---
title: "Helvetica (1957) — Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann"
description: "Helvetica was designed by Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann in 1957. What it signals, where you have seen it, and how to tell it from Arial."
url: https://atoneplace.net/font/helvetica/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Helvetica

**Helvetica: Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann, 1957**

Sans-serif · Neutral corporate modernism. So common it reads as no choice at all — which was the intent.

Released as Neue Haas Grotesk and renamed Helvetica in 1960 for export, from Helvetia, the Latin name for Switzerland. The design goal was neutrality — letterforms with no expression of their own, so the words carry the meaning — and it succeeded so completely that it became the most-used typeface in history and the subject of a feature documentary. Apple used it as the iOS system font until 2015.

## How to tell it apart

| Mistaken for | Which letters to check |
| --- | --- |
| Arial | The fastest tells are the capital R, whose leg is straight and angled on Helvetica but curved on Arial; the lowercase t, which is flat-topped on Helvetica and angled on Arial; and the terminals on C, S and e, which are horizontal on Helvetica and cut at an angle on Arial. |
| Akzidenz-Grotesk | Akzidenz is less regularised — its letters vary more in width and weight. Helvetica smoothed all of that out. |

## The facts

- **Designed by:** Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann
- **Released:** 1957
- **Classification:** Sans-serif
- **What it signals now:** Neutral corporate modernism. So common it reads as no choice at all — which was the intent.

## Where you have seen it

- The New York City Subway
- American Apparel
- Jeep
- Target
- BMW
- Panasonic
- Roughly everything

## Other typefaces from the 1950s

| Typeface | Year | Designer | What it signals |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Courier | 1955 | Howard Kettler | A typewriter, a screenplay, or code written before syntax highlighting. |
| Univers | 1957 | Adrian Frutiger | Systematic Swiss design. The typeface for people who find Helvetica sloppy. |
| Optima | 1958 | Hermann Zapf | Elegant, slightly classical. Cosmetics, memorials, luxury that does not want to shout. |

> This page describes the typeface rather than showing it. Displaying a specimen requires a licensed font file and almost none of these may be redistributed, so the descriptions name the letters to look at instead.

## Common questions

### Who designed Helvetica?

Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann, in 1957.

### What is Helvetica used for?

Neutral corporate modernism. So common it reads as no choice at all — which was the intent. You will have seen it on The New York City Subway, American Apparel, Jeep.

### What is the difference between Helvetica and Arial?

The fastest tells are the capital R, whose leg is straight and angled on Helvetica but curved on Arial; the lowercase t, which is flat-topped on Helvetica and angled on Arial; and the terminals on C, S and e, which are horizontal on Helvetica and cut at an angle on Arial.

## Related pages

- [Arial](https://atoneplace.net/font/arial/)
- [Akzidenz-Grotesk](https://atoneplace.net/font/akzidenz-grotesk/)
- [Typefaces from the 1950s](https://atoneplace.net/font/decade/1950s/)
- [Akzidenz-Grotesk](https://atoneplace.net/font/akzidenz-grotesk/)
- [Franklin Gothic](https://atoneplace.net/font/franklin-gothic/)
- [Johnston](https://atoneplace.net/font/johnston/)
- [Futura](https://atoneplace.net/font/futura/)
- [Gill Sans](https://atoneplace.net/font/gill-sans/)
- [Univers](https://atoneplace.net/font/univers/)
- [Optima](https://atoneplace.net/font/optima/)
- [Eurostile](https://atoneplace.net/font/eurostile/)

## Sources

- Official vendor product documentation — At One Place (/about/)