The world is a big place! Thousands and thousands of unique cultures, languages and outlooks make up planet Earth today, and with that massive scope comes a myriad of design philosophies and ideas.

Let’s take a look at some of the more interesting typefaces that have managed to permeate universal design. These typefaces appear frequently across the globe and are therefore technically some of the most famous pieces of graphic design ever created… however, possibly also some of the most overlooked.

At No. 10 is Furtiger, designed by Adrian Frutiger in 1977.

This stylish, modern sans-serif font was initially commissioned for the signage of a new airport in Paris but has since become a staple of modern typographic design, finding use as the font of choice for the NHS and the WHO.

In at No. 8 is Futura, designed by Paul Renner in 1927.

Futura has become well known for its highly geometric design, finding extensive use in marketing and becoming the headline font for the Volkswagen car company and the Supreme fashion brand to name a few.

No. 6 is Bodoni, created by Giambattista Bodoni in 1790.

Bodoni is characterised by its classy, luxurious appearance, making it the favourite choice for many luxury brands worldwide. It has made many appearences in cinema too, most notably being used in the marketing for Goodfellas.

Gotham comes at No. 5, designed by Hoefler and Frere-Jones in 2000.

Gotham is the most recent font to make the list and, for its age, has popularised remarkably quickly. Based on a 20th century signage design of the same name, Gotham has appeared universally as one of the standards, finding use in Barack Obama’s 2008 political campaign marketing as well as being the brand font for Michigan State University.

Finally, for this synopsis, we jump to No. 1 which is, of course, Helvetica, created by Max Meidinger in 1957.

For many designers, Helvetica represents the perfect typeface: modern, elegant, smart, easily legible and smooth; an impressive feat considering the fonts age. It is the official typeface of the UK government and even has versions in languages with completely different alphabets such as Arabic and Hebrew!

In 2020, creating a new typeface is easier than ever and, with such an open and accessible entry point, who knows where the next iconic typeface will come from…

Banner image courtesy of Chris Lawton on Unsplash.