Neon is easy to imitate and surprisingly easy to get wrong. Gods Own Junkyard I drew this neon font as a tribute to Chris “The Neon Man” Bracey, whose work turned Soho signs, fairground bravado and religious language into glowing pieces of art.
The result is a typeface with 92 glyphs, a companion Photoshop action and, more importantly, a proper reason for existing.
What is the Gods Own Junkyard neon font?
Gods Own Junkyard is a display typeface built around the shapes and movement of real neon lettering. Its rounded outlines suggest glass tubes, while the breaks and unusual joins give the letters the slightly improvised character of a sign made by hand.
You can use it as a straightforward outline font, but it really comes alive when you add the glow. I made a Photoshop action to create that effect quickly, because spending an afternoon stacking blur layers is nobody’s idea of creative freedom.
The man behind the Gods Own Junkyard font
Chris Bracey was a British designer and artist known as the Neon Man. His Walthamstow studio, Gods Own Junkyard, held an extraordinary collection of signs and sculptures: bits of Soho, film work, fairgrounds, religion, sex, jokes and several things that probably made more sense after dark.
He had the rare ability to make commercial signs feel like art without sanding away everything loud, odd or human. His work glowed, obviously, but the words mattered just as much. The signs could be funny, confrontational, sentimental or gloriously excessive—sometimes all four before you had finished reading them.
Chris died from prostate cancer in 2014 at the age of 59. I never knew him personally, but I admired his work and his fighting spirit. My grandfather also lived with prostate cancer for many years, so the subject was close to me. During the font’s first year, I donated all its profits to Stand Up To Cancer.
This was never intended as a digital copy of one particular Bracey sign. It is my response to the attitude running through the work: bold language, handmade forms and absolutely no interest in whispering politely from the corner.
How I turned neon signs into a working font
A real neon sign and a font have different jobs. A signmaker can bend each letter to suit one word, adjust an awkward join and quietly cheat the spacing until everything works. A font has to survive whatever you type into it, including the sort of letter combinations that appear to have been chosen during an argument.
I built Gods Own Junkyard from rounded, open shapes that suggest bent tubing without becoming a sterile technical diagram. Some letters are deliberately strange. The lowercase forms have their own rhythm, the capitals feel broad and architectural, and the numerals carry the same character rather than looking borrowed from a different font at closing time.
The font has to work before the glow
A convincing effect cannot rescue weak lettering. Strip away the colour, brick wall and atmospheric haze, and the alphabet still needs to hold together. That is why Gods Own Junkyard works as plain outlined display type as well as a finished neon treatment.
The Photoshop effect changes the atmosphere, not the design of the letters. You can make it electric blue, hot orange or radioactive pink, but the underlying type remains editable while you work.
How to create neon lettering in Photoshop
Start by installing the OTF font and setting a short phrase in Photoshop. Product names, poster headlines and short quotes work well. A complete restaurant menu will technically fit, but so would a sofa in a lift if you were sufficiently determined.
- Type your wording using Gods Own Junkyard.
- Choose a dark background so the lighter centre and outer glow have something to work against.
- Apply the companion Photoshop action to build the neon effect.
- Adjust the colour and glow strength to suit the artwork.
- Check the result at its final size, particularly if it will appear on social media or a small label.
Keep the brightest part close to the letterform. The wider glow should soften into the background rather than turning the whole image into fluorescent fog. Real neon produces a strong core of light and a softer spill around it; that contrast is what makes the effect convincing.
Where does this neon font work best?
Gods Own Junkyard was made for display work. Give it a short, prominent piece of text and enough room for the shapes to be seen. It suits projects that need energy, wit and a slightly unruly London character.
- Gig posters and album artwork
- Bars, venues and nightlife identities
- Film, television and entertainment graphics
- Drinks packaging and bold product names
- Festival artwork and event promotions
- T-shirts, editorial headlines and social posts
You do not have to make every use look like a physical sign. Try the font without a glow, use a flat outline colour or combine it with photography. The neon connection gives the letters their personality; it does not issue legally binding instructions about black brick walls.
What does the Gods Own Junkyard neon font include?
Gods Own Junkyard contains 92 glyphs, including uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and basic punctuation. It comes in OTF format and installs like a normal desktop font on Mac or Windows.
This is a focused display typeface rather than a vast multilingual family with seventeen weights and a condensed cousin nobody remembers inviting. Check the character preview below if your project needs particular symbols or accented letters.
How to use a neon font without making a mess
Keep the wording short
The font carries plenty of visual information before you add colour and glow. Use it for the words that deserve attention, then stop. Restraint sounds terribly grown-up, but it does work.
Pair it with something quieter
Use a plain sans serif or serif for dates, prices and supporting copy. Gods Own Junkyard can handle the performance; the second typeface can deal with the admin.
Do not add every effect you own
A dark background and controlled glow are usually enough. Extra bevels, lens flares, smoke, sparks and a distressed chrome border will not make the type more neon. They will make it look as though Photoshop won a radio phone-in competition.
Is Gods Own Junkyard right for your project?
Choose Gods Own Junkyard when you want a distinctive neon font with handmade character, unusual letterforms and a genuine story behind it. It is not a polished corporate script or a neutral geometric tube alphabet. It has more personality than that, and it expects to be noticed.
You can see the full character set, current licence options and more examples on the Gods Own Junkyard font page.
Written by Simon Stratford, type designer and graphic designer. These are my opinions, reached after too little sleep and too much coffee. You can also follow my antics on @itsmesimonok, or leave a comment below. Despite all the opinions, I’m actually quite nice.