The Sans-Serif Car
March 26, 2010 4:20 PM Subscribe
Designer Alex George has created a font based on the iconic Volvo 240 station wagon. (via)
Sadly, there doesn't seem to be a download link (yet?).
Sadly, there doesn't seem to be a download link (yet?).
Cute but unreadable
(on preview DAMN YOU DARKSTAR *shakes fist*)
posted by The Whelk at 4:23 PM on March 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
(on preview DAMN YOU DARKSTAR *shakes fist*)
posted by The Whelk at 4:23 PM on March 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
That's one sturdy-looking font.
posted by The Potate at 4:25 PM on March 26, 2010 [4 favorites]
posted by The Potate at 4:25 PM on March 26, 2010 [4 favorites]
Suddenly Comic Sans doesn't seem so bad anymore.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 4:30 PM on March 26, 2010 [6 favorites]
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 4:30 PM on March 26, 2010 [6 favorites]
I would wager the designer did not set out to create a readable font. He set out to create a font based on the Volvo 240 station wagon. It is a stunt, and a wonderful one, I think.
posted by ericost at 4:30 PM on March 26, 2010
posted by ericost at 4:30 PM on March 26, 2010
Just because you CAN do something doesn't mean you should. Love the wagon, hate font.
posted by blaneyphoto at 4:34 PM on March 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by blaneyphoto at 4:34 PM on March 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
Kinda cool, but tough to read.
The Volvo 240 always had a tight kerning radius.
posted by Ratio at 4:37 PM on March 26, 2010 [25 favorites]
The Volvo 240 always had a tight kerning radius.
posted by Ratio at 4:37 PM on March 26, 2010 [25 favorites]
I was hoping that this font would be inspired by that Volvo and not be comprised of that Volvo. Because I really do like Volvos of a certain era, and would have been pleased to see something that felt contemporary to it.
I guess this is like that "Saul Bassified" Tron trailer, that mistook the stylistic zeitgeist of a particular kind of movie, with the entire output of one man--and made a trailer that has very little to do with Tron.
posted by danny the boy at 4:51 PM on March 26, 2010
I guess this is like that "Saul Bassified" Tron trailer, that mistook the stylistic zeitgeist of a particular kind of movie, with the entire output of one man--and made a trailer that has very little to do with Tron.
posted by danny the boy at 4:51 PM on March 26, 2010
If it weren't for designers, where would we get kinda semi-OK ideas that were terrible in practice?
posted by DU at 4:56 PM on March 26, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by DU at 4:56 PM on March 26, 2010 [2 favorites]
Cut the guy some slack. It's the only font his mom would let him have.
posted by cortex at 5:00 PM on March 26, 2010 [6 favorites]
posted by cortex at 5:00 PM on March 26, 2010 [6 favorites]
I keep confusing this font with Rambler 660 Oblique.
posted by hanoixan at 5:01 PM on March 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by hanoixan at 5:01 PM on March 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
Using the P1800 would have been cooler - and much more challenging.
posted by three blind mice at 5:02 PM on March 26, 2010
posted by three blind mice at 5:02 PM on March 26, 2010
I never got why hipsters don't use comic sans ironically. I mean it's everywhere and widely seen as mediocre. Isn't it the PBR of fonts?
posted by mccarty.tim at 5:05 PM on March 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by mccarty.tim at 5:05 PM on March 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
I'm all like, "all I can see is this weird L shape." And then I'm all like, "oh, that is the font." And then I'm like, "man them letters kinda look all boxy and similar to one another."
posted by Mister_A at 5:31 PM on March 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Mister_A at 5:31 PM on March 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
I never got why hipsters don't use comic sans ironically. I mean it's everywhere and widely seen as mediocre. Isn't it the PBR of fonts?
comic sans hate is kind of passé at this point
(disclaimer i have comic sans tattooed into my flesh)
posted by p3on at 5:59 PM on March 26, 2010
comic sans hate is kind of passé at this point
(disclaimer i have comic sans tattooed into my flesh)
posted by p3on at 5:59 PM on March 26, 2010
I had a 240 Sedan, and then a wagon and I've haven't felt safe since we've been driving a domestic ... until I read that font.
posted by kneecapped at 6:04 PM on March 26, 2010
posted by kneecapped at 6:04 PM on March 26, 2010
Volvo font: It's boxy, but it's good.
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey at 6:40 PM on March 26, 2010
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey at 6:40 PM on March 26, 2010
I had a 240 Sedan, and then a wagon and I've haven't felt safe since we've been driving a domestic ... until I read that font.
posted by kneecapped at 9:04 PM on March 26 [+] [!]
epon oh forget it
really, you-had-to-be-there-filter: my only car accident (when I was driving) was in my old, no seat belts, '68 bug. On impact, my left knee was driven into the fuse box under the dash, opening up a divot nearly to the bone. sadly, that truly impressive scar has long since faded.
I think about it every time I see your handle ;-)
posted by toodleydoodley at 7:25 PM on March 26, 2010
posted by kneecapped at 9:04 PM on March 26 [+] [!]
epon oh forget it
really, you-had-to-be-there-filter: my only car accident (when I was driving) was in my old, no seat belts, '68 bug. On impact, my left knee was driven into the fuse box under the dash, opening up a divot nearly to the bone. sadly, that truly impressive scar has long since faded.
I think about it every time I see your handle ;-)
posted by toodleydoodley at 7:25 PM on March 26, 2010
Mister_A: Do we hate Helvetica or is it still love-hate?
Hate Helvetica? You might as well hate air.
posted by Malor at 7:30 PM on March 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
Hate Helvetica? You might as well hate air.
posted by Malor at 7:30 PM on March 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
Unreadable at any speed!
posted by freshwater_pr0n at 7:39 PM on March 26, 2010
posted by freshwater_pr0n at 7:39 PM on March 26, 2010
Say what you will, a Chevette-based font would have no chance against this.
posted by longsleeves at 7:46 PM on March 26, 2010
posted by longsleeves at 7:46 PM on March 26, 2010
Cute but unreadable
Yeah. Guaranteed to win some award.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 8:23 PM on March 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
Yeah. Guaranteed to win some award.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 8:23 PM on March 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
How long till this is the offical font of Berkeley, CA?
posted by brundlefly at 8:35 PM on March 26, 2010
posted by brundlefly at 8:35 PM on March 26, 2010
On top of all this it just doesn't look like a Volvo 240. To me it looks more like a font based on a Reliant Robin or a Scimitar...maybe a P1800 fastback.
posted by Flashman at 8:44 PM on March 26, 2010
posted by Flashman at 8:44 PM on March 26, 2010
I downloaded this just because the Volvo 240 series saved not just my life, but my boyfriend's life, in three separate instances, (and two different cars - station wagons both times)
1) When my boyfriend was a student at Virginia Tech (and before he was my boyfriend), he was driving to campus in Car #1. A large RV attempted to make a u-turn in front of him, and having nowhere else to go, he T-boned the RV. The car was totaled, he walked away with only a few bruises. The police officer who reported to the accident said if it had been any other car, he might not have lived.
2) Somewhere in northern Virginia, the boyfriend (in car #2 and still not my boyfriend yet) hit a deer. Like one of those huge antlered bucks. The kind that kills cars. I don't know how the -car- survived, much less him. He walked away. Again, he was told "if it wasn't a Volvo, son, we'd be taking you out of here in a bag". Not the most calming thing to say to a 20-something after hitting a deer, but even so.
3) Fast forward five years. The boyfriend has moved to California for a job. He bought a new car, I inherited the Volvo because my car died the week before he moved. A year and a half later, I decide to move out to California to be with him, as we've gotten engaged and this whole long-distance thing is getting really old really fast.
I moved, cross-country, with all of my things aside from large furniture, in the Volvo station wagon, with my soon-to-be-ex-roommate riding shotgun as my navigator. We drove through Kansas City, because a friend lived there and it made a good almost mid-point for my boyfriend to fly to to meet me. He was to drive the rest of the trip with me, and we were sending my stb-ex-roommate home on an airplane.
I moved in February. An hour outside of Kansas City, we ran into a blizzard. Before I had a chance to make a decision about whether or not we should pull over and find a place to stop for the night instead of trying to continue on, I hit ice. Because of the weight and length of the car, instead of spinning entirely out of control, I put it into a ditch instead of the SUV two lanes away.
I honestly thought I was going to die. I don't know that I could have gotten out of that spin in a different car. I know I couldn't have in the car I had before, I'd spun out that car.
Sadly, that was the last of that Volvo station wagon. In putting it into the ditch, the entire underbody was ripped out. We had to rent a SUV to get me and my stuff to CA once the blizzard broke.
posted by FritoKAL at 9:52 PM on March 26, 2010
1) When my boyfriend was a student at Virginia Tech (and before he was my boyfriend), he was driving to campus in Car #1. A large RV attempted to make a u-turn in front of him, and having nowhere else to go, he T-boned the RV. The car was totaled, he walked away with only a few bruises. The police officer who reported to the accident said if it had been any other car, he might not have lived.
2) Somewhere in northern Virginia, the boyfriend (in car #2 and still not my boyfriend yet) hit a deer. Like one of those huge antlered bucks. The kind that kills cars. I don't know how the -car- survived, much less him. He walked away. Again, he was told "if it wasn't a Volvo, son, we'd be taking you out of here in a bag". Not the most calming thing to say to a 20-something after hitting a deer, but even so.
3) Fast forward five years. The boyfriend has moved to California for a job. He bought a new car, I inherited the Volvo because my car died the week before he moved. A year and a half later, I decide to move out to California to be with him, as we've gotten engaged and this whole long-distance thing is getting really old really fast.
I moved, cross-country, with all of my things aside from large furniture, in the Volvo station wagon, with my soon-to-be-ex-roommate riding shotgun as my navigator. We drove through Kansas City, because a friend lived there and it made a good almost mid-point for my boyfriend to fly to to meet me. He was to drive the rest of the trip with me, and we were sending my stb-ex-roommate home on an airplane.
I moved in February. An hour outside of Kansas City, we ran into a blizzard. Before I had a chance to make a decision about whether or not we should pull over and find a place to stop for the night instead of trying to continue on, I hit ice. Because of the weight and length of the car, instead of spinning entirely out of control, I put it into a ditch instead of the SUV two lanes away.
I honestly thought I was going to die. I don't know that I could have gotten out of that spin in a different car. I know I couldn't have in the car I had before, I'd spun out that car.
Sadly, that was the last of that Volvo station wagon. In putting it into the ditch, the entire underbody was ripped out. We had to rent a SUV to get me and my stuff to CA once the blizzard broke.
posted by FritoKAL at 9:52 PM on March 26, 2010
This is my tangential Volvo product of choice, no offense to Alex George.
posted by redsparkler at 11:25 PM on March 26, 2010
posted by redsparkler at 11:25 PM on March 26, 2010
As a large drunk man whose daily driver is a 1971 P1800E, I'd yust like to say SWEDISH IRON BITCHES!
posted by nicwolff at 12:12 AM on March 27, 2010
posted by nicwolff at 12:12 AM on March 27, 2010
My tangential Volvo product of choice, no offense to redsparkler or Mr. George. Discovered via MeFi, of course.
posted by webhund at 8:12 AM on March 27, 2010
posted by webhund at 8:12 AM on March 27, 2010
But will the people who created the "F*** YOU I DRIVE A VOLVO"-t-shirts and hoodies change their font?
posted by iviken at 2:37 PM on March 27, 2010
posted by iviken at 2:37 PM on March 27, 2010
Nicwolff I love love love your car. The lines, the color, the little curved windows in the back seat - love.
posted by 8dot3 at 8:12 PM on March 28, 2010
posted by 8dot3 at 8:12 PM on March 28, 2010
« Older User Experience Is Everything | Music Matters Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by darkstar at 4:22 PM on March 26, 2010