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You are here: Home / Typography / Smilevetica – the younger, happier little brother of Helvetica

Smilevetica – the younger, happier little brother of Helvetica

February 22, 2010 by Douglas Bonneville

What would Helvetica look like if it wasn’t so perfectly stoic, so absolutely neutral? Perhaps it would look like “Smilevetica“, if it took a positive outlook on life. Helvetica, Helvetica, why so serious all the time? Have a chat with Smilevetica and brighten up!

I had the idea to take some classic typefaces and combine them with some illustrative elements for no other reason than it sounded interesting, even a little mischievous—just the kind of off–beat thing like I do for entertainment. It feels a bit like graffiti—scribbling all over an otherwise–perfect uppercase Helvetica Bold. But it was so fun! I may or may not do more in a series like this, but if you think you can get some mileage out of either the idea or the source files themselves, have at it! I have provided the sample below long with flattened PDF of the vectors, ready for you to further play with if you so choose. Have fun!

(FYI UPDATE: this post was inspired by Sketchetica by Hiekka Graphics. Visit MyFonts.com if this post makes no sense to you!)

And now, I present to you, Smilevetica for viewing or for downloading as a PDF:

Filed Under: Typography

About Douglas Bonneville

Douglas has been a graphic designer since 1992, in addition to software developer and author. He is a member of Smashing Magazine's "Panel of Experts" and has contributed to over 100 articles. He is the author of "The Big Book of Font Combinations", loves cats, and plays guitar.

Comments

  1. Liberté says

    February 24, 2010 at 2:32 am

    This is just stupid…

    It might’ve been funny if you actually worked on it.

  2. Douglas Bonneville says

    February 24, 2010 at 3:16 am

    @Liberte:

    “This is just stupid” = CORRECT
    “if you actually worked on it” = INCORRECT

    1 out of 2 ain’t bad 🙂

    Talk to the silly dog in the upper left corner. He’s wearing a crown and will listen 🙂

  3. kiwus says

    February 25, 2010 at 10:30 am

    god almighty…

  4. Douglas Bonneville says

    February 25, 2010 at 12:55 pm

    @ kiwus: feel free to elaborate…

  5. Rahul says

    February 26, 2010 at 12:17 pm

    A really happy and energetic Helvetica surely.

    🙂

  6. Corky says

    February 26, 2010 at 12:27 pm

    Yeah this sucks…gimmicky. And commenting among the commenters is sometimes bad form, Doug. Just because I hate “Smilevetica” doesn’t mean I hate you.

  7. Douglas Bonneville says

    February 26, 2010 at 12:42 pm

    @ Corky: not sure what you mean by commenting among the commenters as bad form – can you explain? sorry the humor escapes you! it’s supposed to entertain – no pretense to much else. i think an entertaining post is far more valuable in the long run than another lame (versus a good) list post.

    see this: http://zemalf.com/1262/the-games-we-play/

    see this too, as a precursor to the state of graphic design blogging: http://localhost/wordpress/top-10-annoying-graphic-design-bloggers/

    as far as commenting among the commmenters as bad form, I really don’t know what you could mean by that. my favorite blogs are the ones where the authors get right into it along side of the commenters. David Airey and Jacob Cass come to mind no doubt. that’s why i keep reading them…otherwise they’d be pretty boring and useless.

  8. Bobert says

    February 28, 2010 at 3:12 am

    I’m starting to hate all those stupid remakes of Helvetica.

    They’re only cheap treatments with Illustrator…

  9. Douglas Bonneville says

    March 1, 2010 at 9:35 am

    I like stupid remakes of Helvetica personally. They interrupt and spice up an otherwise boring day :).

  10. Wende says

    March 1, 2010 at 1:50 pm

    Did it make me smile? Yes.
    Was that the point? Yes.
    Do people (esp. designers) who have a sense of humor blow? No, we need more of them.

    Keep it up, Doug!

  11. Douglas Bonneville says

    March 1, 2010 at 1:56 pm

    @ Wende: someone gets it! THANKS. And a big SMILE right back at you. What’s up with overly-serious designers though? That’s a whole ‘nother post though.

  12. sinrevelar says

    March 2, 2010 at 8:36 pm

    after a grumpy day, this really made me smile! Thx for being this silly n’ stupid!!!!!

  13. Stargot says

    March 2, 2010 at 11:50 pm

    original helvetica is true

  14. Douglas Bonneville says

    March 3, 2010 at 12:34 am

    silly n’ stupid…I like that 🙂

  15. Douglas Bonneville says

    March 3, 2010 at 12:40 am

    Stargot: true dat 🙂

  16. Grace Oris says

    April 26, 2010 at 8:45 pm

    Hi. Was looking for something to wake me up and this did it. Silly indeed but it made me laugh and now I’m awake and can go on with my studying. We need to be silly or stupid sometimes ha-ha. Thanks!

    Grace

  17. Douglas Bonneville says

    April 28, 2010 at 3:39 am

    @ Grace: mission accomplished 🙂

Trackbacks

  1. Smilevetica – the younger, happier little brother of Helvetica | Design Newz says:
    February 24, 2010 at 6:31 pm

    […] Smilevetica – the younger, happier little brother of Helvetica […]

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