Uniquity breeds contempt
Ergo, the ability to fit in everywhere and all at once, regardless of how noble of a concept, breeds contempt

Personally, before I had any design education, Helvetica was a go-to typeface for literally anything. All my layouts or presentations were done in Helvetica, and somehow I thought that it was the most brilliant safe choice of typeface ever created.
WELL. Now that I have background knowledge about the International Typographic Style (ITS) and the main ideal behind Helvetica, my view about this has changed drastically. The thing is, Helvetica was created as something universal, something that can be used for anything and everything with the same quality of ‘professionalism’. Through watching Helvetica (the documentary?), there was a line that said that it was like having an army with the same helmet on – is ubiquity that good of an idea?

From American Apparel to American Airlines, or even Swatch, they all use Helvetica and it’s almost like an exclusive club of branding or status that has been created as a result of ITS. I never really noticed the typefaces used and now that I know they are mostly Helvetica, the commercial aspect of the typeface really jumps out at me.  It makes me wary of using the typeface lightly now because there are people who are really into it or really against it.

It is ultimately very clear and objective of a typeface,

But now I would use it with caution I guess. Or I would use akzidenz grotesk / univers instead as an alternative. Who knew that knowing the back story of typefaces would change your mind about it. (Like that of Gill Sans – Astrid makes it sound like it’s really nitty gritty and I cant wait for the group’s presentation in type class)