• American Writers & Artists Inc.

Happy Birthday Helvetica!

The ever-popular typeface Helvetica just turned 50! Helvetica is part of the corporate identity of many brands you recognize – American Airlines, American Apparel, Evian, Intel, Lufthansa, Nestlé, and Toyota, to name just a few.

Helvetica plays such an important part in our culture that the Museum of Modern Art in New York has honored this anniversary by acquiring a set of the original lead type. That makes Helvetica the first typeface to become part of the museum’s collection. The Museum is also featuring a “50 Years of Helvetica” exhibition.

What does Helvetica mean to the DM designer? Helvetica is a sans-serif typeface (one without decorative squiggles at the ends of the letters) – so it’s not good for long stretches of body copy. However, it is a great typeface for headlines, subheads, and short blurbs of copy in call-out boxes and sidebars.

Best of all, Helvetica is a font that comes free with most computer software packages.

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Published: December 13, 2007

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