Swiss 721

Swiss 721 is a font from Bitstream library. Edouard Hoffmann saw this typeface as an improvement on the late nineteenth century Berthold Gothic, Akzidenz Grotesk. Hoffmann, director of the Haas Typefoundry, specified the design; Max Miedinger drew it under his guidance. It was initially released as the Haas Neue Grotesk; the name Helvetica was applied four years later by Walter Cunz when D. Stempel AG, a major stockholder in Haas, reworked the design for Linotype GmbH in Frankfurt, a major stockholder in Stempel. The Mergenthaler Linotype Company in New York, then a major stockholder of Linotype GmbH, adopted the design, and it rapidly became the most popular sanserif in the world, replacing Futura. Helvetica is designed as a strong central series, with condensed and extended forms and extreme weights adapted and added later, a system that suited Linotype mechanical limitations and marketing philosophy. By contrast, in Univers Adrian Frutiger related all versions closely, limiting the design of the central fonts to match the extreme forms for a series so uniform that any member may be used closely with any other. Linotype's limited licensing has forced a large number of unauthorized copies of Helvetica, none of which may be viewed as an improvement.

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