This is the revisited version of my essay.
Is helvetica the perfect typeface.
“Helvetica
is often described as the tasteless white rice among typefaces:
satisfies easily, cheap and fast. But the good thing is, you can take
the design into different directions with the sauce and side dishes
(the typefaces you pair with Helvetica).” - Indra Kupferschmi.
(combining type
with helvetica, Indra
Kupferschmid, 2010,
http://www.fontshop.com/blog/newsletters/april10c/indexEMAIL.html)
Whether you hate it or not within design Helvetica seems to be the
marmite of the typefaces, it is either completely adored by a
designer and used within almost every aspect of their design work or
absolutely despised by a person and seen as the obvious, cliché,
default answer to a problem, the easy way out. Since the birth of
helvetica 50 years ago the typeface has managed to completely clean
up design, being a big factor in the rise of the modernist 'swiss
style' of design which is still used heavily today, revolutionising
the the way typography has been used for the past 50 years. In this
essay I am going to be looking at how this typeface has helped change
graphic design over the past 50 years and what makes this typeface so
revolutionary comparing it to theories by typographers of what makes
a successful typeface.
Originally
named 'Die Neue Hass Grotesk' helvetica was created in switzerland in
the 1950's; not knowing how much of an impact this typeface would
have on graphic design the aim of the design was purely to challenge
other sans serif typefaces out there having
no meaning, only function and clarity. The main
competition being 'Akzidenz Grotesk', a tremendous German san serif
typeface designed by the German company H. Berthold AG in 1896,
which became the first ever widely used san serif font, the typeface
was; “so popular that graphic artists were actually forcing it on
the printing press” (helvetica
forever, lars muller publishers, 2007, p. 22), which shows that even
without the aid of modern technologies, being able to download a
typeface with the click of your mouse a typeface could still be in
very high demand and this demand is what Helvetica sought to capture.
The idea behind helvetica was to design a modernised version of
Akzidenz Grotesk being heavily influenced by this font just with the
ideology of having a modern twist which would serve of a purpose of
completely modernising graphic design from their onwards. Massisimo
Vignelli describes helvetica as; “A typeface that was generated by
a desire for having better legibility, it is a modern type, it's a
very clear type, it's good for everything.'' (Helvetica, Gary
Hustwit, 2007, plexifilm) and Rick Poynor say's, “it's underpinned
by this great feeling shared by many designers of idealism.”
(Helvetica, Gary Hustwit, 2007, plexifilm) Which shows that even 50
years on helvetica still shares the same aim of being “the ultimate
typeface” with perfect legibility and wide range of uses along with
bringing with it the idealism of post-WWII
reconstruction and a massive clean up of graphic design.
The
idea to create a new san serif typeface came from Eduard Hoffman of
'Haas Type foundry' who sought after Max Miedinger to help bring the
idea to life by doing the manual construction of the type, Max
Miedinger was a salesman and freelance graphic artist who worked at
the 'haas typefoundry', and for Hoffman seemed like the perfect man
for the job. The direction of the typeface was simplicity, aiming to
create a perfectly legibly font using Akzidenz Grotesk as reference.
Work began on Helvetica in 1956, or as it was originally named 'Die
Neue Hass Grotesk' and in 1957 the typeface was completed. In 1960
the typeface's name was change to helvetica by haas' German parent
company 'Stemple', to make the typeface more marketable
internationally. Helvetica meaning 'the swiss' in latin, their fore
underpinning the typeface as THE Swiss typeface in latin.
