HELVETICA NEU VS HELVETICA NOW UPDATE

And then I see this Helvetica Now and I suddenly realize thatРІР‚в„ўs it not what I thought it was. РІР‚СљDoes there need to be a new Helvetica?РІР‚Сњ But then when you see it and you use it, because of the optical sizing, itРІР‚в„ўs like being reintroduced to an old friend. ItРІР‚в„ўs super important to me because itРІР‚в„ўs just, itРІР‚в„ўs one of those things when you say a new Helvetica, I mean, I would shrug. The second most important thing to us and to designers is the optical sizing. If I had to put them in order of what we wanted to change, the first thing - from the customerРІР‚в„ўs point of view, the userРІР‚в„ўs point of view, the designerРІР‚в„ўs point of view - are those alternate characters because theyРІР‚в„ўre the most visible change. ItРІР‚в„ўs very rugged, it works fine, but Helvetica Now was born out of this idea that we could make a new and better Helvetica by returning some of the things that had existed before, and also incorporating some of the lessons we had learned about how people have used Helvetica. I want to be clear, Helvetica is a great typeface, itРІР‚в„ўs just that it exists in a single master. itРІР‚в„ўs like being reintroduced to an old friendРІР‚Сњ РІР‚ВDoes there need to be a new Helvetica?РІР‚в„ў But then when you see it and you use it. They allow users to modulate a feeling of Helvetica, in a way that was lost after the first 30 years. We reintroduced the straight-legged capital РІР‚СљR,РІР‚Сњ single-story lowercase РІР‚Сљa,РІР‚Сњ lowercase РІР‚СљuРІР‚Сњ without a trailing serif, a lowercase РІР‚СљtРІР‚Сњ without a tailing stroke on the bottom right, a beardless РІР‚Сљg,РІР‚Сњ some rounded punctuation. So we wanted to build some of that flavor back into the typeface, that kind of variability. When we went digital, a lot of that nuance of optical sizing sort of washed away.Р”Р„lso throughout the first 30 years a lot of variant forms - straight-legged РІР‚СљR,РІР‚Сњ single-story РІР‚Сљa,РІР‚Сњ rounded punctuation, these sort of alternate characters - were built into the typeface and abandoned by the time it moved into the digital realm. And if you had 72pt type, it was cut to be 72pt type. So if you had 6pt type, it was cut to be 6pt type. All of the sizes of Helvetica early on were physically cut for specific optical sizes. We looked at the waypoints in the Helvetica design process, going back to 1957 when it was first born. They had identified a short laundry list of things that would be better. Why donРІР‚в„ўt we start with the РІР‚СљIn the beginningРІР‚Сњ kind of story.Р”Р‡our years ago, our German office kicking around the idea of creating a new version of Helvetica. So what is Helvetica Now? Can you tell us a little bit about how it differs from Helvetica and Helvetica Neue?

Toggling through Helvetica Now text, display, and micro

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. To learn more about whatРІР‚в„ўs different and new in Helvetica Now, I spoke with Charles Nix, the type director at Monotype. ItРІР‚в„ўs a tremendous overhaul that saw Monotype redraw every single one of HelveticaРІР‚в„ўs nearly 40,000 characters to be easier and more enjoyable to read, with a particular emphasis on going small: the kind of text you see a lot more of these days on your smartphone or pill bottle.

HELVETICA NEU VS HELVETICA NOW UPDATE

ItРІР‚в„ўs that wide array of uses that partly inspired Monotype, the oldest type company in the world and the one that currently holds the rights to Helvetica, to update the storied font for the 21st century. ItРІР‚в„ўs the official typeface of New York CityРІР‚в„ўs subway system, and if youРІР‚в„ўre reading this on The Verge, youРІР‚в„ўre mostly reading stories constructed of Helvetica right now. Even if youРІР‚в„ўre not familiar with the font, youРІР‚в„ўve definitely seen it - itРІР‚в„ўs used for everything from brand logos to books and magazines to the print on labels. Helvetica is one of the most well-known and oft-used typefaces, and it just got a big refresh.

Helvetica neu vs helvetica now