Dictionary
a typeface in which characters have no serifs
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Wikipedia
: ''For the cattle breed, see Helvetica (cattle breed).'' ''Helvetica'' is a typeface developed by Max Miedinger in 1957 for the Haas’sche Schriftgiesserei type foundry of Switzerland. Its name is derived from Helvetia, the Ancient RomeRoman name for Switzerland. The font is based on the earlier ''Akzidenz Grotesk'' typeface from around 1898. The typeface, originally titled ''Haas-Grotesk'', is a very clean sans-serif face. The typeface became extremely popular in the 1960s, when it was widely used. In 1983, Linotype released the ''Helvetica Neue'' (German languageGerman for "New Helvetica") typeface, based on ''Helvetica''. The typeface ''Arial'', distributed with Microsoft Windows, has the same widths as Helvetica and almost identical characters, and was essentially created as a cheaper unauthorized Helvetica clone, which has led to criticism of Microsoft. One of the easiest ways to distinguish the two is their uppercase "R". Another way is looking at the "tail" of the a (lower right). This is easily seen in the illustration. Another is the lowercase "e"; Helvetica cuts the lower hook straight across, while Arial cuts it at an angle.While ''Univers'' is acknowledged to be the most used Latin typeface in the world, ''Helvetica'' is widely used in countries such as France, the United Kingdom and the Nordic countries.''Helvetica'' is also one of the default typefaces for the Mac OS system. The typeface ''Nimbus Sans'' (one of the default typefaces for GNU/Linux) is based on Helvetica, as is Bitstream, Inc.Bitstream's ''Swiss 721 BT'', which even bases its name on the same theme. Helvetica recently replaced Akzidenz Grotesk as the font used for the signs of the New York City Subway system.In addition Linotype created an even more successfull successor called ''Neue Helvetica''.Helvetica is a Trademark of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG, which may be registered in certain jurisdictions, exclusively licensed through Linotype GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG.
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