Sam Askew, Campus Carrier managing editor
When you open up Microsoft Word or some other word processing application and you go to search for a font, you may find that none of the default options suit you. You have classic ones like Calibri or Arial, or more obscure ones like Curlz and Impact.
However, the one that is the best is nowhere to be found on the default font list. That is Helvetica.
Helvetica is what I like to call the “universal font.” It can fit anywhere under any circumstances. Some might say that it looks like Arial, but they do not understand the gravity of what they are saying. It is one thing to deny Helvetica because you haven’t ever heard of it, but those who know about Helvetica and deny it have no excuse.
Why is Helvetica the best? It is a simple question with an even simpler answer. It is used in a few of my favorite movies. These include, of course, Ridley Scott’s 1979 masterpiece “Alien.” Not only that, but also Stanley Kubrick’s horror hit adaptation of Stephen King’s “The Shining.” If you’re not into horror movies, you’ll recognize it from Stephen Spielberg’s “The Post.”
From the moment the opening credits scroll upward from the bottom of the screen in “The Shining,” we see the stark blue against the menacing helicopter shots of the forest road. In stunning Helvetica, we see the immediate uncomfortable tone implied by the movie.
Helvetica, or to be more specific Helvetica Black, is the font in which the famous title screen of “Alien” boasts. As we pan through empty space, the word “Alien” is spelled out simply across the top of the screen.
We see Helvetica in the poster for “The Post” as Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks walk up a set of steps.
Helvetica is, according to Roger Ebert, the movie font. However, Helvetica’s uses are not just reserved for movies. We see it in logos, businesses, offices, and in plenty of other scenarios, too. It is a stunning, sleek and modern font with infinite uses and applications, of which I have only mentioned a few.
Do yourself a favor, use Helvetica.