Volvo creates "instantly readable" typeface to improve driver safety
Swedish car brand Volvo has collaborated with type studio Dalton Maag to create a dedicated typeface for use in its cars, which aims to be as easy to read as possible.
Named Volvo Centum, the typeface will be used for messaging on digital screens throughout the company's cars with the aim of improving driver safety.
"For almost 100 years, safety has been our guiding principle behind everything we do," Volvo Cars UX creative director Matthew Hall told Dezeen.
"Volvo Centum was designed with safety in mind – by making complexity simple, being easy to absorb at a glance, reducing visual clutter and supporting a more intuitive driving experience," he continued. "Every detail in our interface is an opportunity to create clarity and confidence, and a more intuitive driving experience, so that our customers feel safe and can trust the car."
The core concept was to design a typeface that would be extremely legible so it can be read quickly by drivers in all conditions, even at a glance.
"With safety as the guiding principle of our design, legibility becomes non-negotiable," said Hall.
"Every character in Volvo Centum has been carefully crafted to be instantly readable at a glance for quick comprehension, whether in bright daylight or low-light driving conditions. It's about adding clarity and reducing cognitive load so drivers can grasp the most important information and focus their attention on the road."
Dalton Maag and Volvo worked together to consider how the typeface would impact thinking time and how the messages would be perceived at a glance.
"Type design is a discipline that applies the principles of cognitive psychology and visual perception to broader design systems applied to digital or physical surfaces," explained Hall.
"The principles of what this means in the context of driving centre on a few key areas: legibility, which is informed by character disambiguation, the use of open counters, and other typographic details that aid in scanning and decoding."
"Another principle would be to reduce cognitive load or how the driver's brain is allocating information," he continued.
"Finally, the design of a typeface directly influences eye movements – saccades – across vehicle HMI [Human-Machine Interface]. Letterform details, character pairings, choices in size and composition all keep the eye moving smoothly, increasing the words recognised per glance, directly impacting readability."
The typeface, which was named Volvo Centum in reference to the brand's 100th anniversary in 2027, is set to debut in the upcoming Volvo EX60 in early 2026.
Apart from being designed for legibility, it also evokes the brand's classic cars, including the 1990s Volvo 850.
"Volvo's design heritage offered rich inspiration for shaping the letterforms from the vertical tail lamps and the diagonal of the three-point safety belt to the brand's enduring sense of proportion and durability," explained Hall.
"What's been a pleasant surprise is how the same qualities that make the Volvo 850 timeless, one of my personal favourites, translate so naturally into typography," he continued.
"Volvo Centum's boxy curves, clean horizontal terminals and confident straight segments create a system that is both expressive and purposeful, allowing the typeface to communicate with clarity and character."
Other recent typefaces to be published on Dezeen include a "bright and playful" font family by British Standard Type for Yinka Ilori.
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