Hi Helvetica....

So there's this font called Helvetica...
.... and it's everywhere.




I thought I'd search for the said font on our home front. And, as I drive to school, one of the first things I noticed was the 'Pay Parking' sign in our lot. I think in the case of this sign, Helvetica actually works beautifully. There's nothing more neutral and uninteresting, albeit important, than a pay parking sign.
All genders, races and ages come to the VIU parking lot for either school or various events. This means it is important to appeal to everyone and yet no one, which seems to be exactly what Helvetica accomplishes here. It is also easily readable from a distance, which is another important aspect of this sign. The audience needs to clearly be able to identify the message from as close or as far away as they park. A simple bold font works best in this situation - all of which Helvetica is.
The actual Helvetica used was Helvetica Condensed Black, as we can tell from the shape of the "G". In regular Helvetica, it is more of a distinct circular shape.
It's interesting how much typography is ruining how I look at everything advertising. Has anyone else noticed seeing signs and thinking 'that kerning is awful...' or 'oh, they used Helvetica...'?