Its been used for every typographic project imaginable, including print, signage, movie titles, the web and other digital media, and type in motion.

Its even used by the U.S.

NASA who selected the typeface for the space shuttle orbiters.

True, it is available on virtually every computer, which makes it available to the masses, but it just works well in numerous environments leading to its use by even the most high-end design studios.

In fact, there is even a feature-length film about it entitled Helvetica, which is well worth viewing for designers and non-designers alike.

The original Helvetica design was created by Max Miedinger in 1956 under the direction of Eduard Hoffmann, managing director of the Haas Type Foundry, and named Neue Haas Grotesk.

The name was changed to Helvetica as it more closely embodied the spirit and heritage of the face.

The name Helvetica was a close approximation of Helvetia, the Latin name for Switzerland.

Helvetia was not chosen because a Swiss sewing machine company and an insurance firm had already taken the name.) It was then released by Linotype in 1957.

Refinements included adjusting character weights, proportions and spacing, all of which were sometimes compromised in earlier versions of the family in order to comply with inherent limitations of typesetting technologies of the day.

As technologies improved, these limitations were removed, allowing total design freedom.

In 2004, Linotype released Neue Helvetica Pro, which is an OpenType version with expanded foreign language support.

In previous versions, the x-heights were all the same actual height, but, since type tends to look shorter as it gets heavier, the new x-heights compensate for this optical illusion.

Neue Helvetica eText consists of four weights with corresponding italics, all designed and optimized to enhance the reading experience at the smaller point sizes that contemporary web and device environments call for.

These e-versions contain a richer contrast, an even color with greatly increased letterspacing, and slightly taller lowercase characters, all while ensuring that the typefaces appear as unmistakable cousins of their original print designs.

The designs also include small caps and oldstyle figures for professional-quality publishing design.

I think this is the most important and useful change in these versions, so I added it into the text.

Design by: Lotus Child Site by: Larry Jacob Internet Marketing.

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What Is Helvetica Font