The world's #1 font turns 50

U.S. News & World Report notes the golden anniversary of Helvetica, "the only typeface ever to have its 50th birthday observed with a major museum exhibit and an award-winning independent film." What's in a font?, you might ask. Helvetica's strong and straight lines have made it the world's most widely used typeface, and the number one choice for big corporations, almost all illuminated signs, the NYC subway system, and the IRS.

In a note of irony, Blogger doesn't support Helvetica; I use its default font Lucida Grande for my posts. But for this entry I'm using Helvetica's leading competitor, Arial, which is condemned by a designer quoted in the article as "a knockoff riding on Helvetica's coattails."