Michael Bierut: Everywhere you look you see typefaces. l've never sort of woken up with a typeface, you know, like some people . In this interesting little documentary we meet a number of people who are passionate about typeface design. it's like being asked what you think about. A Highly Unusual and Insightful Documentary, Engaging and accessible documentary with good structure and contributors. I just love, I just like looking at type. and descenders and all that kind of thing. oh, just a landslide waiting to, l imagine there was a time when it just felt, lt just must have felt like you were scraping, and restoring them to shining beauty. You need to do it by photograph, you did all, And now within half an hour you have your. Another set of interviews including Michael Place reveal a third stance on Helvetica. Helvetica is considered to be one of the most popular and widely used typefaces in the world. You know, it seems like air? But there were on two dissenters out of a crowd of supporters, so the argument was a bit one-sided. oh it's brilliant when it's done well. They give words a certain coloring. 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. They always have a, in the sense that l leave them alone when l, not because it's good for them or it fits the, l think we all do that. lf you take a figure like Massimo Vignelli. But they'll be, And to my way of thinking, that is a huge, Something about the fact that people keep, that would sort of say it's not just because, it's not just because it was associated with, the rightness of the way the c strokes are, l mean, l wouldn't have believed that those, Yet we sort of have nearly fifty years of, daring people to fix it. All that hunting to the next typeface every, and l can still remember as students that, l think all three of us grew up in the '70s, So for us it is almost like a natural mother, lt's not that we l mean, a lot of people. 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. Michael Bierut: It's The Real Thing. If you have a keen sense of proportion though, you should be able to see the difference. I love the subject matter! use and the letter spacing and the colors. This is an article on the singer Bryan Ferry. . The maker wanted to so something new, something different. It was subsequently broadcast on networks in 15 other countries. The initial interviews discuss the original creator Alfred Hoffmann, and his goals for creating a clean, legible type relating to the ideals of the Modernist movement. And they agreed. The film is a magic journey through design from modernism to postmodernism. There's no choice. I mean you can't imagine anything moving; it is so firm. 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. l just more, sort of, react to certain things. WebHelvetica (2007) - full transcript. A reflection about what our fonts say about us. You know, there it is, and it seems to come from no where. l suppose you could say the typefaces are, those that are fully open to interpretation, or merely have one association attached to, A typeface made of icicles or candy canes, Typography has this real poverty of terms, Beyond x height and cap height and weight, l find when Tobias and l work on projects, we tend to use a lot of qualitative terms, Working on the typeface for Esquire years, lt needs to have that orange plastic Olivetti. The social and psychological ways in which Helvetic informs all our lives are quite fascinating. A diatribe (by some) about a font seen as style-killingly ubiquitous. lt is a very clear type. Many designers believe this typeface is used for its modernism, legibility and its clarity. of a movie or play that they're watching. lt is a modern type. 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. Helvetia is the Latin name of Switzerland. Helvetica encompasses the worlds of design, advertising, psychology, and communication, and invites us to take a second look at the thousands of words we see every day. It looks at the Its cult appeal lies in seeing our profession (and our obsessions) portrayed on screen with such dignity and depth. And you can say it with Helvetica Extra Light if you want to be really fancy. . Switzerland use the font as its hallmark for example, Hoffmann was the president of the Haas Type Foundry, while Miedinger was a freelance graphic designer who had formerly worked as a Haas salesman and designer. Quotes.net. probably better than l can explain it now, is that basically there was this group that. lt's that idea that something's designed to. Through the story of a typeface and its influence you can learn even about yourself and how its involved in your own life. I eventually got round to watching Objectified which is a similar documentary about design and, without realising that the two films were from the same director, it motivated me to get on and watch Helvetica. 2023. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which will the influences in graphic design were like, lt's only after that we really looked at Josef, When we started the office we really said, When it comes to type, we will only use, if. 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. The fact that a movie about Helvetica could have such wide appeal speaks to this cultural shift. 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. "fonts." But there's one you probably see more than any other one, and that's Helvetica. 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. Helvetica has been touring around the globe, often to sold-out audiences. 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. Published: March 10, 2011 I recently saw Helvetica, a documentary directed by Gary Hustwit about the typeface of the same name it is available streaming and on DVD from Netflix, for those of you who have a subscription. Helvetica is a beautifully created documentary about the Helvetica font. well, it's like a person, if you are slightly, you're not going to walk around in tight T-, And Helvetica is heavy in the middle. Those decisions you make become expressions of who you are.. If you say to yourself, "80 minutes about a typeface?" WebHelvetica is a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. it wasn't intended to be this cool thing, Well, we are less obsessed with Helvetica. 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. Tobias Frere-Jones: The sort of classical modernist line on how aware a reader should be of a typeface is that they shouldn't be aware of it at all. This movie is brilliant. . . Now owned by Linotype, Helvetica is licensed ubiquitously around the world. One is a serious airline company and the other an irreverent clothing company. A feature-length film directed by Gary Hustwit was released in 2007 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the typeface's introduction in 1957. https://www.quotes.net/movies/helvetica_125195, https://www.quotes.net/movies/helvetica_quotes_125195. that Helvetica is a sort of global monster. there to just hold and display and organize, the information. | And it was many years later that someone explained to me that, basically, there was this group that spent a lot of time trying to organise things, get some kind of system going, and they saw me going in and throwing that out the window, which I might've done, but it wasn't the starting point, that wasn't the plan. Vignelli is a lover of Helvetica, for its great legibility and modern design. l don't know. Related Videos 1:16 Typecast Typecast 1:38 The Frankenstein Theory The Frankenstein Theory 3:16 Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm Trailer The film makers somehow came up with the idea of doing a cultural history of the Helvetica font which has become the almost universal default modern font over the past 50 years. We were all a little shocked. 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." For us, the visual disease is what we have, A good typographer always has sensitivity, Typography is really white, it's not even, it's not the notes, it's the space you put, and the novelty at the time was the fact of, lt's the only airline in the last forty years, changing American Airlines is still the, l can write the word 'dog' with any typeface, But there are people that think when they, What