9 comments

  • Evan DinsmoreEvan Dinsmore, 8 years ago (edited 8 years ago )

    I can't take this article seriously. "I decided to stop liking the font" is pretty immature. If your interest in typography is growing, rather than deciding not to like it.. whatever that means, understand where it can be used appropriately.

    3 points
    • Raffaello SanzioRaffaello Sanzio, 8 years ago

      To be fair with the author, he was indeed talking about his immaturity as a Designer back then:

      As my interest in typography grew, I decided to stop liking the font. I saw it everywhere and I wanted to be different. Helvetica was for amateurs—I was a designer now and I knew better.

      Let's not forget that having interest in something is different than knowing about something.

      He then says:

      Today, I’m rather more indifferent—I’m as neutral as the typeface itself.

      It reminds me of what Vincent Connare said about one of his creations, Comic Sans:

      If you love it, you don't know much about typography, and if you hate Comic Sans you don't know very much about typography either, and you should probably get another hobby.

      0 points
      • Evan DinsmoreEvan Dinsmore, 8 years ago

        Eh, I don't really agree with Vincent Connare. Even for its intended use, as a bubbly, comic font, Comic Sans is not good. It's not as horrendous as people make it out to be, but it's pretty bad. Hating it for its overuse would be the same as someone hating (or avoiding) using Helvetica due to its overuse. Objectively, Helvetica is a very good neutral font. If you want to avoid drawing attention to it, and simply deliver words, it's pretty fantastic at that. Which is what I mean by understanding where it can be used appropriately. I do love Akzidenz and Univers as alternatives though.

        0 points
  • Justin ConeJustin Cone, 8 years ago

    It's amusing that he chose Futura (born in 1927) for his subheads, but he says that the reason Massimo Vignelli and Wim Crouwel used Helvetica is because "they worked in a different time. There were far fewer good quality fonts."

    Elsewhere, he argues for using Akzidez Grotesk because it's"twice as old as Helvetica which obviously makes it twice as cool."

    What a mess of an article.

    1 point
  • Jared KrauseJared Krause, 8 years ago

    "Instead of Helvetica, try using these typefaces that look exactly like Helvetica"

    1 point
  • James StiffJames Stiff, 8 years ago

    I refuse to take advice on typography from someone who chooses to set body copy at 14px!

    1 point
    • Wojciech Zalot, 8 years ago

      That's probably on of the weirdest arguments I've ever seen ;-)

      1 point
      • James StiffJames Stiff, 8 years ago

        My argument is fairly straightforward (if badly worded). The default font size for browsers is 16px, with good reason. It's easier to read. Setting body copy in smaller sizes poses accessibility and usability issues. I consider body copy set in Skolar Web at 14px to be bad typography and am therefore less inclined to take the author's views about Helvetica seriously.

        Helvetica has its place but is open to misuse like any typeface. ;-)

        0 points
  • Wojciech Zalot, 8 years ago

    Thanks for sharing these typefaces, Daalton looks exactly like something I was looking for ;-)

    0 points