Helvetica was created in 1957 by Miedinger with Eduard Hoffmann at the Haas'sche
Schriftgiesserei (Haas type foundry) of Münchenstein, Switzerland.
Haas set out
to design a new sans-serif typeface that could compete with Akzidenz Grotesk in the
Swiss market. Originally called Neue Haas Grotesk, the typeface's name was changed by Haas'
German parent company Stempel in 1960 to Helvetica — derived from Confederatio Helvetica,
the Latin name for Switzerland — in order to make it more marketable internationally. -