My Heart Belongs to Helvetica

How do I love thee, let me count the ways. I am downright compulsive about several
things–coffee, the kind of pens I write with, and the fonts that I
use. I immediately change everything into my beloved Helvetica typeface(or its
cheap, Americanized, Microsoft approximation Verdana or Arial ). It’s gotten so bad that I can’t read anything electronic until I make this global change.

Now I know why–according to the BBC, who celebrate the Swiss typeface’s 50th anniversary this year:

Helvetica’s message is this: you are going to get to
your destination on time; your plane will not crash; your money is safe
in our vault; we will not break the package; the paperwork has been
filled in; everything is going to be OK.

And why does this matter? Only the BBC could put it so, well, perfectly:

Typefaces control the message. Choice of font dictates
what you think about something before you even read the first word.
Imagine Shakespeare in large capital drop shadow. Our response would be
quite different towards the content.

Oh, and if you’re wondering why I chose a picture of the American Airlines logo for this post? Gap, The NYC Subway System, Lufthansa, Panasonic, Royal
Bank of Scotland, Tupperware, Zanussi. The list of brands that use the
Swiss typeface would
fill this page.