When we went digital, a lot of that nuance of optical sizing sort of washed away.Īlso throughout the first 30 years a lot of variant forms - straight-legged “R,” single-story “a,” rounded punctuation, these sort of alternate characters - were built into the typeface and abandoned by the time it moved into the digital realm. And if you had 72pt type, it was cut to be 72pt type. So if you had 6pt type, it was cut to be 6pt type. All of the sizes of Helvetica early on were physically cut for specific optical sizes. We looked at the waypoints in the Helvetica design process, going back to 1957 when it was first born. They had identified a short laundry list of things that would be better. Why don’t we start with the “In the beginning” kind of story.įour years ago, our German office kicking around the idea of creating a new version of Helvetica. So what is Helvetica Now? Can you tell us a little bit about how it differs from Helvetica and Helvetica Neue? Toggling through Helvetica Now text, display, and micro This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. To learn more about what’s different and new in Helvetica Now, I spoke with Charles Nix, the type director at Monotype. It’s a tremendous overhaul that saw Monotype redraw every single one of Helvetica’s nearly 40,000 characters to be easier and more enjoyable to read, with a particular emphasis on going small: the kind of text you see a lot more of these days on your smartphone or pill bottle.
Helvetica now display black update#
It’s that wide array of uses that partly inspired Monotype, the oldest type company in the world and the one that currently holds the rights to Helvetica, to update the storied font for the 21st century. It’s the official typeface of New York City’s subway system, and if you’re reading this on The Verge, you’re mostly reading stories constructed of Helvetica right now. Even if you’re not familiar with the font, you’ve definitely seen it - it’s used for everything from brand logos to books and magazines to the print on labels. Helvetica is one of the most well-known and oft-used typefaces, and it just got a big refresh.
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