Helvetica是世界上最著名和最受欢迎的字体之一。它清晰、严谨的字形为任何的排印信息提供了一种清晰高效的感觉。该字体最初被命名为Neue Haas Grotesk，1957年由Max Miedinger为瑞士的Haas'sche Schriftgiesserei（Haas Type Foundry）设计。1960年被改名为Helvetica（改自Helvetia，是“瑞士”的拉丁文）。
多年来，Helvetica家族扩展了许多种不同的字重，但这些字重彼此间的协调并不像原本那样好。1983年，D. Stempel AG与Linotype重新设计了Neue Helvetica并对其进行了数字化，然后将其升级为一个独立的字体家族。21世纪初，Linotype再次发布了对Helvetica的更新设计，Helvetica World字体家族。这个家族字体数量要小得多，但每种字体对多语言的支持做了补充。Helvetica World支持来自全球各地的多种语言和书写系统。
今天，最初的Helvetica家族包含34种不同字重。有20种字重是中欧版本，支持中欧和东欧的语言。还有20种字重是西里尔版本，4种是希腊版本。
许多客户问我们有什么好的非拉丁字体可以与Helvetica混合使用。幸运的是，Helvetica已经有希腊文和西里尔文版本，而且Helvetica World在其OpenType字符集中还包含一个特别设计的支持希伯来语的版本Hebrew Helvetica。
Helvetica也扩展到格鲁吉亚文以及一个特殊的具有更大x字高和开放字怀的 “eText”版本，可用于小尺寸和电子阅读设备。但Linotype还提供了许多可与Helvetica匹配的CJK字体。
可以与Helvetica完美搭配的中文字体有：
DF Hei (简体中文)
DF Hei (繁体中文)
DF Li Hei (繁体中文)
DFP Hei (简体中文)
可以与Helvetica完美搭配的日文字体有：
DF Gothic
DF Gothic P
DFHS Gothic
可以与Helvetica完美搭配的韩文字体有：
DFK Gothic

Helvetica is one of the most famous and popular typefaces in the world. It lends an air of lucid efficiency to any typographic message with its clean, no-nonsense shapes. The original typeface was called Neue Haas Grotesk, and was designed by Max Miedinger for the Haas'sche Schriftgiesserei (Haas Type Foundry) in Switzerland. In the end the name was changed to Helvetica (an adaptation of Helvetia", the Latin name for Switzerland).
After that,the Helvetica family was expanded to include many different weights, but these were not as well coordinated with each other as they might have been.D. Stempel AG and Linotype re-designed and digitized Neue Helvetica and updated it into a cohesive font family. At the beginning of the 21st Century, Linotype again released an updated design of Helvetica, the Helvetica World typeface family. This family is much smaller in terms of its number of fonts, but each font makes up for this in terms of language support. Helvetica World supports a number of languages and writing systems from all over the globe.
Today, the original Helvetica family consists of 34 different font weights. 20 weights are available in Central European versions, supporting the languages of Central and Eastern Europe. 20 weights are also available in Cyrillic versions, and four are available in Greek versions.
Many customers ask us what good non-Latin typefaces can be mixed with Helvetica. Fortunately, Helvetica already has Greek and Cyrillic versions, and Helvetica World includes a specially-designed Hebrew Helvetica in its OpenType character set. Helvetica has also been extende to Georgian and a special "eText" version has been designed with larger xheight and opened counters for the use in small point sizes and on E-reader devices. But Linotype also offers a number of CJK fonts that can be matched with Helvetica.
Chinese fonts that pair well with Helvetica:
DF Hei (Simplified Chinese)
DF Hei (Traditional Chinese)
DF Li Hei (Traditional Chinese)
DFP Hei (Simplified Chinese)
Japanese fonts that pair well with Helvetica:
DF Gothic
DF Gothic P
DFHS Gothic
Korean fonts that pair well with Helvetica:
DFK Gothic"