Variable Type Development for Lucid Motors | Tolleson
Cars to Custom Type:
Everything Engineered to Perform
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Today, proprietary tech comes in some unexpected forms.
With messaging on a vast range of surfaces and situations—dash panel UI, safety warnings, large billboards, event invitations—there wasn’t a single typeface that could deliver form and function quite like Lucid’s brand and vehicles.
Like Lucid’s approach to vehicle development, there was a direct yet difficult way to deliver what we wanted: create a proprietary typeface from the ground up. Together, with Grilli Type—a foundry known for exceptional craft and technical excellence—we collaborated on a high-performance variable typeface that balanced the “heart and mind” of Lucid’s brand.
This versatile system integrates a technical sans (“mind”) with an emotive serif (“heart”), allowing Lucid to easily calibrate their typographic tone—focusing on clarity and legibility at-speed in the car, while expressing sophistication and emotion through the voice of the brand.
Making every application feel contextually appropriate yet precisely Lucid.
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Project Information
Project
Variable Type Development
Services
Positioning
Visual Identity
Positioning
Visual Identity
Deliverables
Brand Principles
Messaging Framework
Custom Typography
Visual Language
Brand Toolkit
Brand Guidelines
Brand Principles
Messaging Framework
Custom Typography
Visual Language
Brand Toolkit
Brand Guidelines
Industry
Mobility
Technology
Partners
Lucid Brand
Lucid Product Design
Lucid Retail
Code and Theory
Grilli Type
Lucid Brand
Lucid Product Design
Lucid Retail
Code and Theory
Grilli Type
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“Designing Lucid’s typeface was all about capturing the brand’s emotion and enhancing the vehicle experience.”
Jamie Calderon, Creative Director, Tolleson
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Striking a
Balance
Design Strategy
Lucid Serif and Sans
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Four Elements
Lucid Serif: Emotion and movement in type
In Lucid Serif, bold uppercase letters stand in contrast to the fluid, rounded lowercase designs of ‘a’, ‘c’, and ‘f’. While it draws inspiration from classic Didone-style fonts like Bodoni, known for their luxury and romance, Lucid Serif adds a calligraphic energy to its lowercase characters, enhancing the typeface’s grandeur.
The italics of Lucid Serif highlight the brand’s Heart philosophy with increased movement and flow, mirroring the concept of speed. For the text styles, we made adjustments to optimize legibility at smaller sizes, with a taller x-height and wider lowercase characters for improved readability in body text. The serifs were also refined for better rendering at smaller sizes, featuring blunted stroke terminals for a smoother appearance.
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Launch Pad
How we
think
11—01
2024
On the purpose of Lucid’s type
With Steve & Jamie
When we tinker with type, we’re not just thinking about style. In crafting Lucid’s typography, our goal was to mirror the precision of their vehicles and reinforce the feeling of their overall promise. Here’s more on that, and our general approach to typography.
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Four Elements
Lucid Sans: A type for all interfaces
Lucid Sans brings together wide, rounded letters with narrow, compact ones to create a technical rhythm reminiscent of precision engineering. While its design leans towards geometry, there’s a human touch seen in letters like ‘a’ and ‘t’, with subtle hand-drawn nuances adding warmth.
Tailored for interfaces, Lucid Sans Text is used across vehicle screens, the mobile app, and website, showcasing its versatility. In Text styles, letters are slightly narrower, optimizing space and enhancing readability. Enlarged counters in letters like ‘a’, ‘c’, and ‘e’ improve legibility at small sizes, ideal for quick glances on the road. With a generous x-height and subtle stroke modulation, Sans Text ensures a comfortable reading experience.
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“The optical variability we built into the font keeps the type highly legible and functional, even in demanding environments like a car dashboard at 60 mph.”
Evan Tolleson, Design Director, Tolleson
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Flexes
for Fit
Variable Font
Character Set
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Clarity in all conditions
Lucid Sans Text was carefully designed to work effectively in car interfaces, balancing clarity, safety, and brand essence. Working closely with Lucid’s product and digital teams, we created a versatile type family that integrates seamlessly across all applications, ensuring a cohesive brand experience.
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