Tip #5: Fonzies Favorite Letter. At about the 45-ish minute mark, those not too into the world of graphic design might start to feel the film is repetitive. Helvetica is a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. Helvetica is a 2007 American independent feature-length documentary film about typography and graphic design, centered on the Helvetica typeface. Directed by Gary Hustwit, it was released in 2007 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the typeface's introduction in 1957 and is considered the first of the Design Trilogy by the director. In addition to showing at AIGA chapter events and schools of art and design, the This logo has stayed as the corporate identity since 1966 and has never been changed, as Massimo says why change something that is already perfect. Nonetheless he is a lover of typography itself and thinks that Helvetica has no personality. Some designers condemn this development as the death of quality and the rise of mediocrity, while others see it as a potentially revolutionary expansion of design markets and creativity. I was just experimenting, really. Is this a movie for committed typophiles or for a world increasingly aware of typography? There was a time when I was editor, publisher, and writer of a small newspaper in Spain. interesting body of work over a lifetime? | and it's set in a boring, non-descript way. So, this subculture of designers produces work that shapes our lives and influences the way we see things. Interviews of famous designers take up a majority of the film, Massimo Vignelli by far being the most compelling. Eduard Hoffman, as director of the Hass Foundry took on the responsibility of designing new, more versatile typeface which they originally called Neue Haas Grotesque. Metacritic Reviews. As a designer you will know Helvetica as soon as you see it, if you are not a designer then you will be surprised to know just how much of Helvetica we see every single day. Strong and modern serif typefaces were becoming quite popular in Europe and the rest of the world for just that reason. I was simply amazed at the fact that they continued to find people to interview on the subject, with each person more excited then the next and all way more excited then anyone has a right to be about a font. Massimo Vignelli: You can say, "I love you," in Helvetica. Erik Spiekermann is not a lover of Helvetica, he sees it as a choice in bad taste. is that they shouldn't be aware of it at all. The documentary shows the life cycle of this font mostly by the differing opinions of the artists that they interview throughout the movies. l think that typography is similar to that, There's very little type in my world outside, lt definitely makes the world outside the, that's just a couple blocks down from the, the place with the bad letter spacing out, l think even then people might have known, The fact that it's been so heavily licensed, has kind of furthered the mythology that it's, And even for us professionals that's hard, l kind of find myself buying into the idea, And realizing, wait a minute that's not quite. But there were on two dissenters out of a crowd of supporters, so the argument was a bit one-sided. Fortunately for us, Gary Hustwit did not stop creating films about design with Helvetica, he went on to create a Design Trilogy. I just did what made sense to me. We think that Helvetica contains somehow a design program. lt will lead you to a certain language also, and this is also one of the secrets of the success of Helvetica that in itself it is already it has a certain style, a certain aesthetic that you will just use it like that, because of the typeface, because the typeface wants it like that. In addition to showing at AIGA chapter events and schools of art and design, the documentary has played at film festivals including Hot Docs, Full Frame, SXSW, and even the International Istanbul Film Festival. Some designers find Helvetica to be predictable and boring. He doesnt believe that the typography needs to say what the word says, it only needs to be a clean visual of the word. One is a serious airline company and the other an irreverent clothing company. Helvetica examines the development and use of one of the worlds most popular typefaces. Quotes.net. As a film it's boring, but as a font movie it is amazing! A film about typography, graphic design, and global visual culture, Helvetica looks at the proliferation of a single typeface. l did a little credit to give thanks to Max, But my wife vetoed that; l had to take it off, l think l fell into the step of Helvetica when, And l really enjoy the challenge of making. Its cult appeal lies in seeing our profession (and our obsessions) portrayed on screen with such dignity and depth. A Fascinating Look at What Could Be a Boring Topic, Watch and learn what our fonts say about us, A must-see for anyone interested in typeface or graphic design. You need to do it by photograph, you did all, And now within half an hour you have your. With the first 20 minutes I was intrigued and interested, unfortunately as the minutes ticked by my interested faded and the intrigue had completely disappeared. Helvetica is a documentary that interviews many graphic designers involved in the history or modern usage of the Helvetica typeface. Also I'm not sure I completely buy into the theory that advertising in certain fonts has a subconscious effect on what I'll buy. l wouldn't say this if l hadn't tried it. It wasn't just a film about a font. Before becomnig a filmmaker, he worked with punk label SST Records in the late 1980s, ran the independent book publishing house Incommunicado Press during the 1990s, was vice president of the media website Salon.com in 2000 and started the indie DVD label Plexifilm in 2001. Of course that may be a bit of an exaggeration, however it is pretty close to the truth. I wrote on and off for