

I think Sauna might work. It's "childish" in a certain way and has some features suggesting 50s lettering. Still it's modern in many ways.

I also suggest you to study Lego packaging from the 50s, recycling some things from the old packages might do wonders.

What ever you do, please - I repeat - please, don't use Comic sans.

VAG Rounded, me thinks.

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Yes, I'm back!

Start the slaying of me: Helvetica Bold, I think that's what they originally used.

how much text is it? You could build the words of lego. Red 2x4s.

Thank you very much guys! I really appreciate your time and effort to help me with this. I'm a bit lousy with typeface choices! =)

Do you guys recommend a sans serif font or a serif font for modern billboard designs out of the ones stated?? I'm finding Sauna a very good choice so far!! Thanks Jan Sandvik! =)

I just used Sauna yesterday for a job. This font kicks much butt! Great in text. Superb in display. My only beef is that it needs the open type treatment. I need more figure options! For example, I almost always want Cap Height numerals for the Black weight in display, but it comes with OSF. I give Suana 4.5 golden dingbats out of 5.

Dear Underware,

Please update your buttkicking font sauna, and bring it to opentype glory.
Hopefully, with a minimal upgrade price for T1 users.

Sincerely,
Randy Jones

Nick Shinn's Brown Gothic has a subtle, friendly, hand-drawn '50s feel, especially at large (billboard sizes), without being too kitschy.

Great suggestion, Stephen. Brown has the Lego-helvetica feel but with added friendliness.

There's not a great deal of text. Since it's an advertisment, the text is kept short for a quick read.

What do you mean by 'build the words of Lego'? Do you mean design the type by hand? Sounds interesting actually... =)

If you want a little more dance than Brown, try Akemi Aoki's tastefully frisky Grenadine.

Grenadine looks great! It's got a subtle, relaxed typeface! Thanks Stephen! Are there anymore you could perhaps suggest? Perhaps another family from Grenadine?

Thanks! =)

Well here's Grenadine 1 (lighter weights) and here are other fonts by Akemi Aoki.

You might also like Bovine from the same foundry (MVB Fonts), but it's a little more art deco than '50s.

Hey there,
Antique Olive Nord, and the italic creates great movement. Created by Roger Excofon in 1954, for AirFrance. It was very famous in its time. I think on many levels this font would work great for you.
Sincerely,
Rodrigue Planck

The Truth shall set you free

Hi everyone! Thanks for everyone's opinion about what typeface is suitable for the job! I'm currently studying at university and tried to find the fonts that people recommended. Unfortunately, my university doesn't offer any of the ones stated.

My question is that can anyone suggest ideas to replicate typefaces? Most of the websites offer typefaces to download (about $150+) for certain fonts. As a student, I don't have that kind of money to give away, especially on a tight budget. Fonts such as Brown, Grenadine, or Antique Olive Nord would be great! I'm quite interested in the font grenadine.

If anyone by chance has the font grenadine by Akemi Aoki, please reply. I don't know how much I can offer you, but we could come to some agreement perhaps.

Thanks for your time again! =)

Vincent.

Vincent - is this a commercial job? Many foundries will offer discounts to students and non-profits.

Please keep in mind you're not exactly "giving away" the money (for Grenadine it's close to $20 per font) - you're compensating human beings, including the designer who created it and the people who make it possible to sample and buy it.

Hi Stephen! No, this isn't a commercial job, as in it's not going to be distributed to the public or be sold. The project is for my portfolio for my second year graphics course.

Could you suggest any foundaries that will offer discounts??

Thanks! =)

Go to font dinner they have a lot of free fonts or visit Nick Shinn and get directed to his free fonts. Blue Vertigo is a good resource to find type and other images free and commercial.

Vincent, you should edit your post...

> If anyone by chance has the font

...it could be interpreted as asking someone to provide you with a copy of the font.

Cheers, Si

Linotype offers a 30% discount for students: http://www.linotype.com/16993/linotypeadvantagesdiscount-doc.html

I remember T-26 offering student discounts as well, but I don't have a link to back that up.

$20 is reasonable to pay for an individual font, but realistically students cannot afford to pay for every font they use. I know that's not the popular answer here on Typophile, but students are poor.

I think more foundries should contact Universities and make deals with them for font usage, students should be able to use decent fonts too and still afford to eat.

Adobe Classics for Learning, which is an amazing value for students, includes Calcite, which might work for you for this project.

Sorry about my wording from my last post. When I read back what I wrote, it did sound wrong. My apologies Si.

Vincent.

FontShop also provides a 30% educational discount on FontFonts and Linotype fonts. Drop 'em a line.

A friend of mine is putting his daughter through Yale first year tution: $40,000. So most students don't have a lot of money for much of anything so its refreshing to hear about the foundry discounts for students. I hope they promote these facts to the institutions that have typography courses.