Where can I find Helvetica?

It may be one of the best known and most used fonts around but where is it when you need it? There are many flavors of Helvetica as well as fonts that look like Helvetica but aren't. Several of the major type foundries carry various versions of Helvetica as described below. Answer: The Helvetica Trademark
Helvetica is a registered trademark of Linotype-Hell AG and/or its subsidiaries. (From the Linotype site: "Helvetica is a Trademark of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG, which may be registered in certain jurisdictions, exclusively licensed through Linotype Library GmbH, a fully owned subsidiary of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG.") Helvetica was first designed in 1957 by Max Miedinger. The name is derived from Helvetia, the Latin name for Switzerland. New weights were added by the Stempel foundry. Later, Merganthaler Linotype added new versions. See How many Helvetica versions are there? What do the Neue Helvetica numbers mean? for a look at Helvetica names and versions. Linotype, naturally, sells Helvetica including the complete Neue Helvetica collection. Explore the Linotype Library of Fonts to find the one you need.

Monotype also carries many versions of Helvetica. You can purchase individual fonts or volumes containing several weights or complete family packs. Even if you don't want the entire collection, browse these family packs to find the individual fonts you want: Helvetica Complete Family Pack (Buy Direct) Neue Helvetica Complete Family Pack (Buy Direct) Neue Helvetica Pro Complete Family Pack (Buy Direct) Helvetica Com Complete Family Pack (Buy Direct) Neue Helvetica Com Complete Family Pack (Buy Direct) Helvetica Cyrillic Complete Family Pack (Buy Direct) Neue Helvetica Cyrillic Complete Family Pack (Buy Direct) Helvetica CE Complete Family Pack (Buy Direct) Neue Helvetica CE Complete Family Pack (Buy Direct) Helvetica Greek Complete Family Pack (Buy Direct) Helvetica World Complete Family Pack (Buy Direct)

Adobe, Inc. lists several forms of Helvetica and Helvetica Neue in the Adobe Type Library (Buy Direct). Note that they drop the numbers from the Neue fonts. They are available as families or within various CD collections such as Type Basics. All the Adobe Helvetica fonts are available in OpenType and PostScript Type 1 format.

Adobe Type Collection, OpenType Edition (Buy Direct via Fonts.com)

Here's a free download of Coolvetica by Ray Larabie. It's almost like Helvetica but with a few surprises.

Some of the fonts that look like Helvetica or are very similiar are: Arial (Buy Direct; complete family) ARS Region CG Triumvirate Claro Corvus Europa Grotesk (Buy Direct) FF Bau (Buy Direct) FF Schulbuch (Buy Direct; volume of several versions) Geneva 2 Hamilton (Buy Direct; complete family) Helio/II Helv Helvette Holsatia Maxima (Buy Direct EF Maxima 1 Volume or Buy Direct URW Maxima Volume) Megaron/II Nimbus Sans (Buy Direct) Spectra (Buy Direct; New Spectra) Vega (Buy Direct; complete family includes serif, sans serif, rounded sans serif) Sans URW Sonoran Sans Serif Swiss Swiss 721 BT Switzerland Swiss 911 BT (Helvetica Compressed) Impact and Placard Bold and Swiss 921 BT (Helvetica Inserat/Compressed) Arial Narrow (Helvetica Narrow) There are probably many others.

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