Helvetica

Helvetica is a widely used sans-serif typeface, developed in 1957 by Swiss typeface designer Max Miedinger.

Trained as a typestter in the late 1920's, Miedinger eventually went to work for Edouard Hoffman, the director of the Haas Typefoundry. During his time there Miedinger worked primarily as a sales

man. Eventually, he was approached by Hoffman to do something more in his spare time. As a result of this initial behest, Miedinger sought out to design a sans serif typeface that over time would become on of the widely known and sought after typefaces to date.

Originally called Neue Haas Grotesk, the typeface design was based on Schelter-Grotesk and Haas' Normal Grotesk. Miedinger's aim in creating this new design was to create a neutral typeface that lacked a general

clarity, no intrinsic meaning and could be used in a wide variety of forms.

In the 1960's the typeface was renamed Helvetica in order to make a more marketable product. In doing so this helped to put Miedinger on the map. Earning royalties from this seemingly simple breakthrough, Helvetica's influence on society shows no signs of slowing down, even after Miedinger's death in the early 1980's.

Since it's initial inception, various Helvetica interpretations have appeared, such as the Helvetica Light and Helvetica Compressed

Family (consisting of Compressed, Extra Compressed, and Ultra Compressed Fonts). The next iteration of the font appeared in 1978, under the title Helvetica Rounded. In relation to the original design, this variant contained rounded stroke terminators. Since then at least 2 other variants and countless imitators have appeared, many of which are still around today.

The simplicity of the typeface seems to be the greatest attribute it has to offer, with countless companies and organizations adopting it. For some though, it appears to have something of a dark side. As philosophers, scholars and the like see the government and corporation love of Helvetica in a more ominous manner. Leslie Swan wrote that these corporations "can come off seeming more accessible, transparent, and accountable, which are all buzzwords for what corporations and governments are supposed to be today. They don't have to be accessible, transparent or accountable, but they can look that way."