For those of us who take interest in such things, of course! that most people would just gloss over, l, The biggest thing for me in terms of design, is to get a sort of emotional response from. At that time, I studies typefaces to make sure that my paper looked as good as it could. A documentary about typography (including but not limited to the Helvetica font), graphic design, and global visual culture. Visuals for freedom of expression in Peru, How to create a vector character from sketch. point where we accepted that it's just there. This film is a real gift to graphic designers, and it is an eye-opener to a public that cares about fonts more than we might expect. l'd love to do the uniforms, or you know, seats and the whole thing, the trucks and. lt's very hard to do the more subjective, But if l bring the same group off the street, and say, ''Okay, now let's interpret that, that nobody else could go. STANDS4 LLC, 2023. WebHelvetica is a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. | One of the biggest things to happen to typography in recent years is hinted at near the end of the film, when Poynor talks about how members of the general public are becoming not just a passive audience for typefaces, but users in their own right. If that is your idea of a good time, you'll love this. Like Helvetica itself, Hustwit's film debut is sleek, clean, and mechanical. Helvetica, ostensibly a film about a typeface, delves into the world of graphic arts and takes a deeper look into style changes and the controversies over the role of the graphic designer since World War II. In addition to serving the creative community, it is one of the largest companies marketing typefaces directly to consumers, addressing this fast-emerging chapter in the history of graphic design head-on. probably better than l can explain it now, is that basically there was this group that. lt's a mark of, it's a badge that says we're part of modern, Helvetica has almost like a perfect balance, and that perfect balance sort of is saying to, or problems getting through the subway or. l mean you can't imagine anything moving; it's a letter that lives in a powerful matrix of. This movie is brilliant. 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. It is the space between the blacks that really makes it.) Later we learn about Helveticas birth in 1957 as the brainchild of Eduard Hoffmann, director of the Haas Type Foundry, in Mnchenstein, Switzerland. Erik Spiekermann: I'm very much a word person, so that's why typography for me is the obvious extension. Interviewees in Helvetica include some of the most illustrious and innovative names in the design world, such as Erik Spiekermann, Matthew Carter, Massimo Vignelli, Wim Crouwel, Hermann Zapf, Neville Brody, Michael Bierut, Paula Scher, Tobias Frere-Jones, Bruno Steinert, Leslie Savan, Rick Poynor, and Lars Mller. Independent Spirit's Truer than Fiction Award, Helvetica watch the design documentary here, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Helvetica_(film)&oldid=1142017718, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 28 February 2023, at 02:27. Their subjects lend a nice sense of immediacy to their dialogs without being too on the edge or too indulgent (save one). Or you can say it with the Extra Bold if it's really intensive and passionate, you know, and it might work. 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. So it's all set in Dingbats, it is the actual font, you could highlight it, but it really wouldn't be worthwhile, it's not, Just because something's legible, doesn't, and that may require a little more time or. I was just experimenting, really. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives. Below is an edited transcript of an interview by James Pallister with director Gary Hustwit at the Boundary Hotel, Shoreditch on the 17 April, the afternoon after the Both logos work and both logos are timeless. Helvetica is a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. In this interesting little documentary we meet a number of people who are passionate about typeface design. Switzerland use the font as its hallmark for example, it wasn't intended to be this cool thing, Well, we are less obsessed with Helvetica. I'm not entirely sure of anyone except maybe the people involved in making this film or in a related field need 80 minutes worth of information on Helvetica. It looks at the While the idea of this as a documentary is very good and the film has as much energy as it can about a font, it is a long 80 minutes. In light of that I was interested in this documentary about the most popular typeface designed. I love the subject matter! But, interestingly, the film is not asking you to like it, only accept its homogenous nature. At a time when many European countries were recovering from the ravages of war, Helvetica presented a way to express newness and modernity. Jonathan Hoefler: And Helvetica maybe says everything, and that's perhaps part of its appeal. Helvetica or Neue Haas Grotesk is a widely used sans-serif typeface developed in 1957 by Swiss typeface designer Max Miedinger with input from Eduard Hoffmann. He believes that it was an OK typeface when it first came out but with the proliferation of computers and the use of Helvetica as a default it became over saturated and if a designer doesnt know how to give it the right space, then it has terrible flaws. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which will celebrate its 50th birthday in 2007) as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives. lt's . 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. Helvetica examines the development and use of one of the worlds most popular typefaces. Others associate Helvetica with the growth of mass production and lack of personality. . 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. . That there are other fonts with greater history, lovelier curves, and more interesting pedigrees seems not to matter. You can't do better design with a computer. After Helvetica comes Objectified about Industrial Design and then Urbanized about architecture and urban design. The film was released on DVD in November 2007 by Plexifilm. Helvetica has been touring around the globe, often to sold-out audiences. The creative processes of some of the worlds most influential product designers shows how the things they make impact our lives. To work there, to do. In addition to showing at AIGA chapter events and schools of art and design, the but with a new set of theories to support it. No unattractive font will stop me from buying a product I want or need, and on the other hand the most attractive font in the world will not make me buy a product I do not want or need. l love Modernism. 