Artist of the Day, August 30, 2022: Max Miedinger, a Swiss typeface designer (#1634)

Max Miedinger (1910 – 1980) was a Swiss typeface designer, best known for creating the Neue Haas Grotesk typeface in 1957, renamed Helvetica in 1960. Marketed as a symbol of cutting-edge Swiss technology, Helvetica achieved immediate global success.

Between 1926 and 1930 Miedinger trained as a typesetter in Zurich, after which he attended evening classes at the Kunstgewerbeschule Zürich.

From the age of 16, from 1926 to 1930, Miedinger apprenticed as a typographic composer with the printer Jacques Bollmann in Zurich. After completing his apprenticeship, he worked from 1930 to 1936 for various companies, while attending evening classes at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Zurich.

At 26 he went to work as a typographer in the advertising department of Globus, a renowned chain of department stores. After ten years at Globus, Miedinger gained employment with Haas Type Foundry as a representative. In 1954, he created his first typeface design for Haas, Pro Arte, a condensed slab serif.

Helvetica, typeface designed by Max Miedinger
Miedinger returned to Zurich as a freelance graphic designer when Edouard Hoffmann, director of the Haas foundry, commissioned him in 1956 to design a new Grotesk typeface. It was officially presented, under the name Neue Haas Grotesk, on the occasion of Graphic 57, a major exhibition of the graphic industry that takes place at the Palais de Beaulieu, in Lausanne. Only the semi-bold series (size 20) was then presented.

In 1960, supplemented by the lean, bold and italic series, the font was marketed under the name Helvetica. Publication of Neue Helvetica, based on old Helvetica, by Linotype in 1983. All rights ceded to Linotype in 1989.

The end and the beginning
After his time at the Haas Type Foundry, Miedinger was an independent designer. In 1980, Miedinger passed away. Miedinger must have known the impact his redesigned Neue Haas Grotesk had on the world of graphic design, because at the time of his death, Helvetica was well into its reign as the most specified type of the second half of the 20th century. Even today, Helvetica and Times are the most used fonts in desktop publishing and graphic design.

Use Helvetica and be proud
Fifty years of designers cannot be wrong. Use Helvetica yourself on some projects and know that you are not a slacker who doesn’t know how to change the default typeface; you are a designer in the spirit of the Bauhaus refugee Swiss designers who authored an entire design movement. Max Miedinger would be proud.

© 2022. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by Max Miedinger or assignee. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only 

 

Max Miedinger

Helvetica book cover

Helvetica book cover

Helvetica poster

Helvetica poster

Helvetica poster

Helvetica poster

Helvetica poster

MHelvetica poster x

Helvetica poster

Helvetica poster

Helvetica poster

Helvetica poster

Helvetica poster

Helvetica poster

Helvetica poster

Helvetica poster

Helvetica poster

Helvetica identity

Helvetica identity

Helvetica identity

Max

NYC Subway Sign

Helvetica poster

Helvetica poster

Helvetica poster