Hel­vetica is a clas­sic. Hel­vetica is played out. Each of these state­ments is true to an extent. The world’s most rec­og­niz­able type­face will soon star in a new film that doc­u­ments both its omnipres­ence and its timelessness.

There are many rea­sons why Hel­vetica is so wide­spread. The most obvi­ous being that a few weights have been bun­dled with the Mac OS for years. It is arguably the most respectable of the “default” fonts. But it’s also used because it’s a safe, neu­tral choice. For many pur­poses, typog­ra­phy is more about con­tent than style. Fans of Beat­rice Warde will tell you that typog­ra­phers should com­mu­ni­cate with­out dis­trac­tion. Hel­vetica, with its simple, unadorned forms, is the per­fect crys­tal goblet. Even its ubiq­uity con­tributes to its neu­tral­ity — let­ters so common they become invisible.

But invis­i­bil­ity isn’t always appro­pri­ate, par­tic­u­larly in adver­tis­ing or brand­ing where indi­vid­u­al­ity is key. Here we rec­om­mend our favorite fonts from the grotesque genre that offer some­thing dif­fer­ent from Hel­vetica (or Arial) — whether it’s style, warmth, or extra fea­tures like small caps, figure alter­nates, and addi­tional widths.

Cool, Crisp, Clean

Much of Helvetica’s appeal comes from its cold, almost clin­i­cal moder­nity. Here are some related sans serif fonts that exude that vibe.

Universâ„¢ — Univers is widely con­sid­ered Adrian Frutiger’s mas­ter­piece. Its 27 styles go from Ultra Con­densed Thin to Extra Extended Black, but still give an impres­sion of steadi­ness and homo­gene­ity when combined.

Why it’s not Helv: In some ways, even more spare (no beards or tails). Uni­for­mity across a broad spec­trum of styles.

Hel­dus­tryâ„¢ — In 1978, pro­lific photo type designer Phil Martin added “just the right touch of Euros­tile’s square­ness” to Hel­vetica and cre­ated a new font for a cable TV news network.

Why it’s not Helv: You’ve prob­a­bly never seen it.

FF Schul­buchâ„¢ — A series of fonts based on the his­tor­i­cal text­book types used in North­ern and South­ern Ger­many, and Bavaria. The Nord (North) vari­ant is the clos­est rel­a­tive of Helvetica.

Why it’s not Helv: A single-​story ‘a’ and tailed ‘l’. Vin­tage Deutsch cachet.

Neuzeit Sâ„¢ — Wil­helm C. Pischner’s Neuzeit Grotesk pre­ceded Hel­vetica by more than 30 years. The more human­ist Neuzeit S was intro­duced by Linotype-​Hell AG in 1966, intended for large bodies of text.

Why it’s not Helv: A gentle, almost Avenir-ish geometry.

Maximaâ„¢ — In 1990 Gerd Wun­der­lich revis­ited Univers and cre­ated this slightly more con­tem­po­rary option.

Par­alu­centâ„¢ — The first text sans serif from Rian Hughes, a master of styl­ized dis­play faces. It still shows signs of his dis­tinc­tive hand, from the big round ‘i’ dots and wedge ter­mi­nals to the daring low­er­case ‘g’. Par­alu­cent was designed to be more con­sis­tent than Hel­vetica, and a solid modern work­horse of a font, ele­gant enough for head­line and robust enough for text.

Why it’s not Helv: Where do I start? More square than round. Extra large x-height. Extra tight spac­ing (loosen it up for small copy). A sten­cil version!

Getting Warmer

Hel­vetica is often clas­si­fied as a “neo-​grotesque”. Here are some older grotesques marked by idio­syn­crasies and irreg­u­lar­i­ties. They feel warmer, less man­u­fac­tured — better suited for deliv­er­ing sub­ject matter that requires a more hand­crafted vehicle.

Basic Com­mer­cialâ„¢ — Appear­ing in hot metal at the turn of the 20th cen­tury, Basic Com­mer­cial (like Akzidenz-Grotesk®) is based on designs which influ­enced all the modern grotesques that fol­lowed. Basic Com­mer­cial was dis­trib­uted for many years in the United States under the name Stan­dard Series which is seen most notably in Mas­simo Vignelli’s sig­nage for the New York City subway.

Why it’s not Helv: Angled stroke end­ings (’S’, ‘C’, ‘e’) open up the coun­ters and add life. Taller ascen­ders lend elegance.

FF Bauâ„¢ — Hel­vetica is cold and cal­cu­lated, but its roots lie in much quirkier mate­r­ial. Its ear­li­est direct ances­tor was first intro­duced around 1880. Chris­t­ian Schwartz updated the family for con­tem­po­rary needs with­out ratio­nal­iz­ing away the spirit and warmth of the original.

Why it’s not Helv: A double-​storey ‘g’. Low­er­case ‘a’ keeps its tail in all weights. Optional old­style figures.

Mono­type Grotesqueâ„¢ — A British type from the 1900s, MT Grotesque’s ten very dif­fer­ent styles read like a time­line of grots to come — Bell Gothic, Trade Gothic, Hel­vetica — but none of those match its warmth and char­ac­ter. See it big and you’ll get what I mean.

Why it’s not Helv: Delight­fully irreg­u­lar, a type that shows signs of rough cut metal.

Folioâ„¢ — Designed by Konrad F. Bauer and Walter Baum, and released in sev­eral weights and widths by the Bauer Type Foundry from 1956 to 1963.

Why it’s not Helv: Key dif­fer­ences are in ‘a’, ‘G’, and ‘Q’. Warmer and more irreg­u­lar overall.

Venusâ„¢ — Cre­ated in the early 1900s, Venus pre­cedes Hel­vetica by many years. Some sources note that it was designed for German map production.

Why it’s not Helv: Antique, not mod­ernist. Very idio­syn­cratic for that vin­tage hot metal look.

ARS Regionâ„¢ — A brand new release from a brand new foundry, ARS Type, Region is Hel­vetica with trade­mark Shamal oddities.

Why it’s not Helv: Would be cold and crisp if it weren’t for the soft stroke con­nec­tions on let­ters like the ‘G’, ‘t’, and ‘k’. A low­er­case ‘g’ that takes FF Meta’s lead. Small caps available.

Titling Gothicâ„¢ — The newest family on our list is also the most exten­sive. FB Titling Gothic is an immense series of nearly fifty styles inspired by that century-​old favorite ATF Rail­road Gothic (see also: Wilma).

Why it’s not Helv: Every pos­si­ble width you could need for set­ting head­lines. Antique, Amer­i­can flavor. Very little stroke mod­u­la­tion, even in heavy and wide styles.

Adessoâ„¢ — French designer Thierry Puyfoulhoux’s rounded sans is the fur­thest from Hel­vetica on this list, but it’s def­i­nitely soft and warm while main­tain­ing the basic grotesque lettershapes.

Further Afield

P.J. Onori offers another set of alter­na­tives for those look­ing for a clean sans that veers even fur­ther from Hel­vetica. Or you can plunge right into FontShop’s Sans fonts cat­e­gory and find what works best for you.

The Timeless Classic

Neue Hel­vetica — Despite all the sub­sti­tutes, some­times the old reli­able is still the best bet. Neue Hel­vetica (German for “New”) is the most com­plete and usable set of Hel­vetica fonts. Over the years, the Hel­vetica family was expanded to include many dif­fer­ent weights, but these were not as well coor­di­nated with each other as they might have been. In 1983, D. Stem­pel AG redesigned and dig­i­tized the “Neue Hel­vetica” type­face for Lino­type and made it a self-​contained font family.

SEE MORE: View some of these type­faces in more detail in our Feb­ru­ary newslet­ter or test them all at once at FontShop.com.