Letter: The new look began in 1990

TIM DE LISLE is wrong on several counts about the Labour Party's change of typeface ('Fresh font is chosen to baptise Labour image', 9 October). The change to a sanserif face for the party conference backdrop and publications occurred in 1990. The typeface chosen is not Helvetica, but Franklin Gothic, which predates Helvetica by more than 50 years and may fairly be described as an early 20th-century sans serif. Helvetica is a baby boomer typeface by comparison - a typical child of the 1950s.

The slight change for this year's conference backdrop is to use a combination of Franklin Gothic Book and Heavy, although this has been used for some time in party publications.

The Labour logo does use a hand-drawn version of Goudy Extra Bold, but has not been replaced. Indeed, it could be seen on the front of the speaker's lectern on this year's conference set.

Charles Foster

London N1