A practical approach for food trucks
A food truck’s typography must work on a moving vehicle, an outdoor menu, and a small ordering screen. Start by deciding what someone needs to identify from a few steps away: the business name, the main food offer, and the place to order. Give each a deliberate position.
Try Oswald for short category headings and Inter for descriptions, prices, and order instructions. Oswald’s condensed shape is a stylistic option when space is tight; it still needs enough room between letters and lines. Avoid shrinking an entire menu to fit a panel crowded with photographs and slogans.
Letter size as seen by the reader changes with viewing distance. Legge & Bigelow (2011) That is why a truck-side design needs an outdoor proof, not just approval on a close-up screen.
Use a mockup with the real panel dimensions and the longest item name. Check the design in sun and shade from the expected queue position. Put optional extras in a consistent secondary area, and make the ordering instruction visible before adding more decoration.
Truck-side identification
Give the truck name, the food offer, and the ordering location a clear order. Leave margins around the lettering. A compact display face can be worth comparing for a short name, but adding more text to every panel can quickly undermine the arrangement.
Outdoor menu and prices
Use a menu proof with actual board dimensions and the longest item name. Put extra toppings or add-ons in a secondary area with ordinary lettering. Check the design outdoors from the expected queue position and in more than one lighting condition.
Order-window instructions
Label the ordering and pickup areas directly. A website or social handle can appear as supporting information, but it should not compete with the instruction customers need at the window. Keep any phone menu related to the board while sizing it for close reading.
Check before you commit
At the expected distance, check whether readers can identify the food offer and find a complete item price.
Research behind the advice
These font pairs are editorial recommendations. The cited studies did not test these specific combinations. Business applications are design advice, not measured promises of sales or bookings.