CDF Project 3: Font Poster
Poster design for information about Helvetica including its designer, origins, and style.
Origins of Helvetica
Helvetica is a neo-grotesque sans-serif typeface designed in 1957 by Swiss designers Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann. Intended to be used for a wide variety of purposes, the font was designed to be clear and without inherent meaning on its own. It is widely used by companies like BMW, Panasonic, and Target for their logos. It’s characteristics including a tall x-height and wide uppercase letters are meant to improve legibility from a distance. Other unique traits include a rounded tail on the letter ‘R’, a two-storied ‘a’, and a square-looking ‘s’.
Sketches
In my sketches, I explored ideas like density, letter form, minimalism, and weights. I decided to go with my last sketch invoking the Swiss flag because I thought it conveyed the most meaning.
Poster
Because Helvetica was rooted in Swiss design of its time, I wanted to emphasize the Swiss origins of the typeface. At the same time, I wanted to evoke the characteristics of the typeface like its blocky-ness and simplicity. I realized that just “HELVETICA” would not be tall enough to create the horizontal bar of the cross, so I included the date and the designers in the bar as well.
Swiss Flag
I researched the Swiss flag because if I was going to reinterpret it, I wanted to make sure that I didn’t disrespect it. Most importantly, I learned that it was a square flag. This opened up possibilities for my poster since I would have more room to display more information if I fit the square flag into the rectangular poster. I also found the proportions of the flag, and I made sure to keep my proportions consistent so that it closely resembled the original even with the text inside.
Final
Once I was able to fit the letters into the cross without inconsistent spacing, I had to decide what to put below the flag. Keeping with the theme of minimalism and simplicity, I simply put the character sets of the different configurations of Helvetica. With the remaining space at the bottom, I found a quote from a book about Helvetica that I thought encapsulated its original intention. Finally, I made sure that all the components felt balanced in terms of size and spacing.
