Flash Fonts
One of the hardest things to explain to people designing a race car is that simplicity and vibrancy will beat out detail and complexity 9 times out of 10.
Its not that I dislike intricate designs found on some cars or that its wrong to detail them, quite the opposite actually; detail can be fantastic when warranted. The issue is when a car is travelling at 150+MPH, detail isn’t really caught by the human eye the same way as it would be if the car was sitting still.
Race Cars are meant to fly, not idle, so how does one design something that looks good in photos, but also maintains that flourish in the blink of an eye?
To do this, id like to dive into number designs.
I’m willing to bed you’ve seen this car before, if not, its Jeff Gordon’s Iconic Rainbow Warrior scheme. Its a scheme that he took 3 championships and multiple wins in, and as of the time of writing, is a scheme still sold on official NASCAR Merchandise to this day 30 years later.
But, we’re here to talk number designs, and this one is… well, its a number! Its a prime baseline, a fantastic example of how a ‘perfect’ number doesn’t need much. Its a solid yet unique font, a very small outline to separate it from the rainbow elements, paired with a bright color to help fans and crew pick it out from the crowd.
Now, for something not so great. If you took away the red bevel from the yellow numbers, and replaced it with a thick red outline; it would, at the very least, be serviceable. However, This is a perfect example of how more does not equal better.
Squint your eyes and focus on the number. Notice how it all sort of blends to a yellow-red blob? That what you want to avoid. Now imagine a colorful group of race cars flying by, and picture that blurry blob being one of them. Your would stand next to no hope of making out the number on this car.
Here’s a wonderful example of how detailing can be used within a racing number.
It succeeds in maintaining its legibility when it flies by, yet the added detail of the corn lines within the 7 enhances the design when one is able to catch a photo of it.
I wanted to include this to showcase what I think to be a perfect example of a number design that nails it. Its a simple number with a big bold font, its got a solid outline to break it away from the general design, its spaced a nice distance from the other elements in the canvas, but its also got extra flourish to tie it into the sponsor of the car without detracting from its overall design and legibility.
