Project 3: Specimen Book

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H

ISTORY OF

ELVETICA

Swiss designer Max Miedinger with Eduard Hoffmann introduced Helvetica in 1957. Miedinger started his typographic life by training as a typesetter in Zürich (in the late 1930s). He also attended night time classes at Kunstgewerbeschule during the same time period. For four years he did an appreniceship program at a book printing office, also in Zürich. Following his work with the booking printing office, he enrolled to go to the School of Arts and Crafts. Later on he became a typographer for an advertising firm called Globe where he spend about 10 years developing his skills.

Progressing, he later began work at Type Foundry Haas in Switzerland as

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a representative. 1956 is when Miedinger began doing freelance work and developed Helvetica with Hoffmann.

The sans-serif typeface was meant to be straight forward, neutral, clear/concise with no deep meaning, and widely applicable. It was ideal for various forms of signage. The first given name of the typography was Neue Haas Grotesk.

However, because it was difficult to translate over language barriers the name Helvetica was coined (in 1960). At first, the name Helvetia was proposed, as it was latin for Switzerland, however, since they did not want the font named after a country they used Helveti-

ca. At the time it was quickly adopted by businesses and corporations looking for a new indentity. Since then, a wide array of variants of the font have been created.

Creation of variants made the font family even more widely applicable. A few examples of these variants include: •Helvetica Light, which was created by Erich Schultz-Anker and Arthur Ritzel.

•Helvetica Compressed, which was developed by Matthew Carter.

(Other variants are featured on pages 4-5.)

Sources: 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helvetica 2. http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2010/01/ the-simplicity-of-helvetica/ 3. http://www.overnightprints.com/helvetica 4. Helvetica the movie (watched in class) Page uses: Helvetica Regular & Helvetica Light in sizes 72pt (large letters)14pt (content) 8pt (sources)

YEAR

1898 1957 1978 1982 1983

EVENT Akzidenz-Grotesk, the typefaced that inspired Helvetica, was developed by Berthold.

Helvetica was born, created

by Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann while at the Haas type foundry.

Helvetica Rounded was developed. Only available in bold and black variants.

Competing font Arial was introduced. The font is very indistinguishable to the uneducated eye.

Neue Helvetica was created.

It worked to unify character dimensions and further improve legibility along with changes in number spacing and puctuation.

Sources: 1.http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2010/01/ the-simplicity-of-helvetica/ Page uses: Helvetica Bold & Helvetica Regular, sizes 40pt (titles) 72pt (dates) 14 (content) 8pt (sources). Also uses Arial Regular 14pt (Arial content)

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VARIANTS 4

One of Helevetica’s many variations...

One of Helevetica’s many variations...

One of Helevetica’s many variations...

One of Helevetica’s many variations...

One of Helevetica’s many variations...

One of Helevetica’s many variations...

One of Heleveticas Neue’s many variations...

One of Heleveticas Neue’s many variations...

One of Heleveticas Neue’s many variations...

One of Heleveticas Neue’s many variations...

One of Heleveticas Neue’s many variations...

One of Heleveticas Neue’s many variations...

...Helvetica Light 21pt ...Helvetica Light Oblique 21pt ...Helvetica Regular 21pt ...Helvetica Oblique 21pt ...Helvetica Bold 19pt ...Helvetica Bold Oblique 19pt ...Helvetica Neue Condensed Bold 19pt ...Helvetica Neue Condensed Black 18pt

...Helvetica Neue UltraLight 19pt ...Helvetica Neue UltraLight Italic 19pt ...Helvetica Neue Light 18pt ...Helvetica Neue Light Italic 18pt

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FUN

FACTS

“

Popular Brands that use a form of Helvetica for their logo: American Airlines, Staples, American Apparel, Jeep, Nestle, Toyota, Post-it, BMW, Sears, Target, Microsoft, Panasonic, Tupperware, Scotch,3M, Caterpillar, Evian, Skype, CVS Pharmacy, Energizer, Oral-B, Harley Davidson, JCPenny, Olympus, Kawasaki, National, Dole, Bell Atlantic, The North Face, GM, Motorola, Lufthansa, British Gas and Mattel (as well as many more)

Helvetica’s characters always have vertical or horizontal terminations on their strokes, never diagonal. Helvetica is as much about the negative space surrounding the letters than about the lines that make up the characters themselves. The negative space contained within the lowercase “a” closely resembles a teardrop. It has monotone stroke weights. It remains legible when in motion, one reason it’s popular for signage and automaker and airline logos.

“

Sources: 1.http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2010/01 the-simplicity-of-helvetica/ Page uses: Helvetica Bold, Helvetica Light & Helvetica Regular, sizes 103pt (“FUN” and quotes) 70pt (“FACTS”) 14 (top-right content) 16pt (middle content) 8pt (sources).

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HELVETICATHEMOVIE YEAR

12 September 2007

DIRECTOR Gary Hustwit

OVERVIEW

“In 2005 a number of provocative, award-winning ads appeared that touted the Helvetica font; Gary Hustwit explores the subject protractedly with his feature-length essay film Helvetica. The documentary,

produced in 2007 (and thus commemorating the typeface’s 50th anniversary), uses the omnipresent font as a lens through which it examines contemporary visual culture and how typeface is used, aesthetically, spatially, and culturally, to impart shape and character to urban environments. Hustwit then segues into a discussion with a number of acclaimed designers about their work, their creative visions and processes, and the aesthetic reasoning behind various decisions regarding font. Hustwit in-

terviews over 20 design experts in the film, including Michael C. Place, Paula Scher, Matthew Carter, and David Carson. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi”

Sources: (UPDATE INFO.) 1.http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/helvetica/ Page uses: Helvetica Light & Helvetica Regular, sizes 48pt (title) 30pt (sub titles ) 12 (content) 8pt (sources).

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Michael Crisp