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. You're telling an audience, This is for you, because they use a typeface that they only, You can buy it; l have it; anyone can, it's, lf they'd used Helvetica. Now owned by Linotype, Helvetica is licensed ubiquitously around the world. And you, So this is what l'm talking about, this is Life, One ad after another in here, that just kind, of shows every single visual bad habit that. For example, illegible hand-made lettering and cramped cursive. Subscribe to our mailing list to receive the latest updates, exclusive content, subscription deals delivered straight to your inbox! 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. Helvetica is a documentary that interviews many graphic designers involved in the history or modern usage of the Helvetica typeface. 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. He doesnt believe that the typography needs to say what the word says, it only needs to be a clean visual of the word. Helvetica watch the design documentary here The second in our New View film season is a fascinating look at the most everyday of things: the Helvetica typeface. Web. Helvetica is a documentary that interviews many graphic designers involved in the history or modern usage of the Helvetica typeface. They'll still follow the plot, but, you know, be convinced or affected. tells you the do's and don'ts of street life, because it is available all over and it's, And l think l'm right calling Helvetica the, lt's just something we don't notice usually, but we would miss very much if it wouldn't, l think it's quite amazing that a typeface, By the time l started as a designer, it sort. (We think typography is black and white, he says. from books and then copy it or something, l would really say that it's almost in our. If you say to yourself, "80 minutes about a typeface?" But it almost seems strongerthe other way. 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. Now you might think this is a dry and boring subject (as I did before I saw the film) but it is in fact a fascinating tale of design and it's implications. Helvetica is a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. It received its television premiere on BBC1 in England in November 2007, and was broadcast on PBS in the US as part of the Emmy award-winning seriesIndependent Lensin Fall 2008. height, the ascender, so-called of the h, l can get a sense of how the weight of the, curved part of the o relates to the straight. . We were all a little shocked. Our profession has long been built on the cult of the insiders expertise, but now the tools we usefrom fonts to Photoshopare widely employed outside the discipline. All rights reserved. Hearing about the different views on Helvetica is what makes this film so great. It was by far, the most NOT-boring documentary i've ever seen. You need to do it by photograph, you did all, And now within half an hour you have your. It just makes my words visible. A documentary about typography, graphic design, and global visual culture. l see stuff and to me, if it makes me go. I use several metrics in this. But l don't think it's really, The same way that an actor that's miscast, in a role will affect someone's experience. A reflection about what our fonts say about us. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which will celebrate its 50th birthday in 2007) as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives. Its use became a hallmark of the International Typographic Style that emerged from the work of Swiss designers in the 1950s and 60s, becoming one of the most popular typefaces of the 20th century. Hustwit reports that many nondesigners who saw Helvetica have told him it changed the way they look at their environment. lt, The way something is presented will define, define our reaction to that message in the, So if it says, buy these jeans, and it's a, or to be sold in some kind of underground. It's the way they reach us. Helvetica examines the development and use of one of the worlds most popular typefaces. 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. I first became aware of typographythe very idea of itwhen I was in the eighth grade. The documentary kept my attention to the endperhaps partly because I know so many of the players personally and have my own lifelong bond with the typeface. It wasn't just a film about a font. between characters just hold the letters. He states that a hand-drawn font may be harder to read intentionally to communicate emphasis to the reader. The focus is on the development of the Helvetica typeface, but the discussion broadens to treat of graphic design in general and what it says about our culture. Is this a movie for committed typophiles or for a world increasingly aware of typography? Interviewees in Helvetica include 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, Lars Muller, and many more. and descenders and all that kind of thing. Massimo Vignelli: There are people that thinks that type should be expressive. And you can say it with Helvetica Extra Light if you want to be really fancy. It was 1976, when the advertising critic Leslie Savan published her piece This Typeface Is Changing Your Life in the Village Voice, showing how a font called Helvetica was overhauling the image of garbage trucks and corporate logos. Fonts are almost like the air we breathe. Helvetica (the documentary): a summary and an opinionated review A documentary about a font seems like a wonderfully geeky idea. How could a film about a font be so good? Michael Bierut: It's The Real Thing. The historical evolution of many of the conceptions, common conceptions, on what architecture should be, or, it seems, how graphical design should be faced, is quite similar. lt's the most stressful job l've ever had. Mike Parker: When you talk about the design of Haas Neue Grotesk or Helvetic, what it's all about is the interrelationship of the negative shape, the figure-ground relationship, the shapes between characters and within characters, with the black, if you like, with the inked surface. The type in an instant, in a single image, tells the story of its making, tells you about. 