And since the dawning of the digital age, it's been ubiquitous on software, apps and websites everywhere.īut given this widespread use – which has been criticised as overuse by leading typographers such as Erik Spiekermann – designers will often seek an alternative to Helvetica to avoid their work looking too samey and predictable. There's even been a popular film about it. Helvetica has also been widely used in road and railway signage, from the UK and USA to Japan and South Korea. Some of the most recognisable uses of Helvetica have been on US tax forms, EU warnings on tobacco products, and in wordmarks, including American Airlines, BMW, Sears, Microsoft, Panasonic, Target and Verizon. Like the Swiss nation itself, designers loved its neutrality, making it almost infinitely adaptable for all kinds of projects.

And it quickly became one of the most popular typefaces of the mid-20th century. Originally called Neue Haas Grotesk, the sans-serif, neo-grotesque typeface was designed by Swiss designers Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann in 1957. Helvetica is one of the best-known and most-used fonts in the history of modern typography.