Helvetica
Helvetica is a
typeface developed by Max Miedinger in
1957 for the Haas’sche Schriftgießerei type foundry of
Switzerland. It is based on the earlier
Akzidenz Grotesk typeface from around 1898. The typeface, originally titled
Haas-Grotesk, is a very clean
sans-serif face. The typeface became extremely popular in the
1960s, being used for every possible application. In
1983,
Linotype released the
Neue Helvetica (
German for 'New Helvetica') typeface, based on
Helvetica.
The typeface
Arial, distributed with
Microsoft Windows, is said to be based on
Helvetica.