Talking to an old sign painter made me rethink my bumper sticker fonts

I was at the hardware store grabbing some paint thinner last Saturday and this older guy saw my sticker samples on my clipboard. He was in his 70s, retired sign painter for the city transit. He told me that the best stickers have no more than 3 words before your eyes get bored and skip the rest. Said I was cramming too many details in there and nobody reads that on a moving car. Has anybody else gotten feedback like that, or do you think short and punchy is really the way to go?

3 comments

3 Comments

theas941mo ago

Think he might be taking this a bit too seriously. Bumper stickers are for expressing yourself, not for advertising. If someone wants to read a longer message, they can slow down or just ignore it. Not everyone driving by is trying to absorb your whole life story in two seconds. Plus, half the fun is cramming in some obscure joke or reference that only a few people will get. Short and punchy works sometimes, but it's not some universal rule.

king.lisa1mo ago

Yeah but @theas94 you're missing the point about how people read while driving, longer stickers can actually be a safety thing if they're too wordy and someone's trying to figure it out at a red light.

eva_garcia561mo ago

Ha! I'm the guy who rear-ended someone at a stoplight reading a mini manifesto.