[Video] Helvetica is boring, use Franklin Gothic instead
I think Franklin Gothic is cooler than Helvetica, so I made a video about why you should use it more often. And since the Franklin Gothic font you get with Windows and Office 365 isn’t particularly good, I recommend a few great free and paid alternatives.
I guess I make font explainer videos now
I had a lot of fun making the ‘Stop using Times New Roman’ video and so I’m back with a new one. Let me know what you think!
Video transcript
Links and references, in order of appearance
Font downloads and purchases
Public Sans, US WDS (free) – used in the opening text on screen
URW DIN, MyFonts (AU$636) — URW DIN Compressed used for all the titles and captions in the video
Neue Helvetica, MyFonts (AU$259–693)
Liberation Sans, Font Squirrel (free)
Arial, MyFonts (AU$1,447)
Nimbus Sans L, Font Squirrel (free)
Roboto, Google Fonts (free)
Arimo, Google Fonts (free)
Inter, Rasmus Andersson (free)
Inter, Google Fonts (free)
Franklin Gothic (ITC), MyFonts (AU$520)
Franklin Gothic (URW), MyFonts (AU$520)
Franklin Gothic (Linotype), MyFonts (AU$167)
Franklin Gothic (ATF), MyFonts (AU$194–901)
Libre Franklin, Google Fonts (free)
League Gothic, Google Fonts (free)
Source Sans 3, Google Fonts (free)
Oswald, Google Fonts (free)
Trade Gothic Next, MyFonts (AU$1,137)
American Grotesk, Klim Type Foundry (AU$608–1,642)
Benton Sans Std, MyFonts (AU$818–3,971)
Benton Sans Pro, MyFonts (AU$767–1,128)
Whitney, Hoefler&Co (AU$288–1,285)
Calibri, MyFonts (AU$224)
Lato, Google Fonts (free)
Noto fonts, Wikipedia
Noto, Google Fonts (free)
Open Sans, Google Fonts (free)
Alternate Gothic (SoftMaker), MyFonts (AU$38)
Alternate Gothic (URW), MyFonts (AU$57)
Alternate Gothic (ATF), MyFonts (AU$540–1,954)
Alternate Gothic (Linotype), MyFonts (AU$165)
Alternate Gothic (Bitstream), MyFonts (AU$45)
News Gothic MT (Monotype), MyFonts (AU$199-360)
News Gothic MT (Bitstream), MyFonts (AU$284–501)
News Gothic MT (URW), MyFonts (AU$158)
News Gothic MT (Linotype), MyFonts (AU$190)
Source Serif 4, Google Fonts (free)
GT America, Grilli Type ($AU 927–1,390)
ITC Franklin (Font Bureau + ITC), MyFonts ($AU 1,291–4,651)
Photos and screenshots
Windows 11 icon, Icons8
Apple icon, Icons8
Linux icon, Icons8
Helvetica (2007) film poster, Vimeo
Garage Sale poster, Venngage, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
Cinephile Movie Awards poster, Canva, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
American specimen book of type styles: complete catalogue of printing machinery and printing supplies, 1912 screenshot of book scan, Archive.org, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
Helvetica specimen booklet photo, Nick Sherman, Flickr, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
Cloud fonts in Office screenshot, Microsoft, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
macOS Sonoma font list screenshot, Apple, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
British Standards for Type Classification screenshot, Luc Devroye, retrieved 20 Oct 2024
Thibaudeau classification article, Wikipedia, retrieved 20 Oct 2024
Vox-ATypI classification article, Wikipedia, retrieved 20 Oct 2024
Talking about type: Introducing CEDARS+ screenshot, 28 Jun 2021, Dr Nadine Chahine, I Love Typography, retrieved 20 Oct 2024
American specimen book of type styles: complete catalogue of printing machinery and printing supplies, 1912, Archive.org, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
‘Grotesque’ dictionary definition, Merriam-Webster, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
Helvetica type specimen poster [slide 2 of 2] photo, Nick Sherman, Flickr, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
Hommage à Jean Widmer – CCI posters in motion photo, Amand Chevallier, Fonts In Use, retrieved 20 Oct 2024
62 (Helvetica) photo, Andrew Hoyer, Flickr, retrieved 20 Oct 2024
Ivan Picelj Monograph photo, Nedjeljko Spoljar, Fonts In Use, retrieved 20 Oct 2024
Helvetica photo, Caren Litherland, Flickr, retrieved 20 Oct 2024
‘Nebraska’ by Bruce Springsteen album art, BruceSpringteen.net, retrieved 5 Oct 2024
Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon & Garfunkel, Stephen Coles, Fonts In Use, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers – Moanin’ album art, Rob Hudson, Fonts In Use, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
“Ford’s better ideas for sale” ad (1967), Bart Solenthaler, Fonts In Use, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
Campbell’s Tomato Soup ad (1965), Bart Solenthaler, Fonts In Use, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
