HELVETICA

We get different responses to different typefaces, and the western world has been united behind the so-called ultimate typeface for several decades; The Helvetica font. The Helvetica font was developed by Swiss typeface designer Max Miedinger in 1957, then called 'Neue Haas Grotesk'. 'Grotesk' was not an acceptable name, as it did not work internationally, so that is the reason behind the name change some years later. Helvetica is a part of a font family called scalable fonts. A scalable font is a font that can be resized, either smaller or larger, without being distorted. Miedinger accomplished this task by making each element of the font a mathematical formula. This made it easy for people to make their font bold, italicize, resize or even change color of the font without having to refer to another character on the computer. In 1960 the typeface's name was changed to Helvetica (the Latin name for Swiss)

The Helvetica font is the most popular font, because it is considered fresh, clean and neutral. The design of Helvetica is all about the space between and in the characters. The space between the characters are tight and holds the characters together. A Helvetica font on either a logo or a slogan represents a transparent, accountable and acceptable image. Which is what many businesses strive for. Some people are even saying that Helvetica is the badge of the modern society. It has got the perfect balance of push and pull, which indicates that everything will work out. Even though so many people are mega fans of this font, there are some people who argue that the font is creating standardization and pushing globalization. You see Helvetica everywhere, all the time. Businesses, people, organizations and governments are all pushing their information out in the world with help from Helvetica. What a global monster! Designers say Helvetica is simply unfixable - How can you fix something that is perfect?

“I’m obviously a typomaniac - which is an incurable if not mortal disease.” 

-Erik Spiekermann

Well-known brands that have used Helvetica as their font.