The new typeface features three optic sizes: "Mono," "Display" and "Text" That’s why punctuation and currency symbols often look off-kilter next to smaller characters.
HELVETICA TYPEFACE UPDATE
Part of the problem is that the 1983 update was made from a single master drawing cut at one size. But even those who heap praise onto Helvetica admit the typeface (referring to the entire family of Helvetica fonts, or weighted variations ranging from Thin Italic to Regular, Bold and Black) has its faults: Most prominently, graphic designer Sarah Hyndman explains to NPR’s Scott Simon and Samantha Raphelson, letters bunch together at small sizes, and the kerning, or spacing in between characters, can be uneven. It spawned a 2007 documentary and a 50th anniversary retrospective at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, and it’s also everywhere, found on brands including American Airlines, Panasonic, Toyota and American Apparel. “It’s like falling in love all over again,” he adds.ĭepending on who you ask, Helvetica, a sans serif typeface, is alternately loved or reviled. Speaking with Wired’s Arielle Pardes, Monotype director Charles Nix waxes poetic, likening the experience to seeing “someone you love, when the light hits them the perfect way on a Saturday morning, and you suddenly see them like you’ve never seen them before.” Writing for Dezeen, David Braha praises the redesign for combining “clarity, simplicity and neutrality.” The update draws on a bevy of alternate glyphs (including a single-story “a” and a straight-legged capital “R,” according to a press release) and size-specific details to allow for heightened flexibility and legibility. As its name would imply, Helvetica Now is designed for the digital age, with 40,000 individually “redrawn and refit” characters, as well as 48 fonts available in three optical sizes streamlined for use on tiny screens and giant billboards alike.
Monotype, the company that now holds the licensing rights to the font, recently announced the typographical facelift.
Four years in the making, it’s the first update to Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffman’s classic 1957 creation since Helvetica Neue debuted in 1983. The world’s most popular typeface has a new look: Helvetica Now.
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