Lysol Spray ad, 1968, Bart Solenthaler, Fonts In Use, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
Dionne Warwick at Lincoln Center Philharmonic Hall concert poste, 1966, Florian Hardwig, Fonts In Use, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
WAR IS OVER! (If You Want It) poster, 1969, Nick Sherman, Fonts In Use, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
Ike & Tina Turner – Dynamite! album art, Florian Hardwig, Fonts In Use, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
Table of ATF Gothics (late 1950s), Stephen Collins, Flickr, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
Windows 11 fonts list screenshot, Microsoft, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
Cloud fonts in Office screenshot, Microsoft, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
SoftMaker Office website screenshot, SoftMaker, retrieved 5 Oct 2024
SoftMaker Office fonts download screenshot, Dafont Free, retrieved 5 Oct 2024
SoftMaker fonts screenshot, MyFonts, retrieved 5 Oct 2024
Black and silver laptop computer by Justin Morgan on Unsplash
Cloud fonts in Office screenshot, Microsoft, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
Top 10 Franklin Gothic Alternatives screenshot, Typewolf, retrieved 5 Oct 2024
Trade Gothic Next screenshot, MyFonts, retrieved 5 Oct 2024
American Grotesk screenshot, Klim Type Foundry, retrieved 5 Oct 2024
Benton Sans Std screenshot, MyFonts, retrieved 5 Oct 2024
Whitney screenshot, Hoefler&Co, retrieved 5 Oct 2024
Stevie Wonder – Music of my Mind album art, Rob Hudson, Fonts In Use, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
Aretha Franklin – Yeah!!! album art, 1965, Florian Hardwig, Fonts In Use, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
Ramones – Ramones album art, Nick Sherman, Fonts In Use, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
The Ramones 40th Anniversary Edition album art (high resolution), Amazon, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
Roxette – Look Sharp! album cover, Thomas Evensson, Fonts In Use, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
Iggy Pop – The Idiot album art, Florian Hardwig, Fonts In Use, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
Minor Threat – Filler EP, Nick Sherman, Fonts In Use, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
Star Wars opening crawl and titles, Patrick Concannon, Fonts In Use, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
Run-DMC logo, Garrison Martin, Fonts In Use, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
Old El Paso Hard and Soft Tacos (2009) ad, YouTube, retrieved 20 Oct 2024
Understanding the Nuances of Typeface Classification infographic, Toptal Designers, retrieved 5 Oct 2024
CEDARS+ classification, I Love Typography, retrieved 5 Oct 2024
Font Matrix YouTube video thumbnail, Pimp my Type, retrieved 5 Oct 2024
Text and articles
Franklin Gothic article (text used throughout), Wikipedia, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
Morris Fuller Benton article, Wikipedia, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
Helvetica article, Wikipedia, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
Aptos article, Wikipedia, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
Helvetica article, Wikipedia, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
Liberation Fonts article, Wikipedia, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
Arial article, Wikipedia, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
Roboto article, Wikipedia, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
Source Sans article, Wikipedia, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
Trade Gothic article, Wikipedia, retrieved 5 Oct 2024
American Grotesk design information, Klim Type Foundry, retrieved 5 Oct 2024
Benton Sans article, Wikipedia, retrieved 5 Oct 2024
Whitney (typeface) article, Wikipedia, retrieved 5 Oct 2024
Calibri article, Wikipedia, retrieved 5 Oct 2024
Open Sans article, Wikipedia, retrieved 5 Oct 2024
American Type Founders article, Wikipedia, retrieved 5 Oct 2024
Top 10 Franklin Gothic Alternatives article, Typewolf, retrieved 5 Oct 2024
Vox-ATypI classification article, Wikipedia, retrieved 5 Oct 2024
Other
A guide to type styles, Monotype, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
Making Sense Of Type Classification (Part 1), 17 Apr 2013, Joseph Alessio, Smashing Magazine, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
Making Sense Of Type Classification (Part 2), 19 Jun 2013, Joseph Alessio, Smashing Magazine, retrieved 24 Sep 2024
History of Type Classification, 2 Jan 2023, Sebastien Hayez, Blaze Type, retrieved 24 Sep 2024