Neue Haas Grotesk

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In 1956, Max Miedinger was commissioned by the Haas’sche Schriftgiesserei (Haas type foundry) to develop a new sans-serif typeface. Haas Grotesk was designed and released in 1957, inspired by (and intended to compete with) Akzidenz Grotesk; at the time a leading typeface in the ‘Swiss design’ movement.

In 1960 Neue Haas Grotesk was renamed Helvetica (Latin for Swiss), a clever marketing ploy, for it ended up becoming synonymous with ‘Swiss design.’

That is clever.

I’ve been reading actual dead-tree books whilst researching this (the Wikipedia articles were a bit rubbish, not to mention inconsistent) — Helvetica: Homage to a typeface by Lars Müller and Sans serif: The ultimate sourcebook of classic and contemporary sans serif typography by Cees W. De Jong.