I watched the movie Helvetica last night and it reminded me of just how powerful a tool graphic design can be. It also highlighted the difference in perception. For example, the perception I have of Lufthansa’s logotype being iconic and classical combined with the disdain I have for American Airlines’ boring logotype seems odd now that I have discovered that they are both the same font – Helvetica. Even the company I work for uses Helvetica as a logotype. According to the movie, a lot of the sans-serif fonts we see in the world are actually this iconic giant of the typography world.   

Having said all that, I switched the fonts on this site to variants of Lucida Sans. I’m not restrained enough to use Helvetica responsibly and I certainly won’t be using the bastardized offshoot that is Arial.