Medical Translation Insight

Helvetica is, seemingly, everywhere. Cyrus Highsmith, a New York type designer who decided to live without Helvetica for a day, found this out the hard way.

When he woke up, Highsmith had virtually nothing to wear: the washing instructions in most of his clothes were set in Helvetica. He forsook his regular breakfast yoghurt: Helvetica label. Hungry, he dashed to the subway unable to pick up a copy of the New York Times because it employs Helvetica. So does the New York subway. No train ride. The menu in his regular Chinese restaurant was printed in Helvetica. No lunch. It was hard to buy anything as his credit cards and the new dollar bills in his wallet were also set in you know what. Back home and flopped in front of the TV, Highsmith was unable to switch on and relax because the remote control was a typographical hell of Helvetica, too.

This story is included in Simon Garfield new book, Just My Type.
If you are font geek who has a history of annoying friends and relatives with unwanted discussions of typeface minutiae, then this book is for you!

For more details, take a look at Woot's funny take, the author interview at 200% Meets, and Amazon.com.

And if you want to give your inner geek some more free reign, take a look at:

• Periodic table of typefaces
• Finally, an alternative to the metric system!
• Of Swiss fonts, Italian designers, and New York subways
• Eye charts from around the globe

At ForeignExchange Translations, we are font and language geeks. We help medical device and pharmaceutical companies look and sound just right, in any language. For expert medical translation services, contact us to today!