Helvetica neutral?

[love hate helvetica]

Hi everyone,

I am doing my dissertation on Helvetica and would be ever greatful if you could answer a few quetions, I only need a few words so it shouldn’t take long!


1. Which 3 words would you use to describe Helvetica?

2. Do you have any emotional response to Helvetica and its uses?

3. In your opinion, is Helvetica ‘neutral’?


Mark

[ianm]

if you are gonna join in the community mate, introduce yourself in the right place. given that we don't know you at all, this is just spam as far as i'm concerned.

[brokendalek]

Ian, be nice

[Toon]

1. Which 3 words would you use to describe Helvetica? - Balanced, Famous, Clear

2. Do you have any emotional response to Helvetica and its uses? - It's the king of fonts, it sets very high standards in typography

3. In your opinion, is Helvetica ‘neutral’? - Never, there's no such thing as a neutral font, only neutral ways of using them

[love hate helvetica]

thankyou very much toon for your answers

[love hate helvetica]

Originally Posted by ianm

if you are gonna join in the community mate, introduce yourself in the right place. given that we don't know you at all, this is just spam as far as i'm concerned.

If you don't want to help then there is no need to post, this is clearly not spam, I was just looking for sensible answers from other typographic mined people. Do you want me to give my life story before I post? is there a time limit I have to adhere to, to start a topic?

[Rybo]

i personally think as a young designer *cough cough* 18 lol that helvetica is extremely overated its over used and in alot of design is the lazy font to use? anyone at all agree? although i enjoyed the celebratory birthday of helvetica program even got my mom watching it and it really opened her eyes..

[ilabstudios]

Did you watch the programme the other on BBC1 I think it was, on Helvetica?

Rybo basically caught on to what the documentary was saying.
Helvetica is used more and more, and people seem to now think it's dull and boring.

it's over used in the Advertising industry, because it helps sell that idea of sleek, clean looking minimalistic design.

Personally it's one of my favourite fonts, and reason is that it works well with so many things, also has a wide range of type faces in the pack.

What I usually tell people is, you either love it or hate it.. but if you hate it, find me another font type that does exactly what Helvetica does..?
they list me a few but still not a powerful as Helvetica.

[rossable]

1. Which 3 words would you use to describe Helvetica?
functional
business-specific
fashion-forward

2. Do you have any emotional response to Helvetica and its uses?
nothing but good.

3. In your opinion, is Helvetica ‘neutral’?
no. like any aspect of design every element and font has it place and use that is specific to the emotions and connotations carried with and conveyed by the piece. online it is one of 3 major choices in font for body content (copy) that is well supported and cross-browser compatible so it can be overused in that medium due to necessity. for any other design that is not business related or representative of a minimalistic style it can be out of place and ruin the effect of a piece that has used it wrongly. the job of the designer is to know when and where to use such fonts, element, colors, and various media to make the work speak to the target demographic. neutral implies that it can be used anywhere at any time for any reason. any designer worth their own self respect knows that nothing is truly neutral.

[korhan]

1. Which 3 words would you use to describe Helvetica? kind - universal - perfect

2. Do you have any emotional response to Helvetica and its uses? yeah, helvetica is damn cursed! how in the world a font can fit anywhere anyplace in anything. Helvetica is demons work heheh

3. In your opinion, is Helvetica ‘neutral’? "um.. kinda... maybe im used to see it everywhere.. ummm no.. because compared to "netural" types helvetica has the minimal detail and no serif. so helvetica is not netural. but its perfect... see how im confused?! i said its cursed"