Another one to watch, I can’t seem to find it online yet though but I’ll keep my eyes peeled.
Here’s the trailer:
Just another Media students weblog
I thought I’d place a small section of the brochure next to each other, one in Helvetica, one in Arial, to see how different they really look from a quick glance:
The top is Helvetica, the bottom is Arial. From a quick look they really don’t look too dissimilar, but when you look at the letters which stand out the most, you suddenly start to notice all of the little differences.
I wanted to find out more about recycled paper. If Recycled paper is so much better, why isn’t everyone using it? I thought there had to be a catch. I began by looking into the expenses of recycled paper compared to virgin paper.
Through previous research, I have already found that the quality of recycled paper, is no different to the quality of virgin papers. with this in mind, I began looking into the expenses of recycled paper.
I looked into the manufacturing costs of recycled paper and found that it is more expensive to recycle paper, than it is to make virgin paper. Now I think about it, I’m not surprised that it is more costly to manage recycled paper. The price of paper is constantly changing, but at this current time, recycled paper can cost up to 10% more than virgin papers.
I found out through a recycling website, that most of the UK’s waste paper, is sent to Asia for recycling, instead of being recycled here. This must surely be a costly effort which is the first contributing factor towards raised prices in recycled paper.
Virgin papers are produced on a much larger scale than recycled paper, this is a contributing factor towards prices because the type of machinery required for each is different. Virgin paper machinery is much larger, allowing more paper to be made in a shorter amount of time.
This BBC Article written in 2009, explains that many factors, such as global warming, and changes in the global economy have quite a dramatic effect on the costs of recycling paper.
I understand that recycling is heavily encouraged and considered to be a great thing for the environment, but I think that the real facts about the process, are somewhat shadowed by the encouragement to do something good and recycle.
As the economy changes, the prices of recycled paper increase and decrease, making it unsteady. For businesses and companies who must meet tight budgets, it would be a risky choice to make the decision to use recycled paper when it is uncertain as to what the cost is. This means that continuing to use virgin papers within the business would be the ‘safe option’ and thus making it more favourable.
I cant imagine that this factor would affect small companies so much, but larger companies have more of an impact on the percentage of recycled and virgin papers used in the industry today.
The other day, I watched Helvetica with my housemate. I’m so glad I watched it, I’ve learnt so much.
The documentary doesn’t just focus on Helvetica, but also typography as a whole.
One of the most important things which I learnt from the documentary, which was very relevant to me, was discussion between Helvetica and Arial. I learnt that When Steve Jobs made the Macintosh; he approached Linotype (The owners of Helvetica) and asked them for a licence to use the font as one of the fonts which was provided with the Macintosh.
Microsoft did not want to pay Linotype for a licence so instead, approached Monotype, and asked them to create a similar font. The product of this is Arial. The information was provided from a very biased point of view, but even without that, it’s clear to see why the two fonts are so commonly compared and sometimes mistaken.
I think that given the audiences for each computer (Apple attracting more of the professional design audience) Helvetica always had an advantage over Arial.
Helvetica and Arial can be easily distinguished by particular characters: capital letters C, R, G, Q and lower case letters a, e, r, and t.
There were a lot of other things which I learnt about fonts and how they have been made, and why they are still popular today. Another thing which interested me was the ‘Gotham project’. The Gotham project is led by two men, who have been taking pictures of numbers and interesting building names over the entirety of NY in order to create a new font. It gave me an idea over the inspiration to which a new typeface is born and made me look a little more into the history of both Helvetica and Arial.
Helvetica was created by Max Meidinger and Eduard Hoffmann in 1957. For a while, Helvetica was recognised as Neue Haas Grotesk, and it was only in 1960, 3 years later that it became known as Helvetica. Some of the earliest uses of Helvetica can be seen on old NY Metro maps, were it was recognised and praised for giving a clean and informative style to its maps. More recent examples of Helvetica can still be found on NY Metro, leaflets, timetables and signs. Helvetica is owned by Linotype. The most popular variants of Helvetica are Helvetica Light, Helvetica Compressed and Neue Helvetica.
Arial was created in 1982 for Monotype Typography and was introduced as an alternative Sans Serif to Helvetica. It was first used when IBM released two printers, whom Monotype, were required to provide fonts for. Despite sub-licensing Helvetica, Monotype substituted Helvetica with Arial.
Arial is supported by Microsoft as their alternative to Helvetica, and is one of the ‘core’ true type fonts for Windows.
Arial has many variants, including Regular, Bold, Italic, Black and Extra Bold Italic.
I find the references section on Wikipedia to be a good source of information. On the Helvetica Wiki page, I found a link to a great site called I Love Typography, which has a page called Arial versus Helvetica.
I Love Typography has something called a ‘Fontometer’ which compares fonts for you.
I used the fontometer to compare the character ‘a’ in Arial and Helvetica:
On the left is Arial, and on the right is Helvetica.
