McDonalds, the infamous brand that is known worldwide as the dominator of all fast food. The company sells 4,700 burgers a minute and makes around 19.21 billion a year. In this blog we’ll be exploring the typography and branding that goes into every order sold and campaign made. 

Mcdonalds uses a corporate typeface called the Lovin’ Sans for all its typography. The font is similar to Helvetica neue black. Which is a sans-serif font developed in 1957, by a Swiss typeface designer and the type is heavily influenced by German and Swiss lettering. Helvetica is an extremely popular font used in America. It’s most memorable use being the New York Metro system and U.S government using it for things like tax forms and NASA. It’s also very popular with commercial wordmarks like Skype, American Apparel and Apple. So, why would Mcdonalds choose to base their font on it, what does it say about their brand? Well, let’s look at their font.  

It has a high x-height, the characters have a high width and are uniform, and the apertures are tight. Making it bold and easy to read. It’s lack of complexity is symbolic for the food, hassle free and straightforward. As their menu items rarely change keeping the same font for all the items means customers know exactly what they’re getting, no surprises, no funny business. I think the classic font represents the idea that Mcdonalds will never change and is a grounded in their brand just like they are in their food items.  

Helvetica is a font “that will never go out of fashion” as it’s been used for decades, especially in the art scene it’s a staple for modern pop art and bold new ideas. Just like Mcdonalds which has also been around for decades, both are popular and reliable.  

Funny enough whilst creating the font Helvetica the designer, Eduard Hoffman, used the word “Hamburgers’ as a base for curating the look of the font. He guessed if hamburgers was easy enough to read, Helvetica would achieve his goal. Potentially this could be why McDonalds chose the font. It draws attention to the writing but doesn’t add any personality. Ellen Lupton, who works at Cooper-Hewitt calls it the “corporate vanilla” of all fonts. Unlike Futura and Gills Sans, which have stronger geometrics, Helvetica has no significant design choices attached to it. 

Leo Burnett a designer for McDonalds was said to have chosen this particular font as he saw the popularity of David Schwen over Turner Duckworth whilst they were both pitching ideas for McDonald’s new campaign. The minimalist designs spoke louder than something complex as complexity is something McDonalds just isn’t known for as an establishment. 

Doesn't that look tasty...