Meta grew out of a typeface project for the Deutsche Bundespost, the German postal service, in the mid-1980s. When the postal service finally kept Helvetica, Spiekermann reworked his design into a commercial typeface, built to stay readable at small sizes and on poor-quality paper.
At a glance
Origin: FontShop, Berlin, Germany, FontFont collection.
Designer: Erik Spiekermann.
Date: 1991.
Evolution
Nicknamed "the Helvetica of the 1990s", it was complemented by FF Meta Serif in 2007 and inspired Fira Sans, a free typeface created for Mozilla.
Famous examples
It was used by Mozilla and by many institutional and cultural identities in the 1990s and 2000s.
Current use
It remains popular for signage, publishing and identities looking for a warm, highly readable humanist sans.
Alternatives
Fira Sans, FF Unit, Myriad.
Great typefaces glossary
Akzidenz-Grotesk, Arial, Avenir, Baskerville, Bodoni, Caslon, Circular, Cooper Black, Didot, DIN, FF Meta, Franklin Gothic, Frutiger, Futura, Garamond, Georgia, Gill Sans, Gotham, Graphik, Helvetica, IBM Plex, Inter, Minion, Montserrat, Myriad, Neue Haas Grotesk, Optima, Poppins, Roboto, Sabon, SF Pro, Source Sans, Source Serif, Times New Roman, Univers, Verdana