When placed side by side, you can only tell the slight differences, but when placed together, you can see in detail the exact diffrences in the characters:
The fontometer allows you to do this to every letter of the alphabet.
Seeing this has made me realise that they are actually quite similar, and I can certainly see why they are often compared.
I think that Arial is often used as the alternative to Helvetica, because it is the most similar font which is provided with Microsoft software. It’s a free, similar font.
Helvetica celebrates it’s 50th Birthday (May 2007)
I found this article on the BBC website about Helvetica over the past 50 years.
It explains in relatively good detail, the development of the sans serif, and why it has become a popular choice.
The article explains that Helvetica is a popular choice for the industry because ‘There are no wiggly bits at the end of the letters. It has smooth, clean lines, and an unobtrusive geometry that almost suggests it was designed not to stand out’.
Here is a comparison chart from the same article.
I find it quite interesting that Gill Sans is shown on this chart. I considered using this font for my project but discarded it in favour of Arial, which is described in this article as a ‘digital clone’ of Helvetica. I have previously used Gill sans for important documents such as my CV, and when I think about why I decided to use that font instead of any others, it is because I was looking for something clean, simple and professional looking; something like Helvetica.
While I’m on this particular train of thought, I’d like to talk about my font decisions for the brochure. I must have have the same thought process when I decided upon using Arial as a temporary solution to not having Helvetica. I wanted a good example font, one which was similar to Helvetica itself, crisp and bold but not fancy. Even the BBC article suggests that you might use Arial because it is ‘reassuring’ and ‘familiar’.
The article doesn’t just celebrate Helvetica; it also shows criticism about the font over the years.
There are quite a few industry names mentioned here when it comes to the opinions on the typeface.
I wanted to know more about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neville_Brody, a well known Graphic designer, Typographer and artist. A quote from him in the article expresses his opinion on Helvetica: “It also says Bland, unadventurous, unambitious”.
I did a little research into Brody to see if I could find out why he dislikes Helvetica. The results I have found online seem to point to the Helvetica Documentary, which I will be watching and taking notes on later on.
From looking at various companies who encourage the use of recycled paper, I have learnt that the quality of the final product, is only really affected by the quality of the recycled paper which is being used. I know now, that in order to achieve the same high quality look of using non-recycled paper, I can swap to a high quality recycled paper, and get the same final product.
In conclusion to my mini case studies, I have decided that it is still much better to use recycled paper, and I no longer have concerns about compromising on the quality of the final printed product.
Lovely as a Tree focus on the environmental costs of using non-recycled paper versus sustainable resourced recycled paper.
‘Lovely as a Tree aims to enable and inspire graphic designers to make more environmentally friendly choices in their work.’
Like PaperBack, Lovely as a Tree also suggest that the standards and quality of recycled paper have improved immensely over the last 20 years, to the point where you can hardly tell the difference. They offer helpful tips and advice on choosing the right kinds of recycled paper and recycled inks too.
Ways in which they suggest making more sustainable design include:
- Making your brochure more compact
- Using a lighter paper, or not using a heavier paper than needed
- ‘Use less ink by reducing areas of ink coverage in your design (eg. solid colours and dark full bleed photographs). This will also make your product easier to recycle’.
- ‘Avoid using fluorescent colours which only come as petroleum-based in’.
As you know, I’ve been looking at the use of recycled paper in the printing industry. I have learnt that it is environmentally friendly, especially alongside recycled ink, but does it affect the quality of the final product at all?
PaperBack have been making and promoting the use of recycled paper since 1983. They launched the first coated recycled printing paper called SylvanCoat. They have a lot of time and experience in ensuring that recycled paper is made at its best for the consumer to use in their business. Their paper is 80gsm and has an improved print surface for a higher quality finish.
PaperBack have a fact and myth page, explaining common assumptions about recycled paper and its affect on the environment: http://paperback.coop/recycled-paper-myths-facts
PaperBack suggest ‘Many recycled coated and office papers are now indistinguishable from
virgin equivalents, not just in their performance, but even in their appearance’.
We can see many examples of the use of Helvetica all around us.
It is greatly appreciated by typographers, designers and the consumer alike.
The popular sans-serif first appeared in the Swiss market, and was created by Swiss designer Max Miedinger in 1957. It was created with the intention of being a versatile font which could be used with various means of advertising without any particular theme to it. You can find various versions of the font, such as Helvetica Light, Helvetica Cryllic and Helvetica Rounded.
Over the years, Helvetica has expanded enormously, spreading from advertising to graphic design to the public sector. you can see the versatile use of Helvetica almost anywhere you go, even without thinking about it. Here’s a few companies who use Helvetica:
As you can see, it is literally used everywhere, from car manufacturers to Staples. Helvetica has become a staple part of typography, and will continue to set the trend for a long time.
Looking at the used of Helvetica in public information design allows me to further relate to my choice of font for the brochure. it is always important when designing an informative piece such as a leaflet or brochure, to make sure it is easy to read and understandable.
Helvetica: the most internationally used and most marvelous font ever. This is why I have chosen to use it.
