: What is so good about Helvetica? For as long as I have known, a majority of designers have been beyond enamoured with Helvetica. While I can see that it's a nice typeface, I really don't

@Carla748

A tricky aspect of design is that things which are actually uniform seldom look uniform. Unlike some earlier sans-serif font families which actually had uniform stroke widths, and others which included marked variations in stroke widths, Helvetica is designed to balance varying stroke widths to create a general appearance of uniformity. For example, in some older sans-serif typefaces a "b" would consist of a vertical line and a circular bowl, both with equal stroke weight, but such a design is prone to look a little "heavy" at near the spots where the bowl and line join. The Helvetica "b" has a more uniform look, but that's accomplished by making the strokes non-uniform--narrower on the left (near the stem) than on the right.

Helvetica wasn't the first typeface design that strove to use variable stroke widths to achieve uniformity of appearance, but it was extremely good at achieving that aim; there may have been other font families which were just as good but weren't well promoted, but among the fonts that were actively marketed, Helvetica as perhaps most effective at achieving a uniform appearance.

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@Odierno310

This question has a lot of answers, so I'll try to be brief.

Helvetica is the absolute peak of European (or Swiss) modernism and, as such, it strives for neutrality. As Massimo Vignelli put it:



You can write I love you in "Helvetica Extra Light" to be very gentle and romantic, or you can write I love you in "Helvetica Extra Bold" to be intense and passionate.



Many appreciate the fact that you can write absolutely anything with Helvetica, since it is very precise and geometrical, but has human quality to it at the same time.

Many condemn it for being ubiquitous and lacking character.

That is an ancient war between those who think that type itself should not have a meaning, that meaning should be conveyed purely by words formed by those characters and those who think that type is a legitimate carrier of meaning.

There really is no objective answer and it is mostly a matter of opinion. Both those views are legitimate. (Must the word cat be in furry type to represent a cat? Obviously not. Yet, can you imagine Disney, Coca-Cola or Marlboro becoming such iconic brand identities if they used Helvetica instead of their well known types?)

You really have to make your own opinion; I recommend the documentary "Helvetica" to explore the history and context of this legendary typeface.

I personally follow this rule: Unless you are 100% sure that the alternative to Helvetica you are about to use works better in this application than Helvetica, use Helvetica.

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@BetL875

Typefaces become popular for a number of reasons, partly technology (which often drives fashion -- "Because I can" is a more potent driver than most people realize), partly the cultural milieu within which they fit and become associated, partly the mood they invoke (or don't). The grotesks in general arrived on the typographic scene at a time when Western culture was rejecting the ornate styles of the late 19th Century across all fields of design, including architecture and fashion. If you wanted to look modern, simplicity was the watchword.

Helvetica is tremendously precise, as befits a Swiss-made typeface, and is in many ways the ultimate expression of the grotesk style. Precision is terrific in the context of corporate communications, word marks and logotypes, much in the way that Greek columns and massive stonework are useful in the context of bank and government architecture. -- It sends a message. Precision conveys dependability, a conservative culture, authority, control; so the association with corporate identities, in hindsight, was probably inevitable.

This precision is much of what designers love about Helvetica, and also much of what they hate, because with precision comes inflexibility. Helvetica doesn't take kindly to tweaking.

An example from a different era might help put things in context. Neo-classical architecture and design gained tremendous popularity 18th Century for its symmetry and serene harmony. It was also part of a cultural rejection of over-ornate design (Rococo), founded in the rediscovery of the proportionality and harmony of ancient Greek buildings. It eventually fell out of favor, ironically, for the same reason: a Robert Adam dining room was so exactly proportioned and symmetrical that there was no way to modify it without "breaking" it. You couldn't change a chair, a rug, or the position of a table, without things looking uncomfortably out of place.

Another chapter in the Helvetica story came with the first Apple laser printer and Adobe Postscript. Helvetica and Times Roman were the very first licensed, digitized typefaces. Postscript hinting made them look good at the low 300 dpi resolution available at the time. They were "free," since they came with the hardware, which conventional type certainly was not. Designers took to DTP like ducks to water, and brought Helvetica with them.

In pre-DTP days, other large sans-serif type families such as Univers were just as popular as Helvetica for corporate work. Once DTP took off, however, Helvetica had a definite edge.

The size of the family -- the number of available weights and widths -- is also a factor in the choice of a typeface for a corporate identity, because it allows text to speak with many voices without breaking harmony. As a designer, I always try to err on the side of too large a family rather than too small when I'm choosing a typeface, if it's one that will be used in a large range of contexts over a long period of time. Myriad and Futura are also large families, and I use both, but the mega-families are even larger.
@bemdesign 's answer is spot on. Whether Helvetica is good or bad for a particular project depends on the project. It is dry, passionless and, in most weights, severe. It's notable that Apple's corporate face is Myriad, for all that they liberally sprinkle Helvetica across their product line.

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@RJPawlick971

Objectively you've already mostly answered it in your question:


neutral


In that it's 'plain' and not overly decorated, this is certainly true. Helvetica in a lot of situations doesn't impart any additional meaning (intentional or otherwise) beyond the words it is forming.


well-glyphed


I'm not sure I've heard that particular term before, but I assume you mean 'well drawn'. Granted, lots of typefaces are well drawn, but Helvetica certainly is as well.


and has been in use for long [time]


In the grand scheme of things--namely the printed word--it's actually been used for a very short time. However, since the time it has come out, it's been consistently used. It hasn't dated itself and continues to be a work-horse of a typeface.

There are a few other reasons why it's widely used:

Availability

Nearly every desktop computer now has Helvetica (Installed with OSX and MS Office). This makes it a practical choice for corporations (similar to Times New Roman).

Versatility

As the typeface has been popular for a while, it's also developed an extensive set of weights and widths. Helvetica Neue is simply a very versatile typeface for the designer.

All that said, if you're asking "why is it a better typeface" there's not a whole lot of objective answers to that. It may be better than a particular typeface, but in general, there's nothing necessarily superior to Helvetica than say, Franklin Gothic, or Myriad, or Palatino. It's like asking what makes a hammer such a superior tool. A hammer can be a great tool. For a lot of things, but isn't necessarily any better or worse than a screwdriver.

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@Nimeshi706

I think that this is exact question is answered very well by the documentary on the font that came out in 2007.

It has been a while since I have seen it, but the part I remember most goes over how Helvetica became associated with modern design at the time of it's introduction. It talks about many other reasons as well: readability, compactness...

This doesn't really answer your question, but for a very in depth answer, I suggest you check out that movie.

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@Phylliss782

It works…

It works on ALL printers…

No one (apart from graphic designers) hates it…

Even someone with no skill like me can use it….

Even if I pay you do to branding for me, I expect to be able to use the same typeface on what I produce myself.

Therefore the correct question is:


What can be so important as to justify not using Helvetica?

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@Heady304

I think Helvetica's biggest strength (and thus is greatest weakness) is just how "neutral" of a typeface it is. It really can work well in all sorts of situations and applications because of how balanced and neutral it is. But by the same token, it becomes "bland" - the office beige color of typefaces.

I would never say Helvetica is superior to any other typeface - it has to be judged by how its used and like any other typeface, it can be used inappropriately.

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