Neue Helvetica

Designer: (Max Miedinger, Eduard Hoffmann) Linotype staff // Foundry: (Haas) Linotype Country of origin: (Switzerland) Germany // Release year: (1957) 1983 // Classification: Neo-Grotesque Sans

More than 50 years since its release, Helvetica is the world’s most widely known typeface. Its popularity is due in part to its attempt at idealized construction: contrast is minimal; strokes terminate at 90° angles; letter shapes and widths are unusually uniform, bucking conventional forms; and the overall texture is atypically even, almost homogenous. The result is useful for logos and graphic display type, where consistency is desired, but not as effective for long passages of text, where dynamic rhythm and unique lettershapes are vital. Neue Helvetica is a 1980s effort to harmonize the previously incompatible styles. Neue Haas Grotesk refers to the original drawings for an even more holistic family, unconstrained by various technological compromises.