Mattel simply received its first customized world typeface in over 80 years, and it’s brimming with model easter eggs.
Mattel operates dozens of brands beneath its company umbrella, every with their very own visible identification and model voice. However, till now, Mattel has by no means had its personal proprietary typeface for its overarching model, as an alternative opting to license a number of present fonts on a worldwide scale—an endeavor that was not solely costly, but in addition got here at the price of visible consistency throughout Mattel’s many product lines. Otis Gibson, founding father of the Chicago-based inventive company Gertrude, says his company was tasked with “placing a lasso” round Mattel’s company identification.
Their answer, a typeface known as Matty and Belle Mattel Sans, will be translated into a number of languages, learn in even the smallest of high-quality print, and used on all the things from social media and pitch decks to product packaging. And whereas the typeface was designed for optimum practicality, Gibson’s workforce additionally wove playful allusions to the model’s historical past all through their work.
A typeface impressed by ’50s toy mascots
When designing Mattel’s new typeface, Gibson’s workforce was guided by an uncommon inventive ethos that he describes as “enjoyable in a library.”
Before everything, Gibson explains, the typeface wanted to “be legible,” “work throughout cellular,” and “be world,” on condition that Mattel deliberate to make use of the design in different languages like Turkish and Greek. For these causes, it couldn’t embrace too many thrives or sudden design particulars (therefore the “library”). On the similar time, although, it nonetheless wanted to trace on the model’s playful spirit.
To strike that steadiness, Gertrude seemed again into Mattel’s archives for inspiration. Whereas combing via outdated property, they stumbled throughout a pair of characters named Matty and Belle Mattel, a sibling duo that featured in illustrations, ads, and cartoons for the model from the ‘50s to the ‘70s. At one level, Matty even starred on a Mattel brand that appeared on all of its packaging. The emblem was an emblem that includes Matty, in his signature striped shirt and crown, sitting atop a Mattel “M.”
For Gibson’s workforce, Matty and Belle provided the proper option to convey each historic affect and enjoyable into their design. They used the characters as inspiration for 2 completely different fonts: yet another grounded, sensible font named after Matty, and one other extra playful font named after Belle.
Matty Mattel Sans is Mattel’s new core font. It’s a chunky sans serif, accessible in common, semibold, and daring weights, that’s been maximized for readability. Crisp strains and angles, paired with distinct letterforms, imply that it jumps out on a PowerPoint deck, at a commerce present, or in an Instagram publish, however can be parsed as high-quality print on a toy field.
Belle Mattel Sans is a library of particular characters and glyphs, cleverly saved inside Matty Mattel Sans. When workers set up the typeface to their computer systems, they merely should click on the “choice” key to unlock a complete array of Mattel-themed easter eggs—just like the enterprise within the entrance, social gathering at the back of typefaces.
By choosing and highlighting a lowercase “e,” for instance, customers unlock a brand new “e” that’s tilted to the precise angle of Mattel’s brand, resembling a cheeky grin. Highlighting two uppercase “T”s ends in a conjoined character, additionally mimicking Mattel’s brand. And by highlighting an uppercase “M,” customers can discover a shortcut to 12 official Mattel logos, together with for verticals like American Girl, Barbie, Hot Wheels, and Fischer-Value, guaranteeing that any designer working with the model mechanically has up-to-date property for its main manufacturers. As a remaining contact, Gibson’s workforce additionally created an up to date model of the Matty emblem brand, now incorporating the brand new official font.
The undertaking’s remaining result’s a company typeface that will get the job executed with out shying away from the whimsy of Mattel’s core merchandise.
