:4: Standing Out/Blending In

Ever notice how a lot of logos look similar? Well, that’s because they are. Helvetica is a font that a lot of companies use because it just looks nice.  Of course, they don’t want to look exactly like their competitors so they’ll often bold or italicize their logo in Helvetica.

So just how many companies use Helvetica? Here’s a small fraction of them:

3M

American Apparel

American Airlines

Amtrak

AT&T

Arco

Best Buy

BMW

Crate & Barrel

Dole

Energizer

Facebook

Fed Ex

Gap

GM

Google

Greyhound

JC Penny

Jeep

Jockey

Marlboro

Microsoft

Motorola

Olympus

Oral-B

Panasonic

Post-it

Samsung

Sears

Staples

Target

The North Face

Toyota

Tupperware

plus many more…

Pretty interesting, huh? I mean, in a world where standing out is key, it seems that there is still a formula for good branding. I suppose eventually consumers just get tired of adjusting to different fonts of all the brands they encounter. Helvetica is, afterall, the same font used for other things a lot of people read everyday, such as directions on a product or the common street sign.

Next time you’re bombarded with advertisements – which is actually all the time – take a minute to see how many brands are using Helvetica.  Be warned, though. Once you start it’ll be almost impossible to stop.

This has more on the subject.