Neue Helvetica (Helvetica Neue) – Overview and Background

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Neue Helvetica (also known as Helvetica Neue) is a completely redrawn version of the Helvetica font range that has 51 font styles in weights varying from ultra light to extra black.

As the various original Helvetica versions were imbalanced and disproportionate to each other, a complete overhaul was instigated in 1983 by D. Stempel AG and Linotype. Neue Helvetica was the outcome. The ‘new’ Helvetica designs are much more cohesive, structured, have unified heights and widths and improved legibility. A numerical classification scheme was also introduced (based on the Univers system) to help distinguish all the fonts in the Neue Helvetica complete family range.

Neue Helvetica is the quintessential sans serif font that is understated, timeless and neutral – without doubt the undisputed king of fonts.

Helvetica was originally known as Neue Haas Grotesk and was designed in 1957 by Max Miedinger for the Haas Type Foundry based in Switzerland. In 1960 the name was changed to Helvetica (an adaptation of "Helvetia", the Latin name for Switzerland). To view original Helvetica, click Helvetica.

Links to popular alternative Helvetica cuts can be found further down the page.

Neue Helvetica – Buying Choices

Neue Helvetica W1G

Neue Helvetica W1G (World Glyph set 1) fonts have specially enlarged character sets that contain extended language support plus many additional typographic characters. Language coverage includes: Western European, Central & Eastern European, Greek, Cyrillic, Welsh and Turkish. Character additions include superiors, inferiors, ordinals and fractions.

Neue Helvetica W1G – Buying Choices

Helvetica – Popular Alternative Cuts

Apart from the ever-present Arial, there are many alternative typeface designs that are extremely similar to Helvetica and indistinguishable to the untrained eye, however, there will be small spacing and character design differences, character sets also vary. These alternative products also have different licensing terms, if you require licensing advice please contact us for further information.

Popular alternatives:

Aktiv Grotesk (Dalton Maag)
Pragmatica (Paratype)
Swiss (Bitstream)
Nimbus Sans (URW)