Typography is primarily created by designers, but some fonts are so popular that they enter larger cultural eras. Helvetica is one such font. Developed in 1957, it has become ubiquitous, seen everywhere from labels on grocery store shelves to shipping to American Apparel's trademark. ? Helvetica is not the name of this now iconic font. It was originally named Neue Haas Groteskbut, but was renamed in 1960 to make it easier to sell abroad after becoming popular in Switzerland. The name connotes boredom and neutrality; in fact, Helvetica has been called the "little black dress" font. Sure, it might not be the most exciting thing to have in your closet (or type of collection), but it's versatile and can be worn to all types of events. ? Interested in learning more about this font? Scroll down to learn about Helvetica's characteristics, its historical development, and why it remains so popular today. What does Helvetica look like? Before getting into the specifics of Helvetica, it's worth understanding some basic terminology. A common mistake when people talk about typography is that they use "font" and "typeface" as interchangeable terms. This is not right. A font refers to the design of a typeface and all its variations. Helvetica is a font. Fonts, on the other hand, refer to those specific variations. Helvetica Bold 12pt is an example of a font. Another way to remember the difference is that fonts are like photo albums and fonts are like songs on an album. ? Considering these conditions, let us discuss the characteristics of Helvetica. Helvetica is a neo-grotesque font. The New Weirdness is St. Serif (a font without "feet" or "hat") started in the 1950s International typography style (also known as Swiss style). It was created with a focus on simplicity - something Helvetica embodies . Features of HELVETICA
The font has a high x-height, which refers to the height of the lowercase x.
The uppercase letters have a wide width and also have uniform uppercase letters. You'll notice that the shape of the letters doesn't get progressively smaller throughout the character - it's all the same.
S is a square.
Helvetica features a narrow aperture - opening up the spaces between the counters (including the letters c, f, h, etc.). The outside of the letter
The letters have close spacing between them to achieve a dense appearance. Developing Helvetica
Early Helvetica specimens Helvetica wasn't pulled from thin air, it was created in 1896 by a species called Akzdens-Glotsk. It was developed by Eduard Hofmann and had input from Max Mittinger of the Haas mold foundry. ? When these two people were using Helvetica, there was a word that could be used to judge the font: "Hamburgers". Hoffman knew that the word contained a series of characters that could help them evaluate the quality of the font. If "burger" was easy to read, Helvetica would have achieved its goal. Why is Helvetica everywhere? Helvetica has remained fashionable and relevant throughout the years, and it's not going to fall out of favor anytime soon. But when it's popular, it's also invisible. It's not too unique, and that's the point. Helvetica is easy to read without calling attention to itself, which is why it has been used in places like the New York City subway system for so long. Ellen Lupton, curator of contemporary design at Cooper-Hewitt, offers insight into its rise and longevity. "It delivered what designers wanted: a typeface that clearly lacked personality," she explains.
"In contrast, other popular sans serifs of the time, such as Gill Sans Serif and Future, had a stronger voice and more distinctive geometries. Helvetica satisfied our desire for corporate vanilla."? If this sounds like it Like the disdain for Helvetica, you can look at it this way: design and art are not the same. Design solves a problem. In scenarios where a font is required to convey information quickly and effortlessly, while also providing variety (font selection), then it should be hailed as a success.