Famous Logos in Helvetica

A while back, I took a series of famous logos and rendered them in the fonts Papyrus and Algerian. Why? Because along with Comic Sans, Papyrus and Algerian really irk graphic designers. All three of those fonts have gimmicks that make them stand out. Papyrus looks like ancient Egyptian Demotic writing, Algerian looks like an embroidered sampler, and Comic Sans looks like, well, comic book writing. Contrast these to the designers’ darling, Helvetica. Designed to be simple and unobtrusive, it is the epitome of Swiss minimalism. But Helvetica has become a victim of its own popularity. Graphic designers use it so much that it’s as played out as Comic Sans or Papyrus. And since it’s so overused, I decided to see what famous logos would look like redone in Helvetica. Here is what I came up with.

Baskin-Robbins

Baskin Robbins logo in Helvetica

Burger King

Burger King logo in Helvetica

Denny’s

Denny's logo in Helvetica

Holiday Inn

Holiday Inn logo in Helvetica

Hooters

Hooters logo in Helvetica

NASA

NASA Meatball logo in Helvetica

Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures logo in Helvetica

The Home Depot

The Home Depot logo in Helvetica

Whole Foods

Whole Foods Market logo in Helvetica

Yahoo!

Yahoo logo in Helvetica

Unlike the logos I redid in Papyrus and Algerian fonts, the logos above don’t look all that different from their real-life counterparts. Most of them, anyway. Baskin-Robbins, Denny’s and NASA don’t look unusual at all. Whole Foods, Home Depot look better, at least in my opinion. Burger King, Hooters and Paramount Pictures look just a little bit off. The revised Holiday Inn logo seems alright, but loses much of its resemblance to the real-life logo. And then there’s Yahoo. (Or “Yahoo!” As with Yum! Brands, they use an exclamation point in their name, which I will hereafter leave out.) The Yahoo logo is a mess in Helvetica. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a mess in real life, too. With its wacky, uneven lettering, it looks like something slapped together on an old Packard Bell computer. And since Yahoo’s logo is unchanged since the 1990s, that’s probably not far from the truth. Let’s face it, the Yahoo logo would look awful in any font.

As a graphic designer who’s never been a big fan of Helvetica, I gained some appreciation for the font while doing this project. For the most part, it is a very well designed typeface that looks good in many different contexts. The same cannot be said for Comic Sans, Papyrus or Algerian. And while I would like designers use a larger array of fonts, I understand why so many artists choose Helvetica.

Next up: Jokerman

Steve Lovelace

Steve Lovelace is a writer and graphic artist. After graduating Michigan State University in 2004, he taught Spanish in Samoa before moving to Dallas, Texas. He blogs regularly at http://steve-lovelace.com.

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28 Responses

  1. Partridg3 says:

    What is the actual name of the new Holiday Inn font? do you know. It’s actually quite a nice font. Just curious… Been trying to find it. Thanks

  2. JapanYoshi says:

    May I use the Helvetica Baskin Robbins as my profile picture?

  3. Richard says:

    The Nasa one looks better I think.

  4. logan says:

    sure, may I use Helvetica the home depot for picture.

  5. jack says:

    the paramount pictures logo I think.

  6. flatts1957 says:

    awesome

  7. rileytog says:

    the denny’s logo i think.

  8. josh12345 says:

    the denny’s one looks better I think so.

  9. flatts12 says:

    the whole foods market I think.

  10. flatts1957 says:

    the logos look better I think.

  11. rileytog says:

    I see tumblr

  12. rileytog says:

    cool beans.

  13. rileytog says:

    denny’s, and the home depot.

  14. rileytog says:

    baskin robbins
    burger king
    denny’s
    holiday inn
    hotters
    paramount pictures
    home depot
    whole foods
    yahoo.

  15. rileytog says:

    I like nasa

  16. Mike Perdue says:

    The Burger King logo

  17. Mike Perdue says:

    What is Helvetica Burger King on my picture.

  18. Bryce Marco says:

    Helvetica Battle for Dream Island!!!!!

  19. Aidan R says:

    Helvetica McDonald’s logo

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