Helvetica: THE MOVIE
Talk about your niche crowd: indie film producer Gary Hustwit (who produced the excellent Moog documentary a couple of years ago on Bob Moog and the cultural impact of his synthesizer) is plopping himself into the director’s chair for the first time to tackle another discreet albeit omnipresent member of modern culture: typography. And he’s going to do it through an examination of the Helvetica typeface. That’s right: a documentary on the Helvetica typeface.
Since millions of people see and use Helvetica every day, I guess I just wondered, “Why?” How did a typeface drawn by a little-known Swiss designer in 1957 become one of the most popular ways for us to communicate our words fifty years later? And what are the repercussions of that popularity, has it resulted in the globalization of our visual culture? Does a storefront today look the same in Minneapolis, Melbourne and Munich? How do we interact with type on a daily basis? And what about the effects of technology on type and graphic design, and the ways we consume it?
As much as I love type and like to think of myself as being sensitive to the artistry and applications of it in graphic design, I can’t help but feel this movie has “New York art snob” splattered all over it.
Funny side note: the film’s official website, www.helveticafilm.com, does use some Helvetica on it (mostly image-wise), but Verdana is the preferred face of the text. This is what the CSS looks like:
font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans;
Agreed, most computers do not have Helvetica installed on it, but Helvetica could be the first picked font. Also, considering their precarious relationship, isn’t it a faux pas to offer Arial as a choice at all?
Via Never News.
You say “New York snob,” I say “intentionally boring.”
This appeals to me, as one of my dreams has long been to own a television channel on which I would play only the most mundane and uninteresting programming I could find.
How to cut firewood.
The Military History of Andorra.
A pilgrimage to all specific places mentioned in “The Monkeys” songs.
An exploration of the chemical processes of drying latex paint
Helvetica: Fiend or Foer?
I’d definitely watch “An exploration of the chemical processes of drying latex paint.”
Also, my first documentary will be entitled: “Condensation and You.”
Mark well the words you see today, folks.
This is television history in the making.