several years, caught the designer's bug, switched over to industrial design and that led to film and studying what it means to see. As such this sat on my "watch this" list for over a year I'd guess, as a perusal of my queue always offered me something that seemed better or, if I'm honest, easier to watch. one of the artists of the Stijl movement. Those are the people, you know, putting their wires into our heads. The film is an exploration of urban spaces in major cities and the type that inhabits them, and a fluid discussion with renowned designers about their work, the creative process, and the choices and aesthetics behind their use of type. Michael C. Place: For me Helvetica is just this beautiful, timeless thing. lt had its original, and his method of doing that was sort of to, than you might just assume by reading in a, You can easily say this was a joint product, But boy could you see his mind at work on, what it's all about is the interrelationship of, with the black if you like, with the inked. It's just there. In light of that I was interested in this documentary about the most popular typeface designed. of a movie or play that they're watching. But it turned out the thing was so fraught with legalities that I called it quits after a year and joined another venture as a staff writer. lt is a very clear type. There was nothing cooler it seemed to me as a teenager than writing for a music mag, so I went out and published my own from scratch, 80 color pages. Is Helvetica the greatest font every designed? What's so important about the empty space? The film toured around the world for screenings in selected venues, such as the IFC Center in New York, the Institute of Contemporary Arts London, the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago, and the Roxie Cinema in San Francisco. Inclusion of the font in home computer systems, such as the Apple Macintosh in 1984, only further cemented its ubiquity. accessible, transparent, and accountable, Designers, and l think even readers, invest, And it's not just a matter of the weight they. lf you see that same message in Helvetica, You know it's going to be clean, that you're. Originally named Neue Haas Grotesk, it was soon renamed Helvetica after the Latin name for its home country. They'll still follow the plot, but, you know, be convinced or affected. Lars M?ller: And I think I'm right calling Helvetica the perfume of the city. Helvetica premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival in March 2007. l love Modernism. Helvetica screened this week at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, TX where it was very well-received. Helvetica (the documentary): a summary and an opinionated review A documentary about a font seems like a wonderfully geeky idea. Underground brings these stories into the light. Helvetica: Quick Facts. Drink Coke, That is a quality they all want to convey. The films dry wit surfaces again as we follow a font marketing executive down a long hallway in Linotypes headquarters to the archives where Helvetica is locked away. ln my case l never learned all the things l, l'd say, ''What's the big deal? I think that's where we, the consumers, are allowed to fill in the blank with our own wishes and dreams for whatever product or politician is being shown to us at that moment. Beyond her commentary, however, Helvetica is largely an insiders view of the font. And that perfect balance sort of is saying to us - well it's not sort of, it *is* saying to us - "don't worry, any of the problems that you're having, or the problems in the world, or problems getting through the subway, or finding a bathroom all those problem aren't going to spill over, they'll be contained. lt's a font. beautiful out of something very ordinary. I found it utterly engaging. At its core Helvetica is a documentary about the creation and widespread use of the typeface of the same name. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives. Helvetica emerges in that period, in 1 957, where there's felt to be a need for rational. Interviewees inHelveticainclude some of the most illustrious and innovative names in the design world, including Erik Spiekermann, Matthew Carter, Massimo Vignelli, Wim Crouwel, Hermann Zapf, Neville Brody, Stefan Sagmeister, Michael Bierut, David Carson, Paula Scher, Jonathan Hoefler, Tobias Frere-Jones, Experimental Jetset, Michael C. Place, Norm, Alfred Hoffmann, Mike Parker, Bruno Steinert, Otmar Hoefer, Leslie Savan, Rick Poynor, and Lars Mller. And it seems to be, the appreciation of typefaces is changing, has a different meaning than we grabbed a. typeface in the fifties for a certain job. Miedinger and Hoffmann set out to create a neutral typeface that had great clarity, no intrinsic meaning in its form, and could be used on a wide variety of signage. Fans of Helvetica tout its legibility and its versatility, but not everyone is a fan. Designers and writers explain how Helvetica was used by government entities because it gave them both an authoritative and human aspect at the same time. An excerpt of the film was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Helveticahad its World Premiere at the South by Southwest Film Festival in March 2007. As a designer for over 20 years, one would have thought that I would have known most of its history but, like the proverbial New Yorker who never visits the Statue of Liberty, there are interesting nuggets of insight that are quietly revealed if one just takes the time to visit. You know, there it is, and it just seems to. This is an article on the singer Bryan Ferry. Gary Hustwit has produced five feature documentaries, including, trifecta of design-oriented films, the second of which was. The one bad review notwithstanding this is an honest, insightful film about the most ubiquitous of fonts, Helvetica. 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