Iconic Font Helvetica Gets Its First Redesign in 35 Years
Helvetica, arguably the world’s favorite font and a mainstay of graphic design, has undergone its first revamp in 35 years, designed by current owner and world’s oldest type company Monotype.
The new font, Helvetica Now, updates a typeface invented in 1957 by Swiss designer Max Miedinger. Helvetica has seen several iterations over the years, becoming digitized in 1983 as Neue Helvetica under then-owner Linotype’s D. Stempel subsidiary, complete with unified structure, weights, and widths.
Monotype’s Helvetica Now redesign was a collaborative effort, with multiple designers and engineers from the company’s studio working on the project since December 2014, according to Designboom.
The new design is aimed at today’s designers and comes in three optical sizes: micro (for small screens), text (standard size), and display (for signage). Take a look at the variations in the gallery above.
