Sunday, June 18, 2023

Example 8 Miedinger and Hoffmann

 

A page from Eduard Hoffmann’s Helvetica notebook dated November 27, 1957.

I wanted to take a little bit of a different route with this piece and talk about a few of the most influential men in typography and how they shaped many of the sans serif typefaces we have today. Eduard Hoffmann and Max Miedinger worked together to create what is now modern-day Helvetica. Throughout 1957 and 1958, the two men collaborated back and forth, fine-tuning each character. Miedinger’s role in the process was decisive and many credit him more than Hoffmann for the creation of Helvetica. Helveticas creation and development is one of the most important accomplishments of twentieth century graphic arts. Helvetica is probably the most successful typeface in all of history.

The image above is a page out of Hoffmann’s notebook where the typeface was created. Helvetica was originally named Neue Haas-Grotesk but was changed in 1960 and translates to the word “Swiss”. Helvetica is a benchmark in the history of typography as well as Swiss design. 






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