After watching the documentary on Helvetica I realized how much a type face can actually affect society. Helvetica was a documentary about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. Helvetica just recently has celebrated its 50^th birthday in 2007.  The movie looks at the proliferation of one typeface as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives.

Helvetica was developed in 1957 by Max Miedinger with Eduard Hoffman in a type foundry in Switzerland.  Helvetica was not the typefaces first name, Helvetia which is the original Latin name for Switzerland, so instead of meaning Switzerland’s Type, Helvetica means the type of the Swiss. Due to the changes was Helvetica able to become marketable worldwide.

Helvetica is known worldwide. It is among the most widely used sans-serif typefaces. Helvetica is also a popular choice for commercial wordmarks and companies. Some of these companies include Jeep, BMW, and Target. When a company uses and sticks to a specific typeface, they gain recognition in the commercial business world. They maintain a specific style and a customer can always expect highly of their company. For example, NASA uses Helvetica on the side of their space shuttles.

Whether people like it or not, Helvetica is in their presence more than any other typeface. It has legibility and the ability to hold the surrounding letters in place with style. The counter shapes inside the letters are artistic also. Not only is Helvetica attractive on advertisements, it gets to the point, and gets the job done.