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.
