Notable features of Helvetica as originally designed include a high x-height, the termination of strokes on horizontal or vertical lines and an unusually tight spacing between letters, which combine to give it a dense, solid appearance.ĭeveloped by the Haas'sche Schriftgiesserei ( Haas Type Foundry) of Münchenstein ( Basel), Switzerland, its release was planned to match a trend: a resurgence of interest in turn-of-the-century "grotesque" sans-serifs among European graphic designers, that also saw the release of Univers by Adrian Frutiger the same year. Over the years, a wide range of variants have been released in different weights, widths, and sizes, as well as matching designs for a range of non-Latin alphabets. Its use became a hallmark of the International Typographic Style that emerged from the work of Swiss designers in the 1950s and '60s, becoming one of the most popular typefaces of the mid-20th century. Helvetica is a neo-grotesque design, one influenced by the famous 19th century (1890s) typeface Akzidenz-Grotesk and other German and Swiss designs.
Helvetica or Neue Haas Grotesk is a widely used sans-serif typeface developed in 1957 by Swiss typeface designer Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann. Helvetica Now Variable is everything Helvetica should be today.1957 sans-serif typeface developed by Max Miedinger Helvetica The result is an amazing modern design tool and a new chapter in the illustrious Helvetica story.” And as Charles Nix adds: “Moreover, it’s just plain fun, with the potential to bring the good news of variable fonts to the masses.
From the tail of the small ‘a’ to rarely-used reference marks, we discussed every detail, corrected, and tested extensively. Making a variable font with three axes, nine master drawings, compatible outline nodes, and clean interpolations is no small feat.” Created by a team of experienced type designers and font engineers, Friedrich explains a key task was “translating the spirit of the original design to a cutting-edge, digital font format. “This allows designers to move through the entire sequence – mixing, matching and custom creating millions of variations on the family theme – seamlessly through one file that is a fraction of the size of the combined static fonts.” Additionally, the font has an extensive width axis for designers needing to communicate necessary information into smaller spaces, “like with responsive design for the web, small smartwatch screens, or packaging micro-type like ingredient lists.”įriedrich Althausen, a type designer at Monotype, adds: “Of course, it was an honour to work on the classic Helvetica family, but it was also challenging. For example, where previous font formats would require a style within a family to live in a separate file, the font “bundles the necessary DNA for every style into one tidy package,” explains Monotype.
#HELVETICA NOW IS NOT HELVETICA UPDATE#
In turn, Helvetica Now Variable is an update with contemporary digital designers in mind, who can now “blend Helvetica Now’s weights (hairline to extra black), optical sizes (four-point to infinity) and new compressed and condensed widths to create infinite shades of expression, incredible typographic animations, and ultra-refined typography,” explains a press release introducing the font.ĭually developed off the back of the huge “wave of interest” in variable fonts, Helvetica Now Variable is designed with “a digital-first future” in mind.
“This font gives designers the firepower they need – from greater creative freedom to typographic expression – to produce exquisitely fine-tuned typography and expressive, animated headlines.” “The incredibly positive reception to Helvetica Now makes us proud to build upon this time-tested design even further,” says Charles Nix, Monotype’s creative type director. At the time, the update reimagined the font’s “clarity, simplicity and neutrality of classic Helvetica with 21st Century design needs,” from optical sizing to an extended character set. This variable edition, Helvetica Now Variable, is built on its release of Helvetica Now in 2019. Monotype has announced a new variable offering of Helvetica, described to maintain its classic simplicity but with added “flexibility, expression and digital expression”
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