MAX MIE

DINGER

S WI S

S TY P E FA

CE D

E S I GN

E R

Type Fundamentals Deborah Bowden

WHO IS… MAX MIEDINGER?

• Born

in Zurich, Switzerland

on the 24th of December 1910

• Died

8 March 1980

in Zurich, Switzerland

• Max Miedinger was most famous for creating…

HELVETICAoriginally known as Neue Haas Grotesk

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN…

Education

1926 – 1930 at 16 years old

He trained as an apprentice typesetter in the book

printing office of Jacques Bollmann in Zurich.

1930

Entered the School of Arts and Crafts, Abendkurse in

Zurich.

AND THE HARD WORK BEGINS

1936 at the age of 26

He became a Typographer in the advertising studio of the

Globus department store chain.

1946 He became a representative for the haas’sche

schriflgießerei

(Haas Type Foundry) in Basel, Switzerland.

1956 He became a freelance Graphic Artist in Zurich

1957 Miedinger made his mark in graphic arts history

1957 NEUE HAAS GROTESK WAS BORN

Later renamed HELVETICA

• Edouard Hoffman, director of the Haas Type Foundry, commissioned Miedinger to develop a new sans-serif typeface.

• Miedinger revised a typeface called Akzidenze Grotesk – a san serif font designed by H. Berthold in 1896.

HELVETICA V AKZIDENZ GROTESK

HELVETICA V AKZIDENZ GROTESK UP CLOSE & PERSONAL

e, c & gHave parallel finals

The top of the bowlcurves to meet the stem

n, m & hThe shoulder narrows

HISTORY OF THIS SAN SERIF TYPEACE

• 1800s An anonymous designer makes a type without serifs and it is called “grotesk.”

• Grotesk was copied and designers in the late 19th century began using these big, bold typefaces for display type.

• Akzidenz Grotesk (1896), One of the first with lowercase letters, and was more delicate and readable. With four different weights.

• 1956 Edouard Hoffmann (Haas Type Foundry), decided that the more natural typeface, Akzidenz Grotesk, needed to be reworked for a new century.

Max Miedinger drew this new typeface and it was released in 1957 as Neue Haas Grotesk.

HELVETICA

The name was

changed in 1961 to

Helvetica

Helvetica is a very legible Typeface, which is rounded, with a large x-height,short ascenders and descender.

HELVETICA FONT FAMILY

HELVETICA WENT GLOBAL

Design should be an objective communicationof ideas and not an artistic expression

It was marketed to reflect cutting edge Swiss technology.

Companies and designers all over the world viewed Helvetica

as the font that reflected the industrial times.

HELVETICA IS…

• Neutral

• Clean

• Legible

• Versatile

• It’s open to interpretation in any context

IT BECAME COMMONLY USED IN

• Corporate Logos

• Advertising

• Print

• Public Signs

CORPORATE LOGOS

ADVERTISING & PRINT

PUBLIC SIGNS

HELVETICA WAS A CRUCIAL

PROGRESSION

IN TYPEFACE DESIGN

PRESENTING AN IDEALISED

EXPRESSION OF MODERNISM

FONTS DESIGNED BY MAX MIEDINGER

• Helvetica (Neue Haas Grotesk)

• Pro Arte

• Horisontal

• Swiss 921

• Swiss 721

• Monospace 821

• Miedinger

YOUTUBE VIDEO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkoX0pEwSCw&ob=av3e

Title: Helvetica Trailer

… what did Helvetica tell you today?