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      • Lars Müller Publishers

      • Küchen Werkzeug / Kitchen Tools
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      • Katharina Grosse. Wish I Had a Big Studio in the Center of the City
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      • You Are the City
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      • Helvetica
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      • Lars Müller Publishers

      • Findings on Ice
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      • Everything but the Walls
      • 8vo
      • Das Gesetz und seine visuellen Folgen
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      • Steven Holl - Scale
      • Landform Building
      • Poster Collection 21 Paradise Switzerland
      • What You See
      • The Face of Human Rights
      • Who Owns the Water?
      • Reset - Beyond Fukushima

      Lars Müller

      Helvetica
      Homage to a Typeface

      Design: Integral Lars Müller
      2005 | English | 12 × 16 cm | 256 pages | 400 illustrations | softcover
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In 1957, Swiss typographer Max Miedinger came up with “Haas Grotesk”. Renamed Helvetica after 1960, this typeface went on to become one of the world’s most used typefaces ever. It embodies the myth of Sachlichkeit, propagated at the time by Swiss Typography.
This book sings the praises of this shift-worker and solo entertainer of typefaces, of its forgotten creator and all those who have contributed to its unparalleled international march of triumph over the past forty years. The designs gathered together here in honour of Helvetica have been created by superb designers and anonymous amateurs from all over the world. They present a unique panoply of this icon of modern design. Superb applications are juxtaposed with an anonymous collection of ugly, ingenious, charming, and hair-raising samples of its use. Helvetica is not only the preferred typeface of leading professionals, it is also an all-time favourite among the multitude of codes and signals and commands that enliven urban life.

1957年、スイスのタイポグラファであるMax Miedingerは"Haas Grotesk"を提案した。1960年以降にHelveticaと改称され、世界で最も使われるタイプフェイスとなった。Sachlichkeit(即物性)の神話を具現化し、スイス・タイポグラフィの時代を世に広めることとなった。
本書は、タイプフェイスの変革者および孤独のエンターテイナー、つまり忘れ去られていた制作者と過去40年以上も比類なき国際的大成功のマーチに寄与したすべての人々への賞賛をうたっている。Helveticaの名誉のもとに集められたデザインは、世界中の素晴らしいデザイナー、また逆に名もなきアマチュアが手がけたものであるが、これらのデザインはみなモダンデザインのアイコン(すなわちHelveticaという書体)を使用して作られている。この見事な応用方法は、醜い/独創的/魅力的/身の毛のよだつ、ような匿名のHelvetica使用例を並列している。Helveticaは第一線で活躍するプロフェッショナルが好むだけでなく、数多くの符号や信号においても好んで使用され続けており、都市生活を活気づけている。
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