![]() This was true of Akzidenz Grotesk of the Berlin-based H. The sans serif types that Hoffmann wanted to compete with originally became popular and successful in the late nineteenth century. The first fully developed sans serif (also known as grotesque or grotesk) made its appearance in Germany around 1825 and a French type founder first used the term sans serif (without decorative extensions) in 1830. The origins of san serif typefaces date back to the late eighteenth century where it was used with an embossing technique to enable the blind to read. In 1937, Eduard became co-manager of the company with Krayer, and after his uncle’s death in 1944, became the sole manager where he remained until his retirement in 1965.Īs early as 1950, Hoffmann made a decision to introduce a new sans serif typeface into the Swiss market that could compete with those coming from the other European countries. In 1917, the 25-year-old Hoffmann took a position under the direction of his uncle Max Krayer at Haas’sche Schriftgiesserei (Haas Type Foundry) in Münchenstein, Switzerland and made a commitment to the profession of typography. As a student, he studied technology and engineering in Zurich, Berlin, and Munich with a specific interest in aviation. Regardless of one’s personal opinion of the aesthetics and usefulness of Helvetica today, its creation and development-the people who developed it and how they developed it-is one of the most important accomplishments of twentieth-century graphic arts.Įduard Hoffmann was born on May 26, 1892, in Zurich, Switzerland. By the mid-1960s, Helvetica emerged as a global standard for public signage, corporate identity, and communications. It rode atop this transformation and became the first truly international typeface. Helvetica came about when typography and printing technology were moving from the metal casting, mechanical and letterpress era to the electronic phototypesetting, word processing, laser imaging, and computer age. Helvetica is plain but it is also modern and timeless. It is everywhere, all the time and there are reasons for this: Helvetica is neutral and easy to read its different weights and styles effectively embody almost any meaning or message. Helvetica is probably the most successful typeface in all of history. ![]() And so, early on in the design of the precursor to Helvetica-called Neue Haas Grotesk-Eduard Hoffmann of the Swiss-based Haas Type Foundry wrote to his designer and confident Max Miedinger, “But our first priority is the word ‘Hamburgers.’ It is the universal typefounders’ word that contains all the varieties of letters.”
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