Typophile

Akzidenz vs. Helvetica

ebvge

Hi there, good people!

I'm a graphic design student curently working on a type poster about the differences and similarities of Akzidenz Grotesque and Helvetica (I know, not the most original choice). I've browsed through all of my type books and what feels like the whole Internet, and I found a few good article of Helvetica vs. Univers, but the info on Akzindenz is rather shallow and nothing I didn't know from before (Directly influenced, horizontally cut strokes and taller x-height).

I guess what I'm asking is if someone has some interesting information or can point me in the direction of articles that can help make my poster at least a little bit more interesting that the 1000s other out there.

Thanks in advance,

Erik

Indra Kupferschmid

The info on Akzidenz is rather shallow? If you read all of what is on typophile about AG, you should have enough information to work with. What are you still looking for if you know all the differences and similarities?

Nick Shinn

See if you can find Berthold’s 1954 specimen book.
It shows the most recent versions of AG, at different sizes, that Helvetica was copied from.
Some sizes are more like Helvetica than others.
Here’s a sample from it:

Indra Kupferschmid

This sample is from the Berthold chronicle, not the specimen book.
AG was reworked after the success of Helvetica in 1957 to look more regular/similar. The old version was still available as AG Old Style, the new version as AG Serie 57. Here are some images http://www.flickr.com/photos/kupfers/tags/akzidenzgrotesk/

Joshua Langman

"(I know, not the most original choice)."

Then, with all due respect, why do it?

For a different take on Helvetica lookalikes, maybe compare something to Schwartz's Neue Haas Grotesk?

http://www.fontbureau.com/nhg/

Nick Shinn

Right Indra, my mistake, here is a scan from the 1954 catalog:

Note how the terminals of /e change with size.

Captured from web.archive.org on 20 Jul 2014. view this capture