BLOG BLOG BLOG... in HELVETICA.

Helvetica is an awesome font. Let's find out how well you know Helvetica.

http://www.ironicsans.com/helvarialquiz/

I only got 2 wrong.

Quizes aside, Helvetica is a very popular font. It can be seen all over the place if looked for. It was even the title of a film about typography (Helvetica, 2007). 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vfiNHewX-c

I am typing this blog in Helvetica right now. You can tell by the capital Rs for one.

Here's an arial R:

R

and here is an arial R:

R

Looking solely at the bottom right of the character, we see the difference lies in the arm. Helvetica simply has a classier look to it.

Most untrained eyes cannot tell the difference between arial and helvetica. They have, however, different histories.

Helvetica comes from Akzidenz Grotesk, a font released in 1896. Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffman of Haas Typefoundry created Helvetica in 1957 as a natural evolution of Akzidenz Grotesk. Luckily, they also changed the name.

Arial, however, was not based on a specific font. It acquired its name when microsoft began including it with Windows.


Helvetica has been used in countless advertisements, books, and public signs. It had a display dedicated to it at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.


I use Helvetica because I appreciate a neutral, good looking font. I love having the nerd cred for using Helvetica too, it just makes the font that much more satisfying. It's like a secret society, when you see something written in Helvetica, you know that you are in good company. That is why I have embraced Helvetica with open arms during my high school and college careers.