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.