Geely, a giant in the automotive industry, is embracing custom typeface to meet its linguistic needs, expand its application scope, and reflect its brand values.

As companies expand globally, language coverage becomes crucial. A distinctive typeface with broad language support ensures brand coherence across different markets. This helps maintain the original typographic identity while adapting to new linguistic contexts.

The growing internationalization of companies makes language coverage one of the most important aspects of the process. A distinctive typeface with language coverage creates brand coherence. It helps implement products and brands in global markets, maintaining the identity elements of the original typography.

With Geely, we undertook an extensive process to understand branding and communication trends within the automotive industry. This included examining the use of typefaces in various contexts, user interfaces, and readability considerations.

In the automotive sector, there is a noticeable trend towards mechanical typefaces

In the automotive sector, there is a noticeable trend towards mechanical typefaces. These typefaces often feature geometric shapes, smooth curves, and bold straight lines. The predominant use of uniformly spaced uppercase letters gives these typefaces a monospaced appearance. This style, influenced by the iconic Microgamma and Eurostile typefaces used in 1960s futuristic films, has been adopted by many companies, including Geely.

The new typeface needed to be versatile, and suitable for both print and digital media, including the car’s user interface

The new typeface needed to be versatile, and suitable for both print and digital media, including the car’s user interface. It had to offer excellent readability in terms of speed and efficiency while supporting the brand identity and matching the Simplified Chinese typeface.

Initially, the project aimed for a redesign rather than a complete overhaul. However, the extent of necessary changes soon revealed the need for a new typeface from scratch. This allowed for maintaining key features while addressing fundamental errors in the previous typeface.

An important design decision was whether to stay true to the logo at the expense of readability or to create a more modern and legible design, subtly deviating from the original brand identity. The final solution achieved a balance, delivering a typeface that is both functional and reflective of Geely’s logo without being an exact replica.

The result was a typeface in three weights: extra light, regular, and bold, along with a design for exclusive use on buttons and switches. The new typeface met the goals of readability and brand identity, with uppercase letters being slightly more squared than the lowercase ones, giving a more rigid and mechanical feel. This effectively conveyed the brand identity, especially when used in “all caps.”

Project by TypeTogether
Commercial Partner in Spain: Bauer Types