Helvetica
Helvetica is a sans-serif typeface developed in 1957 by Swiss typeface designer Max Miedinger.
Comments
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Unimpeded by an overbearing personality of its own
I too love this typeface, especially the Neue family. I frequently use it in my work because it allows ideas to be expressed unimpeded by an overbearing personality of its own.
brandman, United States - 09 November 2006
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A thing of pure beauty
Helvetica is probably the most loved and respected typeface of all time not to mention the most widely used. She is a thing of pure beauty. Helvetica was developed by Max Miedinger with Eduard Hoffmann in 1957 for the Haas Type Foundry in Munchenstein, Switzerland. In the late 1950s, the European design world saw a revival of older sans-serif typefaces such as the German face Akzidenz Grotesk. Haas’ director Hoffmann commissioned Miedinger, a former employee and freelance designer, to draw an updated sans-serif typeface to add to their line. The result was called Neue Haas Grotesk, but its name was later changed to Helvetica, derived from Helvetia, the Latin name for Switzerland, when Haas’ German parent companies Stempel and Linotype began marketing the font internationally in 1961. Introduced amidst a wave of popularity of Swiss design, and fueled by advertising agencies selling this new design style to their clients, Helvetica quickly appeared in corporate logos, signage for transportation systems, fine art prints, and myriad other uses worldwide. Inclusion of the font in home compter systems such as the Apple Macintosh in 1984 only further cemented its ubiquity.
Dazzer, United Kingdom - 07 November 2006