For inspiration, he turned to one of the Roman alphabet’s most critical touchstones: the Trajan column. Along with the “I”, its purity and character drives the form of all others. UR Alumni Travel & Learn/Flickr, CC BYįor Johnston, the alphabet’s most important letter was “O”. Every city has tackled these tasks in a slightly different way, and London made progress thanks to the efforts of many different people. The development of modern cities and transport systems called for new tools to help people negotiate urban life: new technologies for finding our way, new systems for naming, new rules to preserve order and avoid accidents – and, of course, new visual forms to communicate all of these things. On the centenary of London’s most famous lettering, now is a good moment to reflect on how Johnston has shaped the city, and why words – and the way they’re written – form such an essential part of urban infrastructure. It has guided Londoners and visitors alike through the city’s complex and changing transport system for a century – it’s hard to imagine where we’d all be without it. Alongside the unmistakable roundel, Johnston has helped to create some of the most recognisable signage in the world: a design which screams “London!”, no matter which language you speak. The full Helvetica typeface family is available for purchase here, and you can find the alternative, Neue Helvetica here.It’s been 100 years since the London Underground’s distinctive typeface made its first appearance. government, as well as NASA, the Canadian government, the European Union, New York City and Madrid Metro, only naming a few examples of the authorities or governmental entities that have relied on the popular typeface. Nowadays Helvetica is an extremely popular type choice for commercial use, as brands such as BMW, General Motors, Kawasaki, Knoll, Kroger, Lufthansa, Motorola, Nestlé, Skype, Microsoft, and Apple have utilized its versatility. Now also commonly known as Neue Helvetica is a reworking of the typeface made in 1983 with a more structurally unified set of heights and widths, as well as improved legibility, heavier punctuation marks, and increased spacing in numbers. It comes in 34 different font weights, with 20 weights being available in Central European versions, supporting the languages of Central and Eastern Europe. Over the years the typeface has been updated with many weights, styles, and sizes as well as matching designs in wide non-Latin alphabets and Cyrillic. Yet the narrow apertures limit legibility on screen and in small print. Helvetica’s success might be explained by its unique characteristics which include a tall x-height, making the typeface easier to read at distance, as well as the unusually tight spacing between letters that give the typeface a dense, solid appearance, making it perfect for capturing headlines. But as it came, Helvetica became such a success, that it ended up superseding Akzidenz-Grotesk which had been the most widely used general typeface for the prior 50 years. Inspired by its predecessor, Helvetica’s success is often granted for the same characteristics it is criticized for – its unique tight spacing and dense and bold appearanceĪkzidenz-Grotesk (released in 1898 by the Berthold Type Foundry) was the original inspiration behind Helvetica, as recovered notebooks by Hoffman showcase careful comparisons of Helvetica test proofs with parts of the Akzidenz-Grotesk letters. An adaptation of “Helvetia” (Latin name of Switzerland) chosen to capitalize on Switzerland’s reputation as a center of ultra-modern graphic design. Soon after its release, in 1960 when the typeface was licensed by Linotype, the typeface was renamed Helvetica. Miedinger and Hoffmann set out to create a neutral typeface that had great clarity, no intrinsic meaning in its form, and could be used on a wide variety of signage – and in doing so, ended up designing one of the most popular typefaces of the mid-20th century. Helvetica was originally called Neue Haas Grotesk and was designed in 1957 by typeface designer Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann, the president of the Haas’sche Schriftgiesserei (Haas Type Foundry) in Basel, Switzerland. The sans serif typeface combines elegance with bold minimalism and is especially loved and appreciated by the design community. As undoubtedly one of the most famous and popular typefaces in the world, Helvetica is loved for its clean lines, no-nonsense shapes and simple efficiency. The most common answer would most probably be Helvetica. If anyone, regardless of their background, career, or interest in typography, is asked to name a font, any font.
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