[Helvetica]…It’s like going to McDonald’s instead of thinking about food —because it’s there; it’s on every street corner, so let’s eat crap because it’s on the corner.
Erik Spiekermann
Helvetica is everywhere. Merging with all tastes and discernable contexts of communication.
It’s the Michael Bublé of typography —music you might hear at a wedding, dinner party, airport lounge, or your dentist’s office, and it probably wouldn’t raise an eyebrow. It just blends in to the surroundings like elevator music.
But typography works much better when it’s not everyone’s cup of tea —like Lady Gaga or Slipknot, creating varying degrees of friction with the audience, conveying a distinct mood or feeling, infusing clarity and meaning into a piece.
Invariably this approach creates aesthetic polarization and subjective “love it or hate it” reactions —and this is where Helvetica emerges —the proverbial middle ground —the safe frictionless visual design choice that everyone seems to agree on.
But Default isn’t Design
With so many typefaces that could be characterized as only appropriate for a specific set of circumstances while simultaneously wrong for other situations, Helvetica just glides through as the mainstream visual default due to it’s inherent visual neutrality.
Helvetica tries to speak to everyone with a one-size-fits-all vanilla flavor approach in the hope everyone will understand or identify with the message.
It is well-documented, the widespread global impact of Helvetica in everything from corporate logos, packaging, signage and wayfinding, posters, print publishing and digital media. Helvetica is the undisputed king of pop culture communication.
Frankly, it is bizarre why so many designers default back to Helvetica when there are countless (and better suited) sans-serif typefaces available. Call it laziness, taking the path of least resistance, or simply not thinking critically about the semantic issues at hand.
Erik Spiekermann’s fast food analogy is fitting —choosing Helvetica may be quick and convenient, but ultimately we could make better choices if motivated.