For project one in IXD102, we were asked to choose a font from a list of 6 (Futura, Gill Sans, Helvetica, Palatino, New Times Roman or Baskerville) and create a type specimen screen. Prior to the class, I had never heard of a type specimen screen so I started off by researching what it is and different type specimen screens in the specified fonts.
A type specimen is used to display a certain typefaces design, uses and best suitability for projects and tasks. They were originally used by printers to see how different typefaces look at different sizes for poster which helped designers view the legibility and characteristics of the text. When presenting type faces, a pseudo latin “dummy text” on the type specimen screen to establish how certain fonts look as a header, body or in different layouts and combinations.
I began to look at pre existing type specimen screens of the fonts to get a feel of each of the types, inspiration for the layout and help me decide which font I would like to use for my type specimen screen.
After looking at pre-existing type specimens, I narrowed by choice of fonts down to Futura, Gill Sans and Helvetica because I liked the more clear and simplistic look to these fonts. I then decided to quickly sketch out some simple designs of each of these types to see which one I liked the best and to help make my final choice.
I decided to choose Helvetica for my Type Specimen Screen as I personally like the simplistic feel and styling of it. I then began to research Helvetica in more depth, giving me a better understanding of the fonts origin as well as learn a little history that I can include on my own type specimen screen.
Helvetica is the go-to brand typeface, created back in 1957. The name ‘Helvetica’ is Latin for Switzerland, the country where it was created by freelance designer Max Alfons Miedinger. It was a san serif font but Max Alfons Miedinger created Neue Haas Grotesk (later known as Helvetica) to be more linear, simple and clear to read, using negative spacing and horizontal and vertical strokes to create this bold look.
In 1960, Arthur Ritzel a designer from a German firm reconstructed and developed Neue Haas Grotesk, renaming it to Helvetica which instantly shot to fame in Swiss design used on the likes of coke billboards throughout the 1960’s and 70’s.
Today, its understated appearance is used by companies for their products including Oral-B, Jeep, Panasonic and Toyota.
I looked at some existing Helvetica Type Specimen Screens for inspiration for my own, looking at the layout of the letters, the brief history content they provided and the overall look of it.
