Pentagram Brings “Fantastic Mr Font” To The RDSC

Reading Time: 2 minutes

With Fantastic Mr Font, Pentagram has designed a flexible, mischievous typeface that embodies Roald Dahl’s whimsical storytelling and seamlessly adapts to different audiences and formats.

Key takeaways

• A dynamic brand identity was developed to fuel Roald Dahl’s storytelling expansion under Netflix’s ownership.
• Fantastic Mr Font, created with Pangram Pangram, balances the joy and darkness in Dahl’s works.
• The design system embraces Quentin Blake’s iconic illustrations alongside new graphic elements.
• The identity captures Dahl’s signature wit, mischief, and imagination while catering to preschoolers, families, and adults.

Pentagram’s vision: Keeping the Dahl magic alive

Entrusted with crafting a brand identity for one of the most beloved literary legacies, Pentagram’s Emily Oberman and her team have created a vibrant, flexible, and the best design system for The Roald Dahl Story Company (RDSC). 

Since 2021, RDSC has been owned by Netflix, expanding Dahl’s world through new publishing projects, digital platforms, films, and stage productions.

To maintain the charm of Dahl’s eccentric universe while accommodating a vast audience, Pentagram introduced a custom-built typeface: Fantastic Mr Font. 

This typographic marvel effortlessly shifts its form based on the tone of each story, ensuring consistency across branding elements.

Fantastic Mr Font: A mischievous masterstroke

Collaborating with Pangram Pangram, Pentagram customized the existing PP Acma font to infuse more playfulness and mischief. 

The result? A typeface that reflects the joy, darkness, and humor integral to Dahl’s storytelling. 

The font’s versatility is evident in its whimsical curled tails and tilted letterforms, evoking the feeling of toppling books.

For adult branding, it transitions into a sleeker, sharper style, showcasing Dahl’s darker, more macabre themes.

Following its acquisition by Netflix, the Roald Dahl Story Company’s new identity by Emily Oberman includes the mischievously titled custom typeface Fantastic Mr Font https://t.co/n6hAZqthdG pic.twitter.com/0d0PJpW227

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A design system rooted in RDSC’s world

Pentagram’s identity work goes beyond typography, incorporating a cohesive visual system inspired by Dahl’s universe. 

Quentin Blake’s classic illustrations remain at the brand’s heart, seamlessly blending with fresh graphic elements. New patterns drawn from iconic symbols like the golden ticket, the giant peach, and fluttering birds add further depth to the design.

The color palette borrows from Dahl’s vibrant book covers, ensuring a nostalgic yet modern appeal.

This versatile system will unify the brand’s visual language across all publishing, film, television, and digital media projects.

Balancing whimsy with dark humor

Emily Oberman emphasizes that Dahl’s genius lies in shifting from warm and silly nonsense to dark humor and macabre storytelling. 

The challenge was to reflect this dynamism in the branding. The Fantastic Mr Font achieves this with alternative letterforms, allowing for a tone shift depending on the context.

As The Roald Dahl Story Company moves into a new era, this brand identity ensures that Dahl’s legacy continues to captivate audiences worldwide while preserving the mischief and wonder that define his stories.

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