Neue Haas Grotesk is a sans serif font family of Swiss design by Max Miedinger created in 1957, together with the director of Haas Type Foundry Eduard Hoffmann. It is the forerunner of what we know today as Helvetica one of the most popular typefaces of the 20th century.
Neue Haas Grotesk font was designed with the idea of producing a contemporary, neutral and above all clear sans typeface for use in a variety of settings; from poster to editorial. To this end, Miedinger and Hoffmann wanted to establish a new type that would rival the Akzidenz-Grotesk, a German sans-serif font of the early twentieth century. The result was a clean and efficient design that was characterized by:
- Straight stroke width giving it a geometric look.
- Achieving near vertical or vertical terminal curvature thus affording a neat cut off.
- Clean counters that add to the compactness of the lettering and makes it clear cut.
- Proximity of letter spacing and size, making it easier to read.
The name Grotesk comes from the fact that the type of fonts that are sans-serif were once referred to as grotesque. As to the second part of the name – Neue Haas is definitely a reference to the Haas Type Foundry, with the adjective carrying the connotation of the new.
Neue Haas Grotesk to Helvetica
In 1960, the typeface was adapted and released by the German foundry D. Stempel AG under a new name: Helvetica. The change of the bank’s name was to give it more marketable appeal especially in the international market from the Latin word for Switzerland, Helvetia. Some modifications were made in this adaptation, for instance, some glyphs were changed in order to improve the suitability of the typeface for metal type.
Update
Font Bureau has reintroduced the typeface in the early 2010s through a designer named Christian Schwartz. This revival also known as Neue Haas Grotesk was an attempt to bring back the characteristics of the typeface that where eliminated when it was changed to the Helvetica. Schwartz is a closer version to the original design by Miedinger and has made changes that depict the original analog shapes and sizes. Key aspects of the revival include:
- Enhancements in legibility across scale, which is useful for everything from reading text to using the device as a billboard.
- Brought back old character styles for example, the single-story a and the circular e.
- Improved kerning and spacing which were in congrace with the intended spacing as it is in its original form.
- Different weights and styles to make it suitable for use in today’s world.
Neue Haas Grotesk in its original and revived form, has come to represent generic, utilitarian type and is used across a broad spectrum of projects, from branding to books and the web. Due to its simple and unornamented appearance, it can be easily applied to print and online products. The font has a classical look and feel due to its clean, versatile and concise design, which is more in tune with the principles of the modernistic typography.
Neue Haas Grotesk Font Free Download
