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Is Helvetica becoming the new Comic Sans?

post #1 of 72
4/8/10 at 5:41am
Thread Starter 
Is Helvetica becoming so overused that it has become a joke in itself? A victim of its own attractiveness? All things hip, all things minimalist, all things cosmetic, all things cool - they have all gravitated to some sibling in the Helvetica family. At what point does Helvetica become an overplayed, unusable font (for lack of differentiation)?
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post #2 of 72
4/8/10 at 5:52am
Sorry for my ignorance, but i have to ask what is the " Helvetica "?
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post #3 of 72
4/8/10 at 5:55am
Please stop bashing the Swiss.
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post #4 of 72
4/8/10 at 5:57am
I prefer the Swiss 721 family.


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post #5 of 72
4/8/10 at 6:27am
Quote:
Originally Posted by victoria01 View Post
Sorry for my ignorance, but i have to ask what is the " Helvetica "?

An iconic font.
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post #6 of 72
4/8/10 at 6:44am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MetroStyles View Post
Is Helvetica becoming so overused that it has become a joke in itself? A victim of its own attractiveness? All things hip, all things minimalist, all things cosmetic, all things cool - they have all gravitated to some sibling in the Helvetica family. At what point does Helvetica become an overplayed, unusable font (for lack of differentiation)?

Well the problem with Comic Sans isn't that it's overused (although that certainly doesn't help,) it's that it's ugly.

Helvetica is actually amazingly versatile (again, unlike Comic Sans, which should only have one use, and doesn't even do that well.) Perhaps in its regular weight and default tracking, it may appear overused, but in different weights, different cases, and different contexts, it can speak with totally different voices (compare and contrast, for instance, the Target logo with the American Apparel logo.) It is generic enough for airport signage and yet edgy enough for rave flyers.

I think Helvetica has become so established in airport/subway/hospital/&c. signage that if you were to use anything other than Helvetica (or closely related grotesque font) at this point, the effect might be distracting, or give the impression of being inappropriately arty.

I will grant that I don't think I've ever seen medium-weight Helvetica used on a t-shirt without looking horrible and cheap.

But of course there are many unsung heroes in the catalogs of sans-serif fonts. One of my favorite overlooked typefaces is the Geneva font on Macintoshes. Unaltered it looks like a passable Helvetica-alike, but start increasing the horizontal scaling and it becomes something else entirely.
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post #7 of 72
4/8/10 at 6:51am
Quote:
Originally Posted by StephenHero View Post
I prefer the Swiss 721 family.



Well I certainly like this particular font more than Helvetica condensed, but the regular width 721 is indistinguishable from Helvetica to my eye.
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post #8 of 72
4/8/10 at 9:08am
I have no problem seeing Helvetica everywhere, because it's a nice font. Comic Sans is grotesque, in the other sense of the word. I do prefer Univers to Helvetica, though.
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post #9 of 72
4/8/10 at 10:53am
What? No love for Garamond? Sheesh....
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post #10 of 72
4/8/10 at 12:01pm
I personally like Verdana.
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post #11 of 72
4/8/10 at 12:03pm
I am under the impression that Swiss 721 is a Corel-made clone of Helvetica.

Helvetica will never become the new Comic Sans. It's been in heavy use for over half a century and most people don't even know its name. It's completely ubiquitous yet no one ever says "you shouldn't have used that font on that sign."
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post #12 of 72
4/8/10 at 12:16pm
Oh, I do everything in Calibri, because I'm a traditionalist.
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post #13 of 72
4/8/10 at 12:18pm
I recommend the documentary Helvetica, it's actually interesting, certainly not Man on Wire, but good nonetheless. Plus, it can be streamed on Netflix.
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post #14 of 72
4/8/10 at 12:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Thomas View Post
Oh, I do everything in Calibri, because I'm a traditionalist.

My friend is orgasmic over Calibri, I have to bite my lip everytime he gushes how good Calibri is. Fuck it.
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post #15 of 72
4/8/10 at 12:50pm
The big thing people forget is that you need the RIGHT FONT for the RIGHT TIME.

Helvetica is fantastic for signs, powerpoint, etc. Its highly legible, especially if there isn't too much of it.
Calibri and the often overlooked Trebuchet are equally good for all the same reasons.

Comic sans is, in fact, fantastic, if you're trying to give a voice to a talking dog for a kids operating system (which is was actually designed for), or otherwise, comics.

Serif fonts in printed documents are still nicer looking.


All that said, Helvetica is really too clean and simple to ever really get played out. Its the parsons table of font.
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