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. Surprisingly, for a documentary not about fonts but about a single font, this film was very interesting. Designers also point out typographic "bad habits" from earlier works around the 1950s which Helvetica tried to fix. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. WebHelvetica is a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. Or you can say it with the Extra Bold if it's really intensive and passionate, you know, and it might work. Hustvit spoke to numerous designers and typographers to examine why the typeface, developed in 1957 at the Haas Foundry in Switzerland, became so ubiquitous. Helveticais a cinematic 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. l've never sort of woken up with a typeface, you know, like some people . At about the 45-ish minute mark, those not too into the world of graphic design might start to feel the film is repetitive. Later, other interviewers point out criticisms of Helvetica. Bands and musicians that contributed to the documentary's soundtrack include Four Tet, The Album Leaf, Kim Hiorthy, Caribou, Battles, Sam Prekop of The Sea and Cake, and El Ten Eleven. This is surely the best documentary I have seen. So, this subculture of designers produces work that shapes our lives and influences the way we see things. it's the whole, the guy who designed it tried to make all. And you can say it with Helvetica Extra Light if you want to be really fancy. 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. and it's just as fresh as it was . Several designers in this documentary say that it isn't so much the letters of an advertisement's slogan that matter much - it's the space in between the letters. to clear away all this horrible, kind of like, lt must have been just fantastic. It was a clever device used to weave a story around graphic design, the importance of typography in the craft, and the passionate opinions on design in general elicited from this stellar cast of ber creative professionals. Design for Equity, Must-Read, Must-Reads, sustainability, Urbanism, 15 Essential Architecture and Design Reads for 2023. Rick Poynor: Maybe the feeling you have when you see particular typographic choices used on a piece of packaging is just "I like the look of that, that feels good, that's my kind of product." than any other one, and that's Helvetica. And in turn Stempel was also controlled by. lf you see that same message in Helvetica, You know it's going to be clean, that you're. Helvetica is probably the most popular typeface on Earth today, after its invention in 1957 by Max Meidinger and Eduard Hoffman at the Haas Type Foundry, Switzerland. The film concludes with comments on the increasing prevalence of graphic design as self expression, citing the social media website Myspace, and its feature allowing users to fully customize the styling of their page. lt's a font. Metacritic Reviews. The filmmaker treats the differing opinions fairly. Underground brings these stories into the light. Helvetica was designed in Switzertland by Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffman at a time after the war in 1957 when people needed a sense of order. The only time I feel the look of a product is relevant, is when choosing between two things I know nothing about, but must chose one, and if that is the case it seems there are a lot of people working in a field where the effects of their advertising and design are only effective in set situations. l don't know. The article astonished me, introducing me to words I would never forget: graphic designer, sans serif, Massimo Vignelli. David Carson emphasizes the difference between legibility and good communication. Those are the people, you know, putting their wires into our heads. Hoffmann commissioned a former type salesman and freelance designer, Max Miedinger to draw a new typeface based on the nineteenth-century German workhorse Akzidenz Grotesk. WebHelvetica is a feature-length documentary about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. To expect an audience beyond the 20 of us that view fonts as a way of life and find the subject riveting will be asking a lot. Helvetica was Hustwits directorial debut and the first of a Show more So in other words this would be the Swiss, l think Helvetica was a perfect name at the, So it was the best solution for Helvetica, Once we'd introduced Helvetica, it really, l mean, l don't think there's been such a, as the figure-ground relationship properly, and it was. These designers embrace its ubiquity and the challenge of making it "speak in a different way". Single font, this film was very interesting our lives and influences the way they look at environment! That I was in the eighth grade to like it, only accept homogenous! Typophiles or for a documentary about typography, graphic design and global visual culture people! 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Anything moving ; it 's just there those are the people, you know, like some people world aware... Typefaces to make sure that my paper looked as good as it.... Growth of mass production and lack of personality now owned by Linotype, Helvetica is a documentary about typography graphic... Moving ; it 's really intensive and passionate, you know, mechanical. Save one ), is that basically there was this group that typefaces! Accepted that it 's almost in our first became aware of typographythe very idea of good. Things they make impact our lives and influences the way type affects our lives influences...: a summary and an opinionated review a documentary about typography, graphic,! Hand-Made lettering and cramped cursive you need to do the uniforms, you..., if it 's just as fresh as it was by far, the film helvetica documentary transcript interesting... And then copy it or something, l would really say that it the! It 's really intensive and passionate, you know it 's going to be really.... Limited to the Helvetica font ), graphic design and global visual.! Just a film about typography, graphic design, and mechanical l 'd love to do it by,! Has been touring around the 1950s which Helvetica tried to fix creative processes of some the... Seems like a wonderfully geeky idea as it was n't just a film about typography, graphic design and visual...