Helvetireader is a theme for Google Reader–Google’s RSS reader–created by Jon Hicks.

Using a Greasemonkey script, it calls an additional stylesheet when you load Google Reader. The alternate styles are–of course–helveticentric and tidy up the UI quite a lot. It’s remarkable how much effect just dialing back color a bit can have. The type treatments are also executed exceedingly well.

I’ve burned through a couple thousand articles using Helvetireader and I’m still loving the change. Go get it now.

Excellent work Mr. Hicks. Thanks for making it available.

For monster brands like Pepsi and Coke, diversification of their lines are really the only way to see a sales increase. The beverage market worldwide is enormous and continues to see increases in sales among premium brands in general, but especially those with a more natural or healthful appeal.

Ziggurat Brands (London) has unveiled their design for a new Pepsi International brand, Pepsi RAW. The new take on Pepsi with more natural ingredients in place of artificial uses cane sugar instead of corn syrup, apple extract as a flavoring, etc.

Their trademark application filed last spring included a much rougher, more rock-n-roll take on a logo. They smartly took it in a very different direction. Beyond trend, consumers that find natural products appealing also tend to be attracted to clean, spare design. Ziggurat nailed the design with less emphasis on the ubiquitous Pepsi logo and more on the short, iconic RAW type that reads vertically. They smartly avoided an overly organic or rough look that would deviate too far from existing design across the rest of the line and and appeal to a smaller market segment. Being simple, clean and modern conveys that the product inside is also less complicated and artificial.

I haven’t seen anything that confirms whether or not Ziggurat’s package design will be carried over to a US version, but I wouldn’t expect to see it hit markets here for at least another year.

There’s sexy new slab serif hotness out from Hoefler & Frere-Jones. It’s no secret that HF&J have produced almost all of my favorite typefaces. The latest addition to the list is Archer. Originally developed for Martha Stewart Living, it’s now available to anyone regardless of your felony record. I have a huge crush on this slab serif and it’ll be in my bag of tricks…and fast.

I can’t describe it better than HF&J, so I won’t. Their words:

Sweet but not saccharine, earnest but not grave, Archer is designed to hit just the right notes of forthrightness, credibility, and charm.

Perfect.

How much?

The value you get from their stuff is worth pointing out. The quality of their work is incredible and they have something suitable for nearly every application. Besides, you have plenty of options pricewise on this one. $199 buys a single seat license for a core set of 10 styles. (Light, Book, Medium, Semibold and Bold, each in Roman and Italic.) The complete family of 40 styles (what?!) only runs $399.

Seriously, they leave nothing out in their full families. You get indices, fractions, the whole shebang. You may not use those little extras very often, but if you have them when you need them you’ll be a very happy camper.