I finally saw why people hate busy bumper stickers after a guy at the gas station yelled at me

I had this sticker with like 8 different fonts and colors covering half my trunk, thought it looked fun. Some older dude at the Shell station said it was giving him a headache and he couldn't read a single thing on it. He was right, now I'm trying to figure out how many words is too many for a good sticker.

3 comments

3 Comments

blairwhite1mo ago

Oh man, I totally get this. I had a sticker on my old car that said "My other car is also a Subaru" in like six different fonts and it looked like a ransom note. I thought I was being funny but people would just stare at it with this confused look on their faces. There's definitely a sweet spot where it's readable but still interesting. I think anything over 5 words starts to push it unless you get one of those simple block letter designs.

spencer6641mo ago

Wait, are you seriously saying a bumper sticker can have too many words? I've got one on my truck that's basically a short essay about why my dog is smarter than most people and I've never had a single complaint. Actually had a guy roll down his window at a stoplight to tell me he agreed with every point.

troy_ross1mo ago

You ever see one of those stickers that tries way too hard? My buddy Pat had a van back in the day with "If you can read this, you're too close, also my driving is terrible, and I apologize in advance for whatever happens next" crammed onto his bumper. The letters were so small you had to be like 3 feet away to read it, which basically defeated the whole purpose. He thought it was hilarious but everyone just saw a blurry rectangle until they were practically rear-ending him. There's gotta be a balance between being clever and being indecipherable, right?