Typographic Alternatives to Helvetica
23.06.06 @ 9:38 pmIt is well-known that the general public literally could not care less about typography. If you asked the average Joe or Jane on the street what Helvetica was, they would most likely know it was a font. On the other hand, if you asked them what Frutiger, Futura, Bodoni or Clarendon was, they most likely would not have clue. To say that Helvetica is a mainstream font is an understatement to say the least. Mainstream or not, Helvetica is an amazingly well-crafted font with one of the most abundant collections of weights. Its sterile, machinist design works well with traditional Swiss design and can aid in giving a cleaner typographical look. That being said, Helvetica is not your only choice for a machinist san serif font.
Unlike some of the more humanistic and hyper-styled fonts, I feel the clean machinist fonts act as a neutral style element for a design. There are places where Gill Sans, Kabel and other unique san serifs just are not going to work, whereas I feel that the Helvetica-ish fonts will intrude much less with other styles.
I personally think it is good to mix things up now and then with your choice of typography if the opportunity presents itself. In school, I became enamored with Clarendon and subsequently used it for an entire semester. That tends to be the problem - we form our list of favorite fonts and begin to limit ourselves to that list. You rarely are going to go wrong with Helvetica, but conversely, that does not mean you are going to be right either. So the next time you are about to default to Helvetica again, perhaps you should take a look at the list of fonts below.
I have added what I consider to be the four most important weights for a font: regular, italic, light and bold. I am not particularly fond of condensed or extended weights nor do I personally use any non-regular italic weights. Therefore, to add some variety without getting out of control, I thought these four weights would allow for a good feel of each font. While I truly wish otherwise, I am by no means an expert on typography. The observations below are my opinions based on my experiences and I would love to hear if others disagree or feel I have said something in error.
As you may notice, some of the “Quick brown fox” quotes are slightly different than others. This is because I used fontshop’s type preview tool which uses a different rendition of this quote here and there. Please excuse the inconsistency.
Helvetica Neue
Before we go into alternatives, I thought it would be helpful to display the basic Helvetica font weights. The infamous Helvetica Neue has 67 different weights. You just flat out are not going to find that in almost any other font family.
From Linotype:
The Helvetica (Latin for Swiss) has the objective and functional style which was associated with Swiss typography in the 1950s and 1960s. The font is perfect for international correspondence: no ornament, no emotion, just clear presentation of information. Helvetica font is still one of most popular sans-serif fonts.
Helvetica, the typeface par excellence, can look back on a colourful life. Originally designed for hand composition, it has been adapted over the years for all methods of composition: from hot metal line composition, and opto-mechanical phototypesetting of the first generation, to digital typesetters.
Helvetica Regular
Helvetica Italic
Helvetica Light
Helvetica Bold
Univers
Univers is a very well designed font created by Adrian Frutiger. Albeit subtle, the font is slightly more condensed and has a shorter x-height than Helvetica. There is almost no variation between thicks and thins just as is the case with Helvetica. Univers also has a large collection of weights, allowing for a great amount of flexibility in use. Out of all of the Helvetica alternatives in this article, Univers is most likely the most machinist of them all.
Univers Regular
Univers Italic
Univers Light
Univers Bold
Franklin Gothic
Franklin Gothic is a much simpler font set with only three weights. The font has a few more distinctive and unique features in its ears and terminals, but nothing too stylistic or out of the ordinary. Like Helvetica, its x-height is relatively high which should allow for better legibility at small sizes. The slight contrast between thicks and thins gives it a ever-so-slightly more humanistic feel than the two fonts above.
Franklin Gothic Regular
Franklin Gothic Italic
Franklin Gothic Bold
Interstate
Interstate is one of my favorite san serifs. While I consider some of its characters a bit squatty, the font has a unique yet extremely simple design - especially in its descenders. This font also has a very large collection of weights as well as a beautiful hairline weight that I would love to get my hands on. The name Interstate is no coincidence as this is the official font used for the United States’ highway signs.
Interstate Regular
Interstate Italic
Interstate Light
Interstate Bold
DIN
I was a bit hesitant to include this font as I am not too big of a fan of DIN. Nonetheless, many designers, including quite a few of my colleagues, use DIN quite often with good results. Personally, I feel DIN is extremely squatty - far more than Interstate. The lowercase a and s alone keep me from using it. Ironically, DIN’s origin is quite similar to that of Interstate’s as it was created to be the standard font for many of Germany’s government departments, including the traffic department.
DIN Regular
DIN Italic
DIN Light
DIN Bold
Transit
Transit is probably the least machinist of all the listed fonts. Transit has greater contrast between thicks and thins than the other fonts and many letters are more open, especially the lowercase c and e. What stands out the most, however, is Transit’s italic weight with a completely different look for many of its lowercase letters. I am actually quite a big fan of this typeface as it retains a unique personality with a clean, minimalist look.
Transit Regular
Transit Italic
Transit Bold
Brown Gothic
This font reminds me a lot of Univers in many respects, if just slightly more condensed and with less contrast between its thicks and thins. Personally, I think you could easily substitute Brown Gothic with Univers and vice versa as they are so similar. Nonetheless, there are some significant differences in some of the capital letters such as the B, R and S.
Brown Gothic Regular
Brown Gothic Italic
Brown Gothic Light
Brown Gothic Bold
TV Nord
TV Nord reminds me of a Trade Gothic, if not a little more fluid. TV Nord has a relatively high x-height and is another example of a font with very little thicks and thins contrast. I personally am not the biggest fan of Trade Gothic and I feel TV Nord, while similar, is easier on the eyes. Nonetheless, with only three weights, TV Nord is less flexible than Trade Gothic. If you do not share my problems with Trade Gothic, I would suggest it over TV Nord.
TV Nord Regular
TV Nord Italic
TV Nord Bold
I hope this list has opened some doors in the near future for choosing your next sans serif font. Every designer needs a Helvetica in their repertoire - it just does not actually need to be Helvetica, per say. Did I miss any fonts or make any glaring mistakes? Let me know.brown gothic, design, din, font, font family, franklin gothic, graphic design, helvetica, interstate, machinist, san serif, transit, tv nord, typography univers
June 23rd, 2006 at 11:11 pm
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akidentz grotesk, fruitiger, gill sans, futura, avant garde
June 23rd, 2006 at 11:27 pm
Yeah, good catch on Akzidenz Grotesk, that should have been in there. The others were purposely left out as they were either more on the humanistic side (Frutiger and Gill Sans) or more stylistic (Futura and Avante Garde). All four are great fonts which I use on many occasions, but I just didn’t think they fit in the same genre as a Helvetica.
Very good catch on Grotesk though. Thanks so much.
June 25th, 2006 at 8:59 am
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Interstate definitely takes away the trophy in my book. Clear yet tastefully distinctive font with heaps of personality.
June 25th, 2006 at 7:00 pm
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[…] Typographic Approach: Alternatives to Helvetica Hmm. I would choose Akzidenz Grotesk over all of these… Please people learn how to respect and spell Akzidenz Grotesk. […]
June 26th, 2006 at 6:58 pm
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[…] Today I received a comment on my post entitled Headers, part II from Ryan Brill that encouraged me to look further into my CSS files in my WordPress software. I have looked at these files before, but frankly, I am a little intimidated to start working on them until I have sketched out a rudimentary blog design. Today, however, I clicked confidently into my CSS file and looked for something simple that I could change. I decided on my blog font. I started changing the font in the file and then refreshing my blog to see how it looked. If you went to my blog today, you could have caught it in a myriad of fonts including Frutiger, Futura, Century Gothic, Berkeley, etc. I even almost changed it to DIN in order to get a reaction from my resident expert. […]
June 29th, 2006 at 8:17 am
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Definitely Akzidenz Grotesk. It’s my personal favorite.
Elsner & Flake’s TV Nord is a good one, but i prefer Trade Gothic over that one, like you said we might.
http://www.veer.com/search/results.aspx?keyword=tv+nord&pricemodel=RF,RM&producttype=IMG,ILL,TYP
Zurich should be mentioned here, as it looks more helvetica-ish than Univers does in my little opinion.
Great article, though, thank you very much.
July 3rd, 2006 at 10:18 am
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[…] - Typographie : des alternatives à l’indétronable Helvetica. […]
July 16th, 2006 at 11:04 pm
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News Gothic perhaps deserves a mention.
July 20th, 2006 at 7:12 pm
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[…] Check out: Typographic Alternatives to Helvetica and Typography on the Web - Beauty is Not Letterform Deep. […]
August 25th, 2006 at 12:44 pm
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Franklin Gothic and News Gothic are actually two branches of an entire family or system of fonts designed by Morris Fuller Benton, which includes Franklin Gothic, News Gothic, Alternate Gothic and Lightline Gothic. These were all consolidated and expanded into a single family called Benton Sans, issued by Font Bureau.
http://www.fontbureau.com/fonts/BentonSans
August 25th, 2006 at 1:31 pm
Definitely good to know. Thanks for the info.
September 5th, 2006 at 9:32 am
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September 7th, 2006 at 12:04 pm
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February 10th, 2007 at 1:12 pm
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Helvetica by far is the best designed typeface of all time and Akzidenz Grotesk is a close runner-up. If designers have a difficult time creating a design using Helvetica and can NOT make it have any “humanistic” qualities, they should get a job flipping burgers at Burger King!
February 11th, 2007 at 8:47 pm
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Myriad Pro ships with Photoshop. Its not popular but don’t overlook it. It has a nice width to the characters which makes very legible. I’ve also heard a rumor that Mac uses it for all their corporate material.
February 12th, 2007 at 2:13 am
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[…] Θυμάσαι τις 13 εναλλακτικές της Helvetica; Βρήκα ένα ακόμη σχετικό άρθρο του P.J. Onori στο somerandomdude.net “Unlike some of the more humanistic and hyper-styled fonts, I feel the clean machinist fonts act as a neutral style element for a design. There are places where Gill Sans, Kabel and other unique san serifs just are not going to work, whereas I feel that the Helvetica-ish fonts will intrude much less with other styles.” […]
February 12th, 2007 at 11:58 am
Eduard - I understand what you’re saying, but Helvetica is not intrinsically a humanistic typeface. It may have humanistic qualities, but it is not, say, a Gill Sans.
Kris - I actually really enjoy Myriad, I just never use it for whatever reason. Perhaps it is because Myriad is the default font in Illustrator and I have some ingrained propensity not to use default fonts.
February 18th, 2007 at 9:54 am
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[…] Suggested alternatives to Helvetica from FontShop and SomerandomDude […]
April 8th, 2007 at 6:25 am
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Thank you for this nice typographic overview.
April 20th, 2007 at 8:44 am
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[…] Eine der am meist genutzen Schriftarten aller Zeiten ist die Helvetica. Sie wurde 1957 vom Zürcher Grafiker Max Miedinger gestaltet und unter dem Namen Neue Haas-Grotesk herausgebracht. Später sollte sie zunächst in "Helvetia" umbenannt werden, was wegen warenzeichenrechtlicher Probleme jedoch wieder verworfen wurde (Helvetia ist der lateinische Name der Schweiz). Die Helvetica gehört zur Gruppe der serifenlosen Groteskschriften und fand viele Nachamer. Durch die ähnlich geschnittene Arial, die als Standardschrift auf Windows und Mac Systemen ausgeliefert wird, hat auch die Helvetica Einzug ins World Wide Web gehalten. Die Schrift ist sogar so berühmt, dass es einen Film über sie gibt. Neben der Frutiger (und Derivaten) gehört die Helvetica zu meinen Lieblingsschriften. […]
June 5th, 2007 at 6:35 am
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I am seeking knowledge as to what font(s) and characteristics maintain the best
quality when projected through a digital projector on to an 8-foot screen.
I am a photographer/poet and currently in the changeover from 35mm slide projection to
digital image projection of my own image designs. My projected works include, for the most part, more than a few lines of text; the text quality suffers a significant loss in quality because of the lower resolution limits of current digital projection technology of about 100dpi (dots per inch); non-digital images are typically at 300 dpi.
Any light that you may shine on this issue that will provide improvement of projected text would be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Bernie MacDonald
August 29th, 2007 at 7:44 am
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January 5th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
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I like futura, anivers, and calibri. I don’t even have Helvetica on here. What so good about it?
February 20th, 2008 at 1:50 am
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TV Nord comes in many more weights. See for instance the E+F website, or veer.com. But maybe that’s a recent change.
February 20th, 2008 at 9:08 am
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[…] Typographic Alternatives to Helvetica Univers, Franklin Gothic, Interstate, DIN, Transit, Brown Gothic, TV Nord 0 comments […]