Custom Typefaces for Ford Motor Company

Ford's first custom typeface in 121 years

In 2019, Typotheque partnered with Ford's design, engineering, and ergonomics teams to create a suite of custom typefaces for HMI displays and brand identity—the first time in Ford's 121-year history that the company commissioned bespoke type. The project required strict compliance with US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration guidelines. Script coverage spans Latin, Cyrillic, Greek, Arabic, and Thai, with Typotheque's retail CJK fonts adapted to match the new family. Typefaces were entering production use in Ford marketing and planned for in-vehicle deployment from 2025–2026.

Set in Ford F1

Insights

The project was undertaken in strict compliance with NHTSA requirements, integrating safety regulation into the type design brief.
Script-specialist contributors handled each writing system: separate designers led Arabic, Cyrillic, Thai, and Latin/Greek development.
The CJK component was adapted from an existing Typotheque retail family rather than drawn from scratch, requiring harmony with the new bespoke cuts.
Ford's ergonomics team set legibility requirements that the typefaces had to satisfy alongside NHTSA standards.