Why do companies use Helvetica? (2023)

Why do designers companies like Helvetica?

Designers often choose Helvetica either because it is assumed to be a “neutral” design that is compatible with any kind of content and will not distract from it. As the documentary film Helvetica demonstrated, this may or may not be true depending on the context of the use.

Helvetica is particularly well-suited to signage and other designs where legibility is key. This is further reinforced by the wide variety of companies that have used the font in their logos or other corporate identity materials (American Apparel, American Airlines, Target, the NYC Subway, etc.).

Over the years, many brands have decided to adopt Helvetica for their logos and their communication, from American Airlines to Lufthansa, from Jeep to BMW and Toyota, from Post-it to Panasonic, from Kartell to Knoll.

Helvetica, in particular, became popular so quickly, due to its legibility and neutrality. It's easy to see why it was so widely appreciated by the design community. It doesn't convey any meaning in itself, and as a result, it's applicable to very different contexts.

Helvetica

Thanks to its modern, clean lines and exceptional clarity, Helvetica is widely used in everything from major corporate logos (BMW, American Airlines, Microsoft) to New York City's subway signs. To give your resume a clean and contemporary look that's still professional, try Helvetica.

PRO TIP: Helvetica is a trademarked typeface, and you need permission from the owner to use it commercially. If you don't have permission, you could be sued for copyright infringement.

In case you're wondering, Apple ditched Helvetica Neue in 2015 because of its flaws. They've designed a new default system font called San Francisco.

Helvetica, the world's most popular font, serves as a creative muse in a new NFT collection. As art and technology become ever-more entwined, designers are finding new possibilities for typography.

Nike has been using Helvetica Neue since its inception in 1957. The company uses the same font across all their marketing materials. What other fonts do they use? Nike was founded in 1964 by former college football player Bill Bowerman.

Which is better Arial or Helvetica?

Arial is a more rounded design than Helvetica, with softer, fuller curves, and more open counters. The ends of the strokes on letters such as 'c,' 'e,' 'g,' and 's,' rather than being cut off on the horizontal as in Helvetica, are terminated at the more natural angle in relation to the stoke direction.

Like handwriting, we associate font choices with specific personalities. People who use Helvetica usually have an eye for clean design and art—the famous font is even the mainstay for the NYC Metro—whereas those who use Comic Sans are just embarrassing themselves.

If you actually included a copy of the font inside your app, then you will definitely get sued, even if that font is Helvetica. Even if you don't include a copy of the font, you could still be liable if your app even uses it.

The Helvetica typeface is characterized by it's tall x-height, square s, two-storied a, narrow t and f, rounded square tail on the upper-case R, and bracketed top serif of the numeral 1 character.

The simple, contained design allowed for the font to be universal, strong, and easy to read. Its use on street signs, government buildings, aircrafts and official documents has made Helvetica one of the most popular fonts today.

Helvetica is one of many good tools at the graphic designers disposal. It is just a clean, clear neutral font that comes in many weights. No font is perfect. No font works for every mood and can convey all tones and voice that the designed visual communication may need.

Helvetica is another good sans-serif font you can use for your resume. Helvetica is very similar to Arial and requires close inspection to really tell the difference. It, too, offers a clean and modern look that's easy on the eye. It also comes in a variety of weights and styles.

Does NASA use Helvetica?

Helvetica. The Helvetica® typeface has been used by NASA extensively for decades, from the space shuttle to signage and printouts. It is one of the most ubiquitous typefaces in the world, used commonly at large sizes for signs, titles, and logos.

Developed in 1957 by Swiss type designers Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann, Helvetica is such a versatile typeface that it is virtually everywhere—logo designs included.

Helvetica is so deeply ingrained in the branding of BMW that the company quite literally has its own version of it, aptly named "BMW Helvetica." Picture a BMW logo, or ad.

Proxima Nova by Mark Simonson Studio

Proxima Nova straddles the gap between typefaces like Futura and Akzidenz Grotesk.

Amazon Ember is the master brand font for all Amazon products and services.

The font used for the Classic TikTok font is Proxima Nova - Semibold. It's part of the Proxima Nova font family, which is free for personal use but not commercial use. If you've already licensed Proxima Nova and have permission to use it, great.

Court-approved legal document fonts.

While there's no one “official” font style for legal documents, there are a few court-approved fonts that are considered most easily readable: Arial. Century (and Century-related fonts like Century Schoolbook) Verdana.

Unless you've made a change to your Instagram bio, it will appear in Instagram's default font, Neue Helvetica. This font is used for the majority of text within the app, such as captions and comments.

– Font types have a significant impact on readability of people with dyslexia. – Good fonts for people with dyslexia are Helvetica, Courier, Arial, Verdana and Computer Modern Uni- code, taking into consideration reading performance and subjective preferences.

What is Helvetica called now?

Helvetica Now

This font is a go-to for logos because of its crisp and clean appearance as well as its readability. These factors also make it an excellent choice for digital applications, such as websites and apps, to support ease of use and a positive visitor experience.

One possible reason might include the venerable nature of the font. Helvetica is over 50 years of age, so in many design circles is not considered a modern font.

In case you're wondering, Apple ditched Helvetica Neue in 2015 because of its flaws. They've designed a new default system font called San Francisco.

Helvetica has some more stylish features (like the tail at the a) and horizontal stroke endings (like at the c) and Arial has more open shapes (which makes it easier to read in small sizes). These differences are more visible at larger sizes, in small sizes they kind of disappear.

Arial is a more rounded design than Helvetica, with softer, fuller curves, and more open counters. The ends of the strokes on letters such as 'c,' 'e,' 'g,' and 's,' rather than being cut off on the horizontal as in Helvetica, are terminated at the more natural angle in relation to the stoke direction.

Why? Well for one thing, the Helvetica family is expensive. A license to one of the world's most popular fonts ain't cheap. And when you're looking at a company like IBM, for instance, who was licensing the font for its 380 thousand employees, those costs tend to add up.

In the image below you can see that at small sizes, some of the letter combinations of Helvetica become disastrous both in terms of legibility and readability. Clearly, Helvetica is not a great typeface for body text. In fact, with its closed aperture (closed letterforms), it's quite a horrendous choice for body text.