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Helvetica Now Variable

monotype.com

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Re: Helvetica Now Variable

#61

Post by crazygringo »

seumars wrote: post #17

Helvetica Now is such a departure from what makes the typeface a classic that I think Monotype kept Helvetica in the name mostly for marketing purposes. To me CommercialType’s Neue Haas Grotesk is the absolute best digitalization of Miedingers original drawings.

Can you elaborate?

I'm comparing the two e.g. on MyFonts:

https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/mti/helvetica-now/

https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/linotype/neue-haas-grotesk/

Or specifically for the medium text:

https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/mti/helvetica-now/text-medium/

https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/linotype/neue-haas-grotesk/pro...

Aside from the fact that they're scaled slightly differently, nothing whatsoever jumps out to me as noticeably different, in any weight, except that Neue Haas Grotesk has descenders that seem unnaturally short, but I can't tell if that might be a rendering box clipping issue.

What makes Helvetica Now "such a departure" and the name Helvetica just "marketing"? Whatever difference there is seems extremely subtle to my eyes...

Re: Helvetica Now Variable

#62

Post by switz »

philjackson wrote: post #54
switz wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fonts are a herculean effort and a dazzling display of creativity and taste. The fee for a good font is, generally speaking, nominal. Use free fonts if you want, but a good font is worth paying for. You are "crazy"[0] for expecting them to be free. But if you don't want to use a paid font, that's totally within your prerogative. [0] though I prefer not to use that word, perhaps a better word would be 'entitled'

> [0] though I prefer not to use that word, perhaps a better word would be 'entitled' Then why not use that word?

I was quoting the OP.

Re: Helvetica Now Variable

#63

Post by young_unixer »

jstx1 wrote: post #39

Do you genuinely notice differences between fonts? I have a general sense of monospaced vs proportional and serif vs sans-serif. Past that it's mostly all the same to me and I'm kind of impressed that people pay so much attention to the tiny details (and maybe questioning whether they really do or whether fonts are kind of like wine tasting).

I can only recognize the most common ones: Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman, Calibri, Ubuntu, Comic Sans, Roboto, Computer Modern.

But more than noticing the differences between them, what's important is noticing when there's something wrong in a composition because of the font.

For example, if you show a UI that uses a serif font to someone, they'll notice there's something wrong with it, but most people probably won't tell you exactly what it is.

Re: Helvetica Now Variable

#64

Post by kube-system »

alberth wrote: post #46
mikedc wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US, "typefaces", ie. the shapes of the letters, generally are not. "Fonts", ie. the programs that draw the letters, are copyrighted as software, as something of a workaround. For more reading on the history here Typographica has a succinct overview[0]. [0] https://typographica.org/on-typography/copyright-protection-...

Silly question, so how do type foundries prevent someone from literally copying the TTF, WOFF, EOT files - and then rebrand a font as their own? Will the bits/bytes of a TTF be different if two people produced identically the exact same shape of the letters? EDIT: let me clarify a bit. The GP said that the shape of the letters is not copyrighted in the US. Which implies to me that if Helvetica has the exact shape of…

The same way any company prevents you from copying any computer program and rebranding it as your own. Lawyers. Vector fonts count as computer programs.

Re: Helvetica Now Variable

#65

Post by rubyist5eva »

Santosh83 wrote: post #32
todd3834 wrote: post #18

Am I crazy for expecting fonts to be free? There are so many good options that I can use without paying a license fee. I can't imagine liking the tiny differences in a font so much that I would get myself locked into a yearly licensing fee.

Paying for products per se is not a problem. What always becomes a problem are stuff like unfair pricing, surge pricing, extortionate rates and fees backed up by monopoly/DRM/regulations, recurring subscriptions or ever increasing rates for the same product with no meaningful improvement and so on. Fonts can be sold but pricing calculated per page view and device just strikes me as a bit too much. Why not just sell t…

If you don’t like terms don’t pay it. They wouldn’t do it it if it didn’t make money. If the terms are not appealing use a free font.

Re: Helvetica Now Variable

#66

Post by compi »

Web fonts are so weird, to display this site I had to download the advertised font as a .WOFF file to my computer. I now have a fully featured copy of what they are selling.

I know they are actually selling the license to use it but still it seems weird that any site that licenses and uses this will also be mass distributing it to peoples machines.

Re: Helvetica Now Variable

#67

Post by mikedc »

alberth wrote: post #46
mikedc wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US, "typefaces", ie. the shapes of the letters, generally are not. "Fonts", ie. the programs that draw the letters, are copyrighted as software, as something of a workaround. For more reading on the history here Typographica has a succinct overview[0]. [0] https://typographica.org/on-typography/copyright-protection-...

Silly question, so how do type foundries prevent someone from literally copying the TTF, WOFF, EOT files - and then rebrand a font as their own? Will the bits/bytes of a TTF be different if two people produced identically the exact same shape of the letters? EDIT: let me clarify a bit. The GP said that the shape of the letters is not copyrighted in the US. Which implies to me that if Helvetica has the exact shape of…

Users agree to a EULA which stipulates how they can and can't use the font. This contract provides the legal basis on which a foundry would pursue someone for suspected misuse. Here's Monotype's EULA for Helvetica Now[0], Section 9 specifically addresses copies and derivative works. From there, it becomes a legal matter.

[0] https://www.fonts.com/font/monotype/helvetica-now/licenses#

Re: Helvetica Now Variable

#68

Post by kevincox »

traceroute66 wrote: post #44
flowerlad wrote: post #9

Fantastic font, now infinitely malleable! Unfortunately it is expensive, and you can't just buy it and use it, you have to renew the license annually. https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/mti/helvetica-now-variable?tab... And my use case isn't even covered: include in a web application that will be downloaded and installed by customers. My current choice is OpenSans https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Open+Sans

I thought best-practice for web apps was to use system fonts ? e.g. along the lines blogged here[1] [1] https://booking.design/implementing-system-fonts-on-booking-...

IMHO if you can convince people that you don't need "brand identity" the best font is not choosing a font at all and using the browsers default. (Or maybe "sans-serif" because a lot of browsers have serif defaults which isn't always the best).

Re: Helvetica Now Variable

#69

Post by SahAssar »

philosopher1234 wrote: post #40
com2kid wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Am I crazy for expecting fonts to be free? There are so many good options that I can use without paying a license fee. I can't imagine liking the tiny differences in a font so much that I would get myself locked into a yearly licensing fee. Having worked at Microsoft for years, I also got a chance to work directly with Monotype on custom fonts for a project's specific needs (wearable, tiny screen, specific DPI). Mo…

I never understood under what circumstances you would really need a custom font. Could you say more about why that was the case?

I'm just guessing, but based on the description (Microsoft, wearable, tiny screen, specific DPI) it sounds like for the Microsoft band: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Band

Re: Helvetica Now Variable

#70

Post by croes »

flowerlad wrote: post #36
croes wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Print fonts are copyrightable.

In the United States, the shapes of typefaces are not eligible for copyright. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property_protecti...

But in France and Germany but not Austria despite the Vienna Agreement for the Protection of Type Faces and their International Deposit.

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/dfat/seldoc/1973/2203.htm...

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