Speaking of Typography
Successful visual communication requires a typeface that people can process easily, almost automatically. Helvetica, a typeface developed in 1957, has proliferated in our society as the most widely used sans-serif typeface as a means of communication. Companies like AT&T, Target, American Apparel, BMW, Jeep, and Microsoft employ the use of the font in their commercial logos. The U.S. government uses Helvetica on all federal tax forms and NASA uses the type on the space shuttle. The font has become so popular that it even has its own movie.
Why is the font so popular? Helvetica’s appeal comes from its simplicity. The font itself is very neutral and colorless, which makes it unthreatening. Helvetica has been used as display face in many designs in which the quality depended on the designer, not the typeface. The font is like a blank slate that designers imbue with their own aesthetics. However, the font is not as popular as text. Paul Rand, the famed graphic designer, constantly advised his students to use the font as a display face only and never in text, “because Helvetica looks like dogshit in text.”
The rest of us who are not designers are more likely to respond to Helvetica also because of its neutrality. As a font, it is arguably the most gender-neutral, both men and women can connect with the typeface without fear of it being too masculine or too feminine.
So neutral, and yet so useful.
