Helvetica the Movie
Helvetica is a worker bee. Helvetica keeps its head down and gets the job done. The job: communicating clearly with an economy of means. Helvetica is our everyday font, invisible to most people, which is exactly what the designer intended. Helvetica was designed by Swiss typographer, Max Medinger, in 1957 after he was commissioned to develop a new sans serif typeface. Helvetica was an instant success, a design blockbuster.
Helvetica transmits content simply with a minimum of typographic ornament and stylistic excess. Tahoma, Monaco, Times - all have a typographic character that triggers with us an emotional response, however subtle that colors the content. Helvetica strives to be emotionally neutral and transparent. But this stance of transparency and functionality is itself an aesthetic quality. Helvetica echos the modernist sensibility of 'form follows function' as an ideological principle as well as an aesthetic goal.
Film maker, Gary Hustwit's film, Helvetica, explores our relationship with this ubiquitous feature of our world. which we glide past, even now as your reading, without a second thought. Hustwit asks the audience to pause and look at the font. Helvetica - the movie - was released in 2007, but is now available on dvd and as a digital download from itunes.
Its a good film well worth watching if you have an interest in Typography/Fonts etc.
Posted by: PaNdA BeAr | July 17, 2009 at 08:29 AM