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Helvetica forever: Story of a Typeface Hardcover – February 27, 2009

4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 8 ratings

There is a newer edition of this item:

Helvetica: Homage to a Typeface
$16.91
(70)
Only 11 left in stock (more on the way).

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Lars Müller was born in Oslo 1955 and has been living in Switzerland since 1963. After doing his apprenticship as a graphic designer, and years of apprenticeship and travel in the USA and Holland, he opened a studio in Baden in 1982. In 1983, Lars Müller began publishing books on typography, design, art photography, and architecture.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Lars Müller Publishers; 1st edition (February 27, 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 159 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 3037781211
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-3037781210
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.45 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.19 x 0.75 x 9.69 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 8 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
4.8 out of 5
8 global ratings
The Hamburgers of Helvetica
5 Stars
The Hamburgers of Helvetica
Who would have thought that the development of the world's favorite typeface would provide such a riveting read but it does. The local heroes are designer Max Miedinger encouraged by the Haas type foundry boss Eduard Hoffmann. Despite the availability of several sans faces in the fifties the company wanted to avoid losing market share for their type foundry and the best way to do it was to develop a new face, in a very crowded sans market.The book reveals the creation of the face with an amazing amount of fascinating detail, fortunately not just with words but plenty of period graphics and sample type settings (in the type founders favorite word foe sample setting: Hamburger). A real find and reproduced in color are twenty-seven pages of Hoffmann's personal Journal where he stuck in examples of setting as Miedinger evolved the letter designs. I found it interesting that the only face that was included as a comparison was Berthold's Akzidenz Gotesk (Standard Medium and Bold in English speaking countries) which, in display sizes, was the first type of choice for 'Swiss school' designers even though it only had two weights and no italic.There is an intriguing chapter called A Comparison by Indra Kupferschimd, which looks at all the before and after Helvetica faces and you'll be surprised at how many there were. The success of the face, from 1957 onwards, persuaded several type founders to 'Helveticize' their fonts by changing a, c, e, s, t and cap equivalents to look as much as possible like the real thing.The book is nicely produced in the typical Swiss style though that does mean unfortunately that tiny type has to be used somewhere and in this case it's the extensive captions and notes: 6.5 point seems too small to me for ease of reading.Designers and type fans will enjoy the story of a face that is reliable, practical, neutral and with some very sexy letters.***SEE INSIDE THE BOOK by clicking 'customer images' under the cover.
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Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on May 10, 2022
Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2009
Customer image
5.0 out of 5 stars The Hamburgers of Helvetica
Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2009
Who would have thought that the development of the world's favorite typeface would provide such a riveting read but it does. The local heroes are designer Max Miedinger encouraged by the Haas type foundry boss Eduard Hoffmann. Despite the availability of several sans faces in the fifties the company wanted to avoid losing market share for their type foundry and the best way to do it was to develop a new face, in a very crowded sans market.

The book reveals the creation of the face with an amazing amount of fascinating detail, fortunately not just with words but plenty of period graphics and sample type settings (in the type founders favorite word foe sample setting: Hamburger). A real find and reproduced in color are twenty-seven pages of Hoffmann's personal Journal where he stuck in examples of setting as Miedinger evolved the letter designs. I found it interesting that the only face that was included as a comparison was Berthold's Akzidenz Gotesk (Standard Medium and Bold in English speaking countries) which, in display sizes, was the first type of choice for 'Swiss school' designers even though it only had two weights and no italic.

There is an intriguing chapter called A Comparison by Indra Kupferschimd, which looks at all the before and after Helvetica faces and you'll be surprised at how many there were. The success of the face, from 1957 onwards, persuaded several type founders to 'Helveticize' their fonts by changing a, c, e, s, t and cap equivalents to look as much as possible like the real thing.

The book is nicely produced in the typical Swiss style though that does mean unfortunately that tiny type has to be used somewhere and in this case it's the extensive captions and notes: 6.5 point seems too small to me for ease of reading.

Designers and type fans will enjoy the story of a face that is reliable, practical, neutral and with some very sexy letters.

***SEE INSIDE THE BOOK by clicking 'customer images' under the cover.
Images in this review
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10 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2023

Top reviews from other countries

the_guitar_man
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting read...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 31, 2013
One person found this helpful
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