Mattel has a new custom font, and it’s full of playful hidden details

For the first time in 80 years, the toymaker has a new brand font. Can you find all the easter eggs?

Mattel just got its first custom global typeface in over 80 years, and it’s brimming with brand easter eggs.

Mattel operates dozens of brands under its corporate umbrella, each with their own visual identity and brand voice. But, until now, Mattel has never had its own proprietary typeface for its overarching brand, instead opting to license multiple existing fonts on a global scale—an endeavor that was not only expensive, but also came at the cost of visual consistency across Mattel’s many product lines. Otis Gibson, founder of the Chicago-based creative agency Gertrude, says his agency was tasked with “putting a lasso” around Mattel’s corporate identity.

Their solution, a typeface called Matty and Belle Mattel Sans, can be translated into multiple languages, read in even the smallest of fine print, and used on everything from social media and pitch decks to product packaging. And while the typeface was designed for maximum practicality, Gibson’s team also wove playful allusions to the brand’s history throughout their work.

A typeface inspired by ’50s toy mascots

When designing Mattel’s new typeface, Gibson’s team was guided by an unusual creative ethos that he describes as “fun in a library.”

First and foremost, Gibson explains, the typeface needed to “be legible,” “work across mobile,” and “be global,” given that Mattel planned to use the design in other languages like Turkish and Greek. For those reasons, it couldn’t include too many flourishes or unexpected design details (hence the “library”). At the same time, though, it still needed to hint at the brand’s playful spirit.

To strike that balance, Gertrude looked back into Mattel’s archives for inspiration. While combing through old assets, they stumbled across a pair of characters named Matty and Belle Mattel, a sibling duo that featured in illustrations, advertisements, and cartoons for the brand from the ‘50s to the ‘70s. At one point, Matty even starred on a Mattel logo that appeared on all of its packaging. The logo was an emblem featuring Matty, in his signature striped shirt and crown, sitting atop a Mattel “M.” 

For Gibson’s team, Matty and Belle offered the perfect way to bring both historical influence and fun into their design. They used the characters as inspiration for two different fonts: one more grounded, practical font named after Matty, and another more playful font named after Belle. 

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