But most of all he was trying to emphasize the fact that type is a tool. And he wasn’t attempting irony neither was he being facetious. Typeface as hammerĮrik Spiekermann once wrote that there are no bad typefaces. But, above all, Majoor’s text is mostly about Helvetica as an uninspiring reworking of Akzidenz Grotesk. What a missed opportunity!Īnd then, quoting or paraphrasing Paul Rand, I believe:Īnd the haters might say that’s a little unfair - to dog poop. Helvetica is blunt and colourless the fact that its italic is slanted makes it even blunter. Though claimed to be an improvement on Akzidenz Grotesk, it lacks all the character and charming clumsiness of Akzidenz Grotesk. In the past 50 years there have been many beautiful graphic designs using Helvetica, but this has more to do with the quality of the designers using it than with the quality of Helvetica as a typeface.Ĭompared to Akzidenz Grotesk, Helvetica has hardly any new features. Way back in 2007, for Eye magazine, Martin Majoor, not Helvetica’s greatest fan, wrote:
But which is which? Unsure? Then take a look at Arial versus Helvetica. Partial alphabets from Arial and Helvetica above. In my opinion, if you hate Arial (and hate really is too strong a verb/noun for discussions about digital typefaces), then you are vicariously hating on Helvetica, whether you like it or not. At least if you are going to hate, then do so consistently. Most Arial haters (and they outnumber Helvetica haters 100:1) would, especially once the most differentiated glyphs are removed, be hard-pressed to tell it apart from Helvetica. It’s oftentimes like that sweater from high school: no matter how much you love it, you’ll never ever look good in it again - and not only because it’s now four sizes too small. Ostensibly, my only gripe with Helvetica (designed by Max Miedinger & Eduard Hoffmann) is not the typeface itself, but how - and how often - it is pressed into service. However, in the meantime, and before I get started - and I promise this won’t take long - let me be clear, I am not, I repeat, not (in bold for emphasis) a Helvetica hater.
And by the end of it, you may well concur. Perhaps this article should have ended at the question mark in its title.
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