One of the most popular sans-serif fonts is Helvetica. It was developed in 1957 by Max Miedinger with Eduard Hoffmann at the Haas’sche Schriftgiesserei (type foundry) in Münchenstein, Switzerland.

The name “Helvetica” comes from Helvetia, the Latin name for Switzerland. Because I live in Switzerland, I am very familiar with the term. Swiss coins are stamped with “Confœderatio Helvetica” which is Latin for “Swiss Confederation”. The “CH” is also on Swiss license plates.

Benefits of Helvetica

Helvetica is an excellent font for presentation slides for several reasons:

Simple and elegant

Easy to read

Neutral and not distracting

Comes in a variety of weights and is very flexible. Here are 40 well known corporate logos that have been created with Helvetica

Works well on slides with lots of “white space” or “negative space”; i.e., unfilled space of any colour)

Appropriate for all kinds of presentation situations; from conservative and serious to fun and unconventional

What I did not know about Helvetica is that it is also the subject of a documentary film of the same name by Director Gary Hustwit. My thanks to Jan Schultink for bringing it to my attention. (Be sure to visit Jan’s blog for excellent insights into presentation design.)

The film premiered in 2007 for the 50th anniversary of Helvetica. Here is a description from the film’s website:

Helvetica is a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which celebrated its 50th birthday in 2007) as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives. The film is an exploration of urban spaces in major cities and the type that inhabits them, and a fluid discussion with renowned designers about their work, the creative process, and the choices and aesthetics behind their use of type.



Here is the trailer for the film to give you an idea of just how prevalent the font is in our daily lives. Helvetica looks great. (The film and the font.)

So there you have it. A bit of history, a presentation tip and a movie recommendation all rolled into one post about the little font from Switzerland that has gone worldwide.