I released Pretender on July 15, 2014. The idea came directly from the lettering on a 1935 sheet music cover for the waltz ballad “Mexicali Rose.” I took the forms of the words on that cover and expanded them into a complete typeface. The E in the source looked more like a lunate E—a C with a crossbar—while the L had a hooked form, almost like a reversed J. Those details set the tone for the rest of the design.

The cover itself carried an Art Deco flavor, but it also showed early industrial tendencies. The flat-sided forms and wide spacing hinted at the emerging industrial look of the period. My goal was to keep that blend of Deco elegance and machine-age bluntness intact, so Pretender would feel tied to its time while still functioning in a modern setting.

The name came from “The Great Pretender,” the song by The Platters. It seemed appropriate for a typeface that imitates an earlier era while being new work. Pretender was free to use commercially from its release in 2014 until April 2024, when I placed it in the public domain. I never issued any updates during that period.