The year 2007 marked the 50th anniversary of the Helvetica typeface. To most people, this little nugget of information (#fact if you will) means very little. Begin to show them however just how ubiquitous and ever-present Helvetica is in their everyday lives and you'll have their interest. Hustwit certainly got mine very early on.
From street signs to Nike advertising campaigns, from littering notices to shop billboards, Helvetica is omnipresent. We must see thousands of words and phrases a day that use the Helvetica typeface, yet far from wonder why the typeface is always identical, we don't even recognise they are in fact the same typeface. Hustwit's 'Helvetica' delves into this gap, one that didn't exist for the viewer before the film started, but quickly engages our curiosity: why is it used so uniformly? why does it look so...clear? what does that say about us? where did it come from? who creates this stuff? It is a courageous director who opens that can of worms, but Hustwit takes to it with relish.
Taking us back to Switzerland in the 1950s, the field of typography is laid out in full by a panoply of talking heads ranging from modern-day typographers, to graphic designers, to mere (and I use that reluctantly) artists. Perhaps fittingly, the issue of Helvetica's omnipresence remains the centre of attention for all those interviewed, how can they explain away the veritable phenomenon it has become? The range of responses elicited conveys a certain chasm in the field, the 'neutrality' that arises as the font's attraction is as much a joy and example of sheer artistry to one artist as it is depressing and mere bourgeois subterfuge to the next. The discussions of the aesthetic of the font, and of others' (failed) attempts to move beyond it, do risk at times moving beyond the film's appeal to the layman, but are forgiven for the passion they betray of the filmmaker and his subjects.
As a font, Helvetica is more than simply an inspiration for the corporations that depend on its neutrality and aesthetic to promote their goods. It is an instrument that both lures figures into the design industry for want of its use and pushes those opposed to its capitalist connotations into usurping its ideals and creating their own fonts.
Thus far, few have been successful and Helvetica reigns supreme on the street; have we reached the 'end of history' for typography? Helvetica may be its perfect form.
Concluding Thought: Nothing to do with typography, but who knew 'Helvetia' in Latin was Switzerland? (#fact)
From street signs to Nike advertising campaigns, from littering notices to shop billboards, Helvetica is omnipresent. We must see thousands of words and phrases a day that use the Helvetica typeface, yet far from wonder why the typeface is always identical, we don't even recognise they are in fact the same typeface. Hustwit's 'Helvetica' delves into this gap, one that didn't exist for the viewer before the film started, but quickly engages our curiosity: why is it used so uniformly? why does it look so...clear? what does that say about us? where did it come from? who creates this stuff? It is a courageous director who opens that can of worms, but Hustwit takes to it with relish.
Taking us back to Switzerland in the 1950s, the field of typography is laid out in full by a panoply of talking heads ranging from modern-day typographers, to graphic designers, to mere (and I use that reluctantly) artists. Perhaps fittingly, the issue of Helvetica's omnipresence remains the centre of attention for all those interviewed, how can they explain away the veritable phenomenon it has become? The range of responses elicited conveys a certain chasm in the field, the 'neutrality' that arises as the font's attraction is as much a joy and example of sheer artistry to one artist as it is depressing and mere bourgeois subterfuge to the next. The discussions of the aesthetic of the font, and of others' (failed) attempts to move beyond it, do risk at times moving beyond the film's appeal to the layman, but are forgiven for the passion they betray of the filmmaker and his subjects.
As a font, Helvetica is more than simply an inspiration for the corporations that depend on its neutrality and aesthetic to promote their goods. It is an instrument that both lures figures into the design industry for want of its use and pushes those opposed to its capitalist connotations into usurping its ideals and creating their own fonts.
Thus far, few have been successful and Helvetica reigns supreme on the street; have we reached the 'end of history' for typography? Helvetica may be its perfect form.
Concluding Thought: Nothing to do with typography, but who knew 'Helvetia' in Latin was Switzerland? (#fact)