- published: 06 Feb 2011
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Helvetica is a widely used sans-serif typeface developed in 1957 by Swiss typeface designer Max Miedinger with Eduard Hoffmann.
Characteristics of this typeface are:
lower case: square dot over the letter i. double storey a.
upper case: dropped horizontal element on A.
Helvetica was developed in 1957 by Max Miedinger with Eduard Hoffmann at the Haas'sche Schriftgiesserei (Haas type foundry) of Münchenstein, Switzerland. Haas set out to design a new sans-serif typeface that could compete with the successful Akzidenz-Grotesk in the Swiss market. Originally called Neue Haas Grotesk, its design was based on Schelter-Grotesk and Haas’ Normal Grotesk. The aim of the new design was to create a neutral typeface that had great clarity, no intrinsic meaning in its form, and could be used on a wide variety of signage.
When Linotype adopted Neue Haas Grotesk (which was never planned to be a full range of mechanical and hot-metal typefaces) its design was reworked. After the success of Univers, Arthur Ritzel of Stempel redesigned Neue Haas Grotesk into a larger family.
Erik Spiekermann (born May 30, 1947 in Stadthagen, Lower Saxony) is a German typographer and designer. He is a professor at the University of the Arts Bremen.
Spiekermann studied art history at Berlin's Free University, funding himself by running a letterpress printing press in the basement of his house.
Between 1972 and 1979, he worked as a freelance graphic designer in London before returning to Berlin and founding MetaDesign with two partners.
In 1989 he and his wife, Joan Spiekermann, started FontShop, the first mail-order distributor for digital fonts. FSI FontShop International followed and now publishes the FontFont range of typefaces. MetaDesign combined clean, teutonic-looking information design and complex corporate design systems for clients like BVG (Berlin Transit), Düsseldorf Airport, Audi, Volkswagen and Heidelberg Printing, amongst others.
In 2001 Spiekermann left MetaDesign over policy disagreements and started UDN | United Designers Networks with offices in Berlin, London and San Francisco.
Keywords: advertising, art, design, designer, global-culture, graphic-design, modernism, typeface, typography
Michael Bierut: It's The Real Thing. Period. Coke. Period. Any Questions? Of Course Not.
Rick Poynor: Type is saying things to us all the time. Typefaces express a mood, an atmosphere. They give words a certain coloring.
Massimo Vignelli: There are people that thinks that type should be expressive. They have a different point of view from mine.
Massimo Vignelli: You can say, "I love you," in Helvetica. And you can say it with Helvetica Extra Light if you want to be really fancy. Or you can say it with the Extra Bold if it's really intensive and passionate, you know, and it might work.
Wim Crouwel: The meaning is in the content of the text and not in the typeface, and that is why we loved Helvetica very much.
Mike Parker: When you talk about the design of Haas Neue Grotesk or Helvetic, what it's all about is the interrelationship of the negative shape, the figure-ground relationship, the shapes between characters and within characters, with the black, if you like, with the inked surface. And the Swiss pay more attention to the background, so that the counters and the space between characters just hold the letters. I mean you can't imagine anything moving; it is so firm. It not a letter that bent to shape; it's a letter that lives in a powerful matrix of surrounding space. It's... oh, it's brilliant when it's done well.
Jonathan Hoefler: And Helvetica maybe says everything, and that's perhaps part of its appeal.
Tobias Frere-Jones: The sort of classical modernist line on how aware a reader should be of a typeface is that they shouldn't be aware of it at all. It should be this crystal goblet there to just hold and display and organize the information. But I don't think it's really quite as simple as that. I think even if they're not consciously aware of the typeface they're reading, they'll certainly be affected by it, the same way that an actor that's miscast in a role will affect someone's experience of a movie or play that they're watching. They'll still follow the plot, but, you know, be convinced or affected. I think typography is similar to that, where a designer choosing typefaces is essentially a casting director.
Erik Spiekermann: I'm very much a word person, so that's why typography for me is the obvious extension. It just makes my words visible.
Erik Spiekermann: It's air, you know. It's just there. There's no choice. You have to breathe, so you have to use Helvetica.
Actors: Adam Orton (composer), Adam Orton (director), Beau Batterson (producer), Beau Batterson (editor), Beau Batterson (writer), Judd Saul (producer), Brian Batterson (actor), Brian Batterson (producer), Abby Batterson (miscellaneous crew), Duane Melsh (actor), Ashley K. Cory (miscellaneous crew), Katy Baker (actor), Nolan McCann (actor), Ramez Rifai (actor), Jamie Rifai (actress),
Genres: Comedy, Family, Horror, Short,Actors: Marcel Bracks (actor), Nils Crompton (writer), Nils Crompton (editor), Nils Crompton (director), Nils Crompton (producer), Brooke Trezise (editor), Brooke Trezise (producer), Brooke Trezise (writer), Brooke Trezise (composer), Brooke Trezise (director), Kate Worsley (actress), Joel Pieterse (costume designer), Marcel Begoihn (actor), Superhumanoids (composer), Liz Hugues (actress),
Plot: In a world where fonts live and breathe, Helvetica plots to create a super-typeface to replace all others! His nemesis, Wendy, fights for diversity and self expression, but does the end justify her means? A playful short that challenges expectations of typography and sound design.
Genres: Comedy, Fantasy, Mystery, Short,Actors: Will Schmeckpeper (writer), Will Schmeckpeper (actor), Will Schmeckpeper (producer), Andrew Ellis (director), Andrew Ellis (writer), Andrew Ellis (editor), Andrew Ellis (producer), Kyle Morris (actor), Travis Swartz (actor), Yolanda Wood (actress), Ian Taylor (actor), JJ Neward (actress), Ian Taylor (writer), Frank Kanig (actor), Annie Cosho (actress),
Plot: Tells the tale of a shooting war that breaks out between rural Idaho neighbors-Sheriff Thompson and the Tucker family-over pent up frustrations regarding water rights. The Sheriff strikes first by secretly hiring the Bad Ass Chicks-a gang of roving outlaws--to drive the Tuckers from their ranch. When Pa Tucker refuses to leave his ranch, the Bad Ass Chicks gun him down in cold blood and issue an ultimatum to the rest of the Tucker Family that they have two days to depart or suffer a similar fate. The Tuckers-unaware of the Sheriff's role in Pa's death-appeal to the Sheriff for help, who promises protection. But Ma Tuckers is dubious about the Sheriff's competence, so the Tuckers hire a mercenary gunslinger named Delroy off the Internet to come defend their interests. Delroy arrives in Payette County and the stage is set for the climatic show-down in the Tucker corral. Stumbling unawares into the midst of this brouhaha is the hapless Delbert, the ex-husband of Lucille Tucker. Freshly released from prison, Delbert arrives in Payette County loudly proclaiming his intention to kill Lucille-a plan that is quickly thwarted by the locals, with a little help from the gunslinger Delroy.
Genres: Comedy,