Why I can’t buy an Aston Martin
Typography & car lovers, you may wish to avert your eyes
I was a teenager in the early naughties. So of course I wanted a DB9.
I’m sure a lot of people had a dream car as they approached car-driving age. It changes through the years for each generation and group, but this was mine.
The perfect car
It was the start of Aston Martin’s return to being a serious sports-car manufacturer again, after the squishy DB7.
The DB9 was made in Britain. It sounded great. It looked stunning. It’s not as ostentatious as a Rolls-Royce, but not as dull as a Bentley. It was perfect.
Fast forward 15 years
I now have two problems with my dream.
Global warming
The environment has become a far more pressing concern than in 2003. It’s not entirely economical to drive a 5.2-litre V12 petrol car. To address this, Aston Martin have started making 4-litre V8s. It’s a start.
It gets worse
The second problem however, is far more worrying. The DB11 replaced the DB9 last year. I hadn’t properly taken a look until recently.
I flicked through some pictures on their website, and then I saw it.
They’ve used Arial for the typeface on the buttons.
Go on, look back. Look at them. What’s even worse is that it’s Arial italics.
Dull, gas bill, council tax reminder, Arial. The font that comes free with your computer. The font your bank use to tell you that your interest rate has gone up. Arial default font.
No I won’t calm down
There’s two reasons why this is bad.
- Arial is a copy. It’s not original. It doesn’t have any value of its own. It’s a copy of Helvetica. It was made for IBM as an alternative for one of their cheaper printers in the 1980s.
- It’s ugly. Helvetica is a classic typeface, I’m a big fan of it, but I don’t think anybody would call it pretty.
But it’s just a font
It’s not just a font, it’s a design decision. This is a £145,000 car we’re talking about here. A car that sells itself on attention to detail. That means there has to be attention to detail for that to be valid.
If you argue that the font isn’t important, then what about the key fob? Why not just use a plastic one? Or the pedals? Don’t bother with aluminium ones, plastic’s fine. Or the engine? It’s easier and cheaper to use a 1.6-litre diesel from a Golf, why bother trying to make your own?
It’s a slippery slope. If you’re selling a dream, every detail has to be perfect.
Great artists steal
The problem with using a copy is that it doesn’t have its own original value. Nobody was trying to make Helvetica better when they made Arial. They just copied it and made it different enough so it wasn’t the same.
Helvetica has history. There is a documentary about it. It’s famous.
From FedEx to Lufthansa, and Toyota to 3M, Helvetica has been used for half a century and is a true design classic.
The problem with using Arial is that it’s second best. Runner up. Not-quite.
Making compromises
Good design is working out which compromises to make. The DB9 had flaws, but it was perfect because it was a balance of compromises. The problem with the font on the new Astons is that it is a choice. Somebody made the choice to use that font over another.
But what could they have done instead? Maybe it’s not possible?
BMW-owned Rolls-Royce plays this safe, and sticks with the quintessentially British theme by using Gill Sans.
Designed in 1928 by Eric Gill, it’s been used by British Railways and the BBC. It’s more British than the Queen.
Modern British
VW-owned Bentley used to use Gill Sans both as their corporate font and in their cars, but recently switched to their own unique typeface, created by KMS Team.
It’s based on Gill Sans, but with a modern refresh — arguably suiting their brand. Bentley aren’t the only car company to make their own typeface, Jaguar and Audi both have, to name two.
What’s strange is that two German-owned British luxury car brands both manage to get it right.
To make matters worse
Arguably at this point one could argue that they should have just sticked to Gill Sans. They were using it before. And for some reason the Start/Stop button is set using it. Maybe they wanted to be different. More modern.
They could choose a typeface that’s consistent with their brand, and different to their competitors.
The tragedy is, they already have one. Used across their marketing, Optima, designed in 1958, is a sombre and classical typeface, based on designs used during the Renaissance in Italy. Perfect for a GT car that can leap across Europe. It’s extensively used all over their marketing — on the website, on their brochures. Even their logo is set in it. It’s the obvious choice.
For me, Arial really shows what a bad choice it is when you look at the R. Arial’s R looks like a P, but to stop it falling over somebody added a leg — without much support connecting it.
By comparison, Optima’s R is more balanced, and the right leg looks like it could support the whole letter by itself.
Aston Martin, please fix your cars
It’s such a small change, but it’s all about the details. Remember, this is a £145,000 car. It’s a car people dream about. It’s a car that some people stop in the street to watch drive by. They get their phone out to take a photo if they see one parked in the street. They’re made by hand in Britain using the finest materials money can buy. The typeface they choose should fit the car.
Who knows, maybe one day I’ll actually be able to buy an Aston Martin. But if I could buy one today, I wouldn’t — it’s not perfect.