How
type works; Eric Speikermann is a german typographer and designer
well known for the massive impact he has had on typography, he has
created timeless, influential and, Meta-physical work over the past
three decades. Although he has managed to produce hundreds of
successful, popular typefaces he is very abstract in his approach of
answering what makes a good typeface. In an interview for
'gestaltenTV' He claims that 'good type is all about rhythm and
space, it's not about form so much, it's about the rhythm and the
contrast of the word itself,' comparing typography to music, saying
that a good typeface has to flow effortless from letter to letter, he
later goes on to say, 'it's the silence in-between the black that
gives you the rhythm, the pauses in music are just like the contrast
between the white and the black in typography, the white (inside
parts to the letter) are what you actually design and are what gives
you the rhythm. (gestaltenTV, 2011,
http://www.gestalten.tv/motion/erik-spiekermann).
By setting this as some kind of ground mark for what makes a typeface
successful Helvetica would definitely fit within the criteria. Each
letterform within helvetica carries the same characteristics as
another, the typeface has been designed around the roundness of each
letter, making each letter as rounded and smooth as possible giving
the typeface a nice flowing feel, giving it rhythm allowing one
letter to flow smoothly onto the next one. Matthew Carter says,
“one
of the most characteristic and beautiful things about helvetica is
these horizontal terminals in the lowercase 'e's, 'c's, 'g's; the
whole structure is based on the horizontal slicing off of the
terminals' (Helvetica, Gary Hustwit, 2007, plexifilm), Which further
backs Helvetica as 'good type' when compared with what Speikerman was
saying; the slicing off which helps prolong the rounded feel to the
type, rounding off every curve at either horizontal or vertical line,
means each curve is curved all the way round, almost to a circle,
which give helvetica and overall flow and friendly, soft, rounded
feel.
[a
c g e]
In
an essay by Brian Hoff, called 'What makes Quality font' he outlines
what he believes makes a successful and professional typeface. Brian
Hoff is a Brian
Hoff is
a graphic designer, writer and speaker from Brooklyn. The main point
that is raised in this essay is in reference to the consistency of a
typeface, he claims that ‘Professional quality’ fonts have
consistency between letterforms, which can create great a better
sense of unity between characters. The relationship between glyphs
help the letters ‘sit’ better together; improving its
readability. Also attributes such as x-height, serifs, descenders,
etc, should have a consistent relationship and not vary. The
letterforms should appear as if they were made to work together
rather than as single characters — they should flow.' (what makes
quality font, 2009, brian
hoffhttp://www.thedesigncubicle.com/2009/02/what-makes-a-quality-font/)
Which
again backs up Speikermanns point that good typography has to flow
effortlessly, Brian says, 'consistency between letterforms' which
with that should bring a flow within the words themselves, giving the
letterforms this 'rhythm' from one and other. However it kind of
contrasts slightly with what speikermann was saying, Brian Hoff's
claim for what makes a quality font hints that attributes such as the
x-height, serifs and descenders are the main things to consider when
designing a font, these are the things which make the type work, make
it flow; however Speikermann claims that the important considerations
when creating successful type is looking at the negative space,
focusing on the white instead of the black which is what will
essentially give you this 'rhythm'.
In
the book 'Getting it right with type' Victoria Squire argues that in
order to make successful type, 'typography should be invisible in
order to allow the content to be communicated' (Getting it right with
type, victoria squire, lauren king publishing, 2006). Meaning that
successful typography should be read effortlessly in order to be
considered 'good', the reader should not have to even notice the
typeface when communicating a message the message should just be
their clean, clear and easily accessible. Which does back up what
Speikermann claims makes successful type, the type has to flow in
order to work, it needs to have rhythm, which would join hand in hand
with the invisibility of a typeface. In order to be read effortlessly
and not necessarily be noticed the reader would have to find
themselves within this rhythm with the type, flowing from letter to
letter smoothly without having to double check a word or get lost in
the spacing of the letters themselves. Good type has to be clean,
crisp and legible.
Helvetica
seems to work as a typeface because it is so neutral, the smoothness
and roundness of the letters doesn’t display any negative or
positive connotations their fore it can be used within virtually any
design and probably would work very well within it, which is probably
the reason the typeface has become so popular and brought along with
it a feeling of idealism shared between designers that a change in
design was needed. It is an easy answer to any problem because it can
play any role, it can be playful is some contexts, serious and
corporate in others, whilst still remaining completely neutral in
others or as Massimo Vignelli claims; 'Its is a modern typeface, its
a very clean type, it's good for everything' (Helvetica, Gary
Hustwit, 2007, plexifilm). Helvetica seems to fit the criteria that
has been outlined on what makes good type, it is clean cut, can have
impact on us whilst still has the flow and smoothness of the
letterforms to be seen as invisible.
Its
intentions when being designed were merely to be seen 'as a clean,
useful alphabet, and something that would portray important
information in the clearest fashion' (Just my type, simon garfield,
2011, p.136) and with this clean typeface brought along this whole
graphic design clean up leaving us now drowning in helvetica's rain
over every other typeface, it is the typeface we see on road signs,
documents, restaurant menus, even walking down the high street you
will see most shops and brands have opted for using helvetica to
clean up the branding of their company leaving them with a crisp
modern look whilst still coming across as transparent and accessible.
Lars Muller calls it 'the perfume of the city' (Helvetica, Gary
Hustwit, 2007, plexifilm) which it very much is, its something we
don’t necessarily notice because it is so subtle and suitable for
every situation yet if it wasn't around something wouldn’t feel
quite right.
Helvetica
was even designed in a way which would, according to Speikermann, it
fits the set of criteria in which he outlines would make 'good type',
it was created with the negative space in mind, in the documentary
'helvetica' by Gary Hustwit, it showed the initial designs of
helvetica or as it was known back then Die Neue Hass Grotesk, and the
design process behind it, having swiss origins the swiss are well
known for paying more attention to the background of the type so the
counters and the space between them just hold the letters, and by
showing the design process that is exactly how it was created which
is backed up with what Mike Parker states. 'It was all about the
interrelationship of the negative space, the shapes between and
within characters.' he also goes on to further say, 'it's so firm,
it's not a letter that's bent to shape, it's a letter that lives in a
powerful matrix of surrounding space'. Which shows that with
helvetica being designed around the negative space, the shapes and
contrasts which this gives should give it rhythm and flow.
However
even though Erik Speikermann claims this is the formula for
successful type and helvetica is fitting in within this formula he
doesn’t agree that Helvetica is the ultimate typeface, he believes
type should share characteristics of hand written type and each
letter should not just follow the same patten, he states, 'the person
that designed it tried to make all the letters look the same, that is
called and army that is not people' (Helvetica, Gary Hustwit, 2007,
plexifilm), meaning the designer has took the beauty out of designing
individual letters and carved them into the same formula, much like
when you take a group of people, place them in the army, shave their
heads and put them in uniform, which is kind of contradictory because
Helvetica does everything what he claimed essential to be a
successful typeface. He also isn’t the only person to have a
problem with helvetica what helvetica has become, however not because
of the design of the typeface but because of what it has become,
Mecheal Bierut says; 'Helvetica has been over used so much and
associated with so many big faceless things that it has lost all its
capacity to look nice.' (Helvetica, Gary Hustwit, 2007, plexifilm),
helvetica however has the ability to fit within any purpose, it can
be used for anything, their fore the problem shouldn’t be that it
is being massively over used it should be finding unique and original
ways of using the typeface to keep it fresh and unrecognisable.
Helvetica
is the ultimate typeface, it has flow and rhythm, it is clean cut,
crisp and modern, can be and has been used within any form of
typography. The rounded edges and continuous pattern throughout each
letter even leaves it 'invisible' as Leslie Savan backs up,
'Helvetica, with its simple, unadorned forms,
the perfect crystal goblet. Even its ubiquity contributes to its
neutrality — letters
so common they become invisible.' (Helvetica, Gary Hustwit, 2007,
plexifilm). It has managed to create this idealism what graphic
design should look like since it was born and brought with it an
uprising of clean crisp modern design as it has risen to the top.
