GrrlScientist is an evolutionary biologist, ornithologist, aviculturist, birder and freelance science and nature writer. A native of the Pacific Northwest, she relocated from Seattle to NYC with her parrots after earning a BS in Microbiology (emphasis in Virology) and PhD in Zoology (Ornithology) from the University of Washington. In NYC, she was the Chapman Postdoctoral Fellow at the American Museum of Natural History for two years, pursuing part of her "dream" research project by reconstructing a molecular phylogeny of the parrots of the South Pacific islands. GrrlScientist has written a blog about science since 4 August 2004 (the early years are archived 
tags: font type, font style, Helvetica
Did you know that today is the 50th birthday of that horrid font type, Helvetica? In honor of this seemingly auspicious occasion, Helvetica fans all over the world are celebrating (or reviling) it.
Those who love Helvetica claim that it sends a message of cool efficiency;
[Y]ou are going to get to your destination on time; your plane will not crash; your money is safe in our vault; we will not break the package; the paperwork has been filled in; everything is going to be OK.
However, those of us who strongly dislike it, see it much, much differently;
Type "I hate Helvetica" into Google and there are forums for people who rage at the mindless "corporate chic" of this dominant font. They see it as a vehicle for social conformity through consumerism, shifting product with a great big steam-roller of neutrality.
I see it as bland, boring and uninspired. Icky!
Cited story.
Comments
As a font, I think its fairly average. Its adept for being fairly readable compared to other sans serif fonts. It looks good writ large, and in our modern advertising culture of small "witty" catch-phrases, Helvetica presents a minimalist appeal to the wording itself.
It is simple. Unimaginative. That's exactly what sells it. It has its place, but its been abused. Its like sueing over hot coffee spilled in the lap - don't hate the beverage, hate the drinker.
Posted by: Brian Thompson | May 9, 2007 2:35 PM
Those of us who propose to NSF will have to get used to Helvetica. NSF has recently declared only four fonts to be acceptable, and the sans-serif alternative to Helvetica is the even-worse Arial.
How bad is Arial? Bad enough that in any PowerPoint document I create I go to the trouble to change it to Helvetica. Why Microsoft made Arial the default is beyond me.
Posted by: Eric Lund | May 9, 2007 2:39 PM
Nothing inherently wrong with it, it's just a bit overused. It's the nicest of the modern sans-serifs. Way better than Arial.
Everyone knows Comic Sans is the real enemy.
Posted by: jeffk | May 9, 2007 3:03 PM
Considering there are only a hand full of web fonts which are used for all pages, I'm surprised you don't hate them all.
Posted by: PENIX | May 9, 2007 3:36 PM
I hate fonts. It really ticks me off when I have trouble opening a document because some moronic author thought it would be "creative" to put it in some bizzaro font. When I becomne dictator only Helvetica and Times New Roman will be allowed. Anyone using another font will be imprisoned; anyone designing a new font will be executed.
I will have a similar policy regarding codecs. You are warned.
Posted by: Bob | May 9, 2007 3:48 PM
Back in the 70s the battle was between Univers and Helvetica. Univers had scores of weights and faces, and I just liked its cutting better than Helvetica. But all the fonts that were included in the first PostScript are now effectively dead to designers. They just got overused...
Posted by: John Wilkins | May 9, 2007 5:39 PM
Bob, just set your browser to never allow the page to choose the font. Then set your default font to some nice sans-serif (I use Vera Sans which you can download freely) and be amazed at just how readable the web suddenly became.
There are a few sites that will look a little strange if you disallow font choice; in my experience, though, those sites tend to look even worse if you actually let them select it.
Posted by: Janne | May 10, 2007 12:14 AM
well, i like garamond, but it doesn't work so well for the internet. but i still like it. but i have specically chosen times for my blog. for some reason, it makes my words look better, i think.
Posted by: "GrrlScientist" | May 10, 2007 12:53 PM
I like any sans-serif font and I am proud of that fact. Serifs are a waste of pixels. Don't want to run out of pixels, do you?
Posted by: Joseph j7uy5 | May 11, 2007 7:20 AM