Helvetica: The little typeface that leaves a big mark

By Alice Rawsthorn
Published: Sunday, April 1, 2007 http://www.nytimes.com/
Question: What do American Airlines, American Apparel, Comme des Garçons, Evian, Intel, Lufthansa, Nestlé and Toyota have in common?
Answer: They all use the same typeface in their corporate identities – Helvetica. You can also spot that font on the flags fluttering from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ trucks, the album sleeve of John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme,” and all of the signage on the New York subway system.
It has now been 50 years since Helvetica was introduced. Even if you’ve never heard its name before, you would be bound to recognize the typeface, because you’ll have seen it so often without knowing. We live in such a bloated visual culture that a typical Western consumer is said to see – as opposed to actually notice – more than 3,000 corporate messages every day, and many of them are printed in Helvetica.
Helvetica plays such an important part in our lives that the Museum of …
Published: Sunday, April 1, 2007 http://www.nytimes.com/
Question: What do American Airlines, American Apparel, Comme des Garçons, Evian, Intel, Lufthansa, Nestlé and Toyota have in common?
Answer: They all use the same typeface in their corporate identities – Helvetica. You can also spot that font on the flags fluttering from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ trucks, the album sleeve of John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme,” and all of the signage on the New York subway system.
It has now been 50 years since Helvetica was introduced. Even if you’ve never heard its name before, you would be bound to recognize the typeface, because you’ll have seen it so often without knowing. We live in such a bloated visual culture that a typical Western consumer is said to see – as opposed to actually notice – more than 3,000 corporate messages every day, and many of them are printed in Helvetica.
Helvetica plays such an important part in our lives that the Museum of …