The History of Helvetica

The history of Helvetica

Think of the 60’s era and its advertising. What comes to mind? Style? Slick designs? Clean lines? That’s due in large part to Max Miedinger and his Helvetica font design. Even today, this is one of the world’s most popular fonts.

The sans serif style font was developed in 1957 by Max Miedinger. With its clean lines and good looks, it took the world by storm. But popularity has its downside. Due to widespread use, Miedinger’s font grew into an anonymous, almost generic-looking font. Because it was embraced and used so often, it became the norm. In fact, the Helvetica font ended up being the default font choice almost from its inception. And when laser printers and desktop publishing software took off, Helvetica had a firm foundation as the sans serif font of choice.

The term Helvetica means “Swiss” which is appropriate because the Helvetica type face uses the Swiss style of graphic design which relies heavily on sans serif styling and a preference for photography over illustrations. Strict grid systems are another hallmark of the iconic Swiss style graphics which rose to popularity in the fifties through early seventies.

The Helvetica Font quickly rose to the top and became emblematic of the Swiss style. The Swiss design movement was sweeping the graphic world at the time with their theories of objective communication of ideas over artistic expression. Graphic designers loved the bold new look and clean lines and found it hard to resist. Laser printers and desktop publishing software developers chose Helvetica as their default font and sealed its fate as the iconic font that it is.

The popularity of this font couldn’t last forever. In fact many who once embraced it came to shun it due in large part to its popularity and newfound stature as the default choice for laser printers and desktop publishing applications. Such is life on the cutting edge.

But the demise of the Helvetica typeface isn’t nearly in anyone’s sights. Because of its wide availability, typesetters and printers continue to use it, as do designers who appreciate the reason behind its popularity, and users who want a clean, workhorse font that will do their publications justice.