Helvetica, the font that has been used by world famous brands such as Panasonic, Toyota, Apple, Netflix, Google and many others has been given a facelift.
A much needed facelift since Helvetica Neue was released 36 years ago.
The latest iteration of the world famous typeface is called Helvetica Now.
"Helvetica? Now is a new chapter in the story of perhaps the best-known typeface of all time. Available in three optical sizes—Micro, Text, and Display—every character in Helvetica Now has been redrawn and refit; with a variety of useful alternates added.
"It has everything we love about Helvetica and everything we need for typography today. This is not a revival. This is not a restoration," Monotype, the creators of the font, writes.
Among the beef many designers had with Helvetica was its uneven kerning or the spacing between each letter. There were also readibility issues when the font is displayed small.
With the advent of sizeable browser windows and smaller screens, this posed a greater challenge for designers.
Monotype has fixed the problem by introducing Helvetica Now in three sizes: Micro, Text, and Display.
Micro are for tiny screens such as smartwatches and tablets which at times have lower resolutions. Display are for billboard sized texts and Text is primarily marketed for textbooks and articles.
Three letters have been tweaked a little and given a makeshift as well for better clarity. They are the letter I, the letter R and letter G which is a lot more rounded. The @ symbol has been given an update as well.
Nice.
It'll take some time before Helvetica Now replaces Neue. But you can already test it out here.
Cover image sourced from Monotype.
