Helvetica

Released as Neue Haas Grotesk and renamed Helvetica, Latin for Swiss, in 1960 to sell abroad. It became the default voice of corporate modernism, from subway signs to tax forms.

Designer
Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann
Year
1957
Where
Haas Type Foundry, Münchenstein
Free stand-in
Inter
In the library
22 styles
Download Inter, freeGoogle FontsHelvetica itself is licensed. Inter is the closest free face, free for personal and commercial work under the Open Font License.

01Set it yourself

Set in InterLoading the face
Tryor click the specimen and type your own.
Weight
Case
Dress it in a style

02Put it to work

Your words from the specimen, set in Inter in the formats a project actually needs, in the colours you picked above.

yourstudio.com
HelveticaWorkAboutContact
Helvetica

We design identities, websites and campaigns for people who care how things feel. This is the paragraph your headline sits on, set in Inter.

Start a project →

Tip. Headline in Inter, standing in for Helvetica, body copy in Inter. Copy the CSS from the specimen above and the headline is ready to paste into your site.

03Every character

AU+0041 · Inter 700
72pxHelvetica
48pxHelvetica
32pxHelvetica
20pxThe quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog, 1234567890.
14pxThe quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog, 1234567890.

04The free stand-in: Inter

Why Inter. Neutral grotesque with the same closed apertures and even colour; drawn for screens rather than metal. Helvetica itself is a licensed typeface, so everything on this page is set in Inter, which is free to use on the web and in print.

Inter, on its own. A neutral UI grotesque drawn for screens: tall x-height, closed apertures, no opinions.

If Helvetica is installed on your computer, an A/B key appears in the specimen above so you can compare the two.

Download Inter, freeGoogle Fonts

05The styles built on Helvetica

PhotorealismOpen the style →Conceptual ArtOpen the style →Performing ArtsOpen the style →New WaveOpen the style →SkeuomorphismOpen the style →Luxury MinimalOpen the style →Cyber MinimalismOpen the style →Swiss / InternationalOpen the style →Tech SpecOpen the style →Surreal DreamcoreOpen the style →NormcoreOpen the style →Architectural MinimalismOpen the style →International StyleOpen the style →Japanese MinimalismOpen the style →90s EditorialOpen the style →BrutalismOpen the style →High-Tech ArchitectureOpen the style →Post-InternetOpen the style →Direct Flash EditorialOpen the style →SupergraphicsOpen the style →Motion DesignOpen the style →Radical Italian DesignOpen the style →

06What it pairs with

Modern GroteskSpace GroteskSet in Inter underneath: the body copy a headline in Space Grotesk needs to sit on.Try it in the type lab →

07More sans faces

Futura14Univers9Inter7Circular6Akzidenz-Grotesk5Gill Sans5Arial4DIN4Frutiger3Graphik3Avant Garde1Chicago1Comic Sans1Universal Typeface1
Every classic face in the libraryAll fonts and pairings →
Open the type lab →Browse the styles →