5 ms·

I never really wondered why Everyone hates comic sans so much,that much is obvious. What I want explained is why everyone loves helvitica so much. It's just a

I never really wondered why Everyone hates comic sans so much,that much is obvious. What I want explained is why everyone loves helvitica so much. It's just a plain but readible font, there are tons of those.

sp332 16y ago
I don't know how to link to a piece of a TED talk, so http://www.ted.com/talks/paula_scher_gets_serious.html http://www.ted.com/talks/paula_scher_gets_serious.html The whole talk is good, but around 4:45 she starts talking about her cover design for books and music, and eventaully expands into covering buildings with words. The first thing she mentions is how much she hates Helvetica :-)
tel 16y ago
Not everybody loves Helvetica. It's pretty boring, seriously overused, and in its own way tacky. That said, it has historical value. Watch the movie Helvetica for more details, but the short of it is that it was introduced during that time the author speaks of where people were just starting to see the potential of graphic design. You'd hire a fancy new designer to come in and revitalize your company's letterhead and they'd present you with a blank, brilliantly white sheet of paper with your company's name in Helvetica. It was stark, amazing, totally lifeless, but just so New it was easy to buy in. Then add in that for all Helvetica's faults, it is amazingly versatile and readable. It is absolutely well designed for it's somewhat sterile purposes and therefore easy to paste up everywhere. Couple that with an air of Newness and, ironically, personalization of hiring your own print designer and next thing you know it's everywhere wnd beloved. There's a lot more to the story, of course, but it all turns to the historical value of Helvetica being the font that a new wave of popular design championed. It was there when people wanted and needed it. (It's also worth mentioning it's Swiss heritage and how often the relatively unique Swiss design aesthetic gets conflated with cries for simplicity, modernity, and "clean". All deserved, sure, but they certainly understate the contribution of valuing space and openness that seems to be the heart of that movement, to me. I've often heard that their design is inspired by the openness of the Swiss landscapes. Unique, beautiful, but hardly the Final Word in design aesthetics.)
kadavy 16y ago
Personally, I actually don't like Helvetica. It produces a rough texture, and I don't feel that the forms are harmonious. I adore Akzidenz Grotesk (the predecessor of Helvetica), but it's much less common. I concede, however, that Helvetica really is an excellently readable and anonymous font.
- tmgrhm 16y ago
  I really like Helvetica, although I also really like Akzidenz (perhaps more). I'm not entirely sure why, but Akzidenz seems to be used a lot in German print and often looks downright gorgeous when paired with a good font for copy. For example, Fluter has some nice design… [example (PDF)](http://www.fluter.de/heftpdf/issue95/artikel9084/pdf_article9084.pdf http://www.fluter.de/heftpdf/issue95/artikel9084/pdf_article...).
carols10cents 16y ago
helvetica is the font of the establishment! resist, hackers!
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]

sp332 16y ago

I don't know how to link to a piece of a TED talk, so http://www.ted.com/talks/paula_scher_gets_serious.html http://www.ted.com/talks/paula_scher_gets_serious.html The whole talk is good, but around 4:45 she starts talking about her cover design for books and music, and eventaully expands into covering buildings with words. The first thing she mentions is how much she hates Helvetica :-)

tel 16y ago

Not everybody loves Helvetica. It's pretty boring, seriously overused, and in its own way tacky. That said, it has historical value. Watch the movie Helvetica for more details, but the short of it is that it was introduced during that time the author speaks of where people were just starting to see the potential of graphic design. You'd hire a fancy new designer to come in and revitalize your company's letterhead and they'd present you with a blank, brilliantly white sheet of paper with your company's name in Helvetica. It was stark, amazing, totally lifeless, but just so New it was easy to buy in. Then add in that for all Helvetica's faults, it is amazingly versatile and readable. It is absolutely well designed for it's somewhat sterile purposes and therefore easy to paste up everywhere. Couple that with an air of Newness and, ironically, personalization of hiring your own print designer and next thing you know it's everywhere wnd beloved. There's a lot more to the story, of course, but it all turns to the historical value of Helvetica being the font that a new wave of popular design championed. It was there when people wanted and needed it. (It's also worth mentioning it's Swiss heritage and how often the relatively unique Swiss design aesthetic gets conflated with cries for simplicity, modernity, and "clean". All deserved, sure, but they certainly understate the contribution of valuing space and openness that seems to be the heart of that movement, to me. I've often heard that their design is inspired by the openness of the Swiss landscapes. Unique, beautiful, but hardly the Final Word in design aesthetics.)

kadavy 16y ago

Personally, I actually don't like Helvetica. It produces a rough texture, and I don't feel that the forms are harmonious. I adore Akzidenz Grotesk (the predecessor of Helvetica), but it's much less common. I concede, however, that Helvetica really is an excellently readable and anonymous font.

tmgrhm 16y ago
I really like Helvetica, although I also really like Akzidenz (perhaps more). I'm not entirely sure why, but Akzidenz seems to be used a lot in German print and often looks downright gorgeous when paired with a good font for copy. For example, Fluter has some nice design… [example (PDF)](http://www.fluter.de/heftpdf/issue95/artikel9084/pdf_article9084.pdf http://www.fluter.de/heftpdf/issue95/artikel9084/pdf_article...).

carols10cents 16y ago

helvetica is the font of the establishment! resist, hackers!

deleted 16y ago

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