Helvetica is one of the world’s most famous
fonts, and is used on so many things that people often dismiss it. It is used
by huge corporations to independent designers, and is very influential in the
world of type, so influential, in fact, that there was a film created dedicated
to how Helvetica changed and affected the world. It’s been featured by MOMA in
New York and has awarded many times.
Helvetica was created in Switzerland in 1957
by Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann. It was originally supposed to be named
‘Die Neue Haas Grotesk’, which resembles Schelter-Grotesk. The font itself was
created for the sole purpose of being a total neutral font, to have no meaning
or give any impression. The marketing director at Stempel changed the name to
Helvetica in 1960 to make the font more marketable overseas. Before naming it
Helvetica they were going to name it Helvetia, but decided against it due to
the designers not wanting to name it after a country (Helvetia is Latin for
Switzerland), so they called it Helvetica instead, which means Swiss in Latin.
In the 50’s there were many logos and designs
that are iconic to that era, but some companies and industries wanted change in
their posters and designs. They wanted a neutral font that expressed nothing
but sleekness and simplicity. This was not to forget the past design and type
sense because it was bad, but because they were coming into a new age of
design.
In 1898, the typeface called Akzidenz-Grotesk
was created by Berthold, one of the world’s largest type foundries at the time.
It is believed that this is where the idea of Helvetica was inspired and based
on, as well as other designs from 1898 to 1957. Many things had changed in them
60 years, and Miedinger believed the world should have a modern font once more.
It was very popular at the time and many other typefaces were based on
Akzidenz-Grotesk. As Miedinger also based his on Akzidenz-Grotesk, there are
many similarities between the two fonts, are difficult to see which one is
which without analysing further.
Helvetica has exploded in popularity ever
since it was created and has been used in many corporations and logos over time.
It is the font that is used on the New York subway system, which is iconic for
New York. Because Helvetica remains legible while moving, it has been used on
many vehicle and airline logos, such as BMW, Toyota, Harley Davidson, Jeep,
Lufthansa, and American Airlines. These are all well-known companies, and their
logo helps them get recognition, which means that Helvetica is a good idea if
they want their logo to be easy to read. It has also been on clothing company
logos, such as The North Face, American Apparel and Caterpillar.
