I think it’s Univers, designed by Swiss type designer Adrian Frutiger in the mid-50s. The lower-case ‘a’ was the first glyph I saw distinguishing it from Helvetica and Helvetica Neue, and the uppercase ‘R’ was the first I noticed distinguishing it from Helvetica Now, Arial and Frutiger.
There’s a zillion fonts that look like Helvetica/Univers/Akzidenz-Grotesk but most professional treatments will just use one of those and make sure it’s leaded, kerned, weighted and laid out properly. The Helvetica documentary is a fun watch that will also give a useful overview of these sorts of type families.
The differences are pretty subtle. Though the typeface is beautiful, a less skillful design would render it unremarkable. The typesetting and overall design— i.e. contrast, relationship among elements, controlling the path of the eye with visual hierarchy, etc.— is What makes the type really shine here. If you like this vibe, you might enjoy the posters of long-time MIT graphic designer Jacquelin Casey.
There’s a zillion fonts that look like Helvetica/Univers/Akzidenz-Grotesk but most professional treatments will just use one of those and make sure it’s leaded, kerned, weighted and laid out properly. The Helvetica documentary is a fun watch that will also give a useful overview of these sorts of type families.
The differences are pretty subtle. Though the typeface is beautiful, a less skillful design would render it unremarkable. The typesetting and overall design— i.e. contrast, relationship among elements, controlling the path of the eye with visual hierarchy, etc.— is What makes the type really shine here. If you like this vibe, you might enjoy the posters of long-time MIT graphic designer Jacquelin Casey.