iQ Font
July 20, 2009 9:47 AM Subscribe
So expensive production and equipment + unnecessary speeding and skidding = ugly font. Also, the end result of many letters look a lot cleaner than is evident from the video. If so, what's the point?
posted by adamms222 at 10:02 AM on July 20, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by adamms222 at 10:02 AM on July 20, 2009 [1 favorite]
Also, the end result of many letters look a lot cleaner than is evident from the video
This, I must say, struck me. Also, they clearly already had the font more or less made because they were giving instructions to the driver about what kinds of letters to form--so it's a bit hard to see what the driving exercise contributed to the final font. My guess would be that the final "cleaned up" font looks a lot more like the "driver-instructor-font" they started with than it does like the fonts produced by the actual driving.
But carping aside, it's quite a neat demonstration of the car's extreme manoeuverability.
posted by yoink at 10:05 AM on July 20, 2009
This, I must say, struck me. Also, they clearly already had the font more or less made because they were giving instructions to the driver about what kinds of letters to form--so it's a bit hard to see what the driving exercise contributed to the final font. My guess would be that the final "cleaned up" font looks a lot more like the "driver-instructor-font" they started with than it does like the fonts produced by the actual driving.
But carping aside, it's quite a neat demonstration of the car's extreme manoeuverability.
posted by yoink at 10:05 AM on July 20, 2009
Awesome music. Sounds like Flying Lotus chiptune
posted by azarbayejani at 10:16 AM on July 20, 2009
posted by azarbayejani at 10:16 AM on July 20, 2009
I like the font, regardless of how authentic it is as compared to the video. It's got a nice Dick and Jane storybook feel to it, and in smaller sizes you wouldn't associate it with car tracks. Pity the download link goes into an oubliette.
posted by usonian at 10:18 AM on July 20, 2009
posted by usonian at 10:18 AM on July 20, 2009
I want to be a font driver...
posted by wsp at 10:27 AM on July 20, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by wsp at 10:27 AM on July 20, 2009 [1 favorite]
Cars + fonts + fun = C*nts?
posted by MuffinMan at 10:35 AM on July 20, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by MuffinMan at 10:35 AM on July 20, 2009 [1 favorite]
It's Nathan Barley.
posted by hciadt at 10:38 AM on July 20, 2009 [2 favorites]
posted by hciadt at 10:38 AM on July 20, 2009 [2 favorites]
The lowercase "s" is really indulgent and imbalanced, I think, and why not use big sweeping curves to make it anyway? It's as though they decided that of course everyone will be expecting us to make a typical "s" with a car, so let's make it look terrible instead.
Watched the video with the sound off, I have no idea what letters the car was making.
Oh well, it was cute.
posted by Super Hans at 10:43 AM on July 20, 2009
Watched the video with the sound off, I have no idea what letters the car was making.
Oh well, it was cute.
posted by Super Hans at 10:43 AM on July 20, 2009
Meh.
posted by fontophilic at 10:44 AM on July 20, 2009
posted by fontophilic at 10:44 AM on July 20, 2009
Watched the video with the sound off, I have no idea what letters the car was making.
Really? Did turning the sound off make the colored lines traced by the computer disappear or something?
posted by yoink at 10:45 AM on July 20, 2009
Really? Did turning the sound off make the colored lines traced by the computer disappear or something?
posted by yoink at 10:45 AM on July 20, 2009
unnecessary speeding and skidding
Lemme guess... You drive a Volvo 240 DL?
posted by argh at 11:05 AM on July 20, 2009
Lemme guess... You drive a Volvo 240 DL?
posted by argh at 11:05 AM on July 20, 2009
I'd be more impressed if they did this on the street, using the dotted white line down the center, all grade-school Palmer-method style.
posted by caution live frogs at 11:15 AM on July 20, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by caution live frogs at 11:15 AM on July 20, 2009 [1 favorite]
Clever, thanks for sharing. From the smallest movement of the camshaft to the turning radius, cars are geometry in motion. Maybe all manufacturers can start doing this painting as advertising. As a metric it is much more illustrative of the everyday use of the vehicle, much more so than drooling over 0-60 times. Maybe the fonts/paths/curves could be overlaid a map of your town, to see what fits best.
posted by limited slip at 11:22 AM on July 20, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by limited slip at 11:22 AM on July 20, 2009 [1 favorite]
If nothing else, designing the font ahead of time and using the drawings as instructions to the driver isn't redundant. The car adds some randomness to the original shapes and the dots (which I assume are intended to mimic wheel placements) help give the characters a brushstroke quality. I'd love to know how many letters had to be redesigned because the driver couldn't make them.
Sure, it's a lot of effort and expense to go through to market a car to hipster designers. I like it anyway.
posted by ardgedee at 11:25 AM on July 20, 2009
Sure, it's a lot of effort and expense to go through to market a car to hipster designers. I like it anyway.
posted by ardgedee at 11:25 AM on July 20, 2009
I tried to use this font to write a letter to my mother. Unfortunately, I am not a very good driver.
Warden says I have to turn of the computer now.
posted by Astro Zombie at 11:43 AM on July 20, 2009
Warden says I have to turn of the computer now.
posted by Astro Zombie at 11:43 AM on July 20, 2009
it's a lot of effort and expense to go through to market a car to hipster designers
You'd be surprised, but typographers drive cars, too. If we can move these designers away from SUVs, think about how much gas our nation would save.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:53 AM on July 20, 2009
You'd be surprised, but typographers drive cars, too. If we can move these designers away from SUVs, think about how much gas our nation would save.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:53 AM on July 20, 2009
Pro racepilot? Really?
Shit, I'm going to change my last job on my resume to "Data Adjudicator , Electro-mechanical Communication Delegation Specialist and Bit Manipulist, Elder Echelon".
(which is a far cry from my first job as a Dedicated Flesh Cauterization and Position Adjuster, Bovine Specialization.)
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 12:16 PM on July 20, 2009 [1 favorite]
Shit, I'm going to change my last job on my resume to "Data Adjudicator , Electro-mechanical Communication Delegation Specialist and Bit Manipulist, Elder Echelon".
(which is a far cry from my first job as a Dedicated Flesh Cauterization and Position Adjuster, Bovine Specialization.)
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 12:16 PM on July 20, 2009 [1 favorite]
While this isn't the most beautiful font ever, I actually really really like it. It's quite cool to view it at small point sizes, where it looks like simple brushstrokes, and then closer look and notice the four individual tire skids.
And I agree with limited slip that it would be really interesting to overlay the font with the real world. What kind of accidental typography are we making everyday with our cars? Maybe our transportation infrastructure is actually the result of a conspiracy between civic engineers and calligraphers. The Eisenhower interstate system was really designed to shuttle us around so our cars would experience new canvases every summer vacation.
posted by arcolz at 1:53 PM on July 20, 2009
And I agree with limited slip that it would be really interesting to overlay the font with the real world. What kind of accidental typography are we making everyday with our cars? Maybe our transportation infrastructure is actually the result of a conspiracy between civic engineers and calligraphers. The Eisenhower interstate system was really designed to shuttle us around so our cars would experience new canvases every summer vacation.
posted by arcolz at 1:53 PM on July 20, 2009
It doesn't look too bad at 250 points (no idea what my ppi is, though).
posted by clorox at 1:58 PM on July 20, 2009
posted by clorox at 1:58 PM on July 20, 2009
I didn't bother watching the entire video (ha-ha, short attention span!) but I really liked the concept. Also, I thought the resultant font was cool. So there.
posted by six-or-six-thirty at 2:44 PM on July 20, 2009
posted by six-or-six-thirty at 2:44 PM on July 20, 2009
Why did this annoy the hell out of me?
posted by GratefulDean at 6:34 PM on July 20, 2009
posted by GratefulDean at 6:34 PM on July 20, 2009
Am I the only one disappointed by the font only being offered for download in bold? The original design actually seems almost usable.
posted by isnotchicago at 9:30 PM on July 20, 2009
posted by isnotchicago at 9:30 PM on July 20, 2009
Oh my brain...why did I read this as "Cats + Fonts?"
Me too! Imagine my disappointment...
posted by Zinger at 11:17 AM on July 21, 2009
Me too! Imagine my disappointment...
posted by Zinger at 11:17 AM on July 21, 2009
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posted by yoink at 9:52 AM on July 20, 2009