FF Bauĭesigned by Christian Schwartz for FontShop International in 2002, this modern alternative to Helvetica has more in common with the Swiss giant's quirkier, warmer 19th century ancestors – such as Akzidenz Grotesk – than with its modern-day incarnation.ĭesigned to suit modern typographical needs, without ever sacrificing personality at the altar of practicality (a criticism all-too often levied at Helvetica), FF Bau sports a distinctive double-storey 'g' and a lowercase 'a' that keeps hold of its tail in all available weights. Accordingly, his self-dubbed 'Helvetica killer' is pitched somewhere in the middle of the two – with a fractionally taller x-height than Helvetica, and slightly squarer edges than Univers.
Whereas Helvetica (or rather its predecessor Neue Haas Grotesk) was styled in response to Akzidenz Grotesk, Aktiv Grotesk is the 21st century equivalent – positioned by its designer Bruno Maag specifically as an alternative to the ubiquitous typeface that he openly denounces as the 'vanilla ice cream' of a designer's type library.Ī relative stranger to Helvetica until moving to the UK, Maag grew up using Univers as his go-to Swiss Style sans serif. Different weights and variations within the family are defined by a numbered suffix, with Univers 55 the regular weight and width. Subtle variations in stroke width add more interest and variety amongst the different letterforms, pulling it further out of the neutral zone that's proudly occupied by Helvetica. While the modern-day Helvetica is famously dense – with tightly packed letterforms, a tall x-height and a bold, attention-grabbing outlook – Univers is smaller and more spaced out. Like Neue Haas Grotesk, Adrian Frutiger's masterpiece was released in 1957 as a fresh take on Akzidenz Grotesk. It comes in a versatile family of 44 fonts. Dil chura liya sathiya song mp3 download.īut compare it to Helvetica Neue – which, after decades of tweaks and expansions to the family to cater to different platforms and uses, is where we've ended up – and the softer, more graceful curves, varied letter widths and more natural italics give it that little bit more style and character than its boxier modern counterpart. Released in 1957 in the footsteps of Akzidenz Grotesk, Neue Haas Grotesk is essentially Helvetica before the digital age: the two fonts share the same typographical DNA. It’s the grandfather of Helvetica, and inspired many other typefaces in the 'Swiss Style'.Īkzidenz is smaller, rounder and less dense than its 1950s successor, so although extremely clean and neutral, it's that little bit friendlier and more approachable. Released in 1898, over half a century before Helvetica was even thought of, Akzidenz Grotesk is one of the typefaces that helped kick-start the whole neo-grotesque movement of the early 20th century. Whether you're looking for more personality, warmth or versatility, here are 10 of the very best Helvetica alternatives. The good news is that there are literally thousands of beautifully crafted sans serifs just waiting to add that something extra to your designs. And it's not always suitable for every application. But defaulting to it effectively ignores an enormous resource of potential choices that can deliver subtle twists of personality that Helvetica just can't. There's no doubt that it's a versatile, well-designed typeface. It can be used in countless contexts and soak up the emotion of the imagery, colours, shapes or other design elements around it, conveying that timeless Swiss style without ever dominating, and communicating a message without distraction. In fact, it's so neutral that many designers default to it because of its lack of discernible personality.
It's clean, bold, legible – and safe, and is one of the world's best-known professional fonts. Of course, the giant of Swiss typography – which started life as Neue Haas Grotesk, designed by Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann in 1957 – is ubiquitous for a reason. It's the eternal quest for graphic designers the world over: they want something like Helvetica, but not Helvetica. This font was created using Font Creator 5.0 from.
ARS Maquette light ItalicPro (Latin West-/Central European).