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Overview

This passion project started on a warm Sunday when I spotted hand-painted signage hanging in the windows of Little City Market, a family-run butcher shop in San Francisco's North Beach (Little Italy), operated by an Italian father and son. The lettering had a personality I hadn't seen digitized anywhere. Similar fonts existed, but nothing quite like it, so I decided to bring it to life myself.

Overview

This passion project started on a warm Sunday when I spotted hand-painted signage hanging in the windows of Little City Market, a family-run butcher shop in San Francisco's North Beach (Little Italy), operated by an Italian father and son. The lettering had a personality I hadn't seen digitized anywhere — similar fonts existed, but nothing quite like it — so I decided to bring it to life myself.

Process

I brought photos into Figma to trace, its vector tools were a natural fit for the relatively geometric shapes, though I also used Adobe Illustrator for refinements. The real challenge was the missing letters: since not every character was in the signage, I had to design them from scratch, staying true to the original style, through multiple rounds of testing in Birdfont and feedback from friends.

Process

I brought photos into Figma to trace, its vector tools were a natural fit for the relatively geometric shapes, though I also used Adobe Illustrator for refinements. The real challenge was the missing letters: since not every character was in the signage, I had to design them from scratch, staying true to the original style, through multiple rounds of testing in Birdfont and feedback from friends.

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z *

a b c d e
f g h i j k
l m n o p
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v w x y z *

Links

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Links

Reflections

A small project, but one of the most satisfying things I've made. It taught me to find inspiration in everyday life and pick up new tools on the fly. I'm proud of the result. Kerning was a detail I had no idea I'd care so much about, but it ended up being the hardest and most rewarding thing to get right.

© 2026 E.Y.

eylulyildirimisnow@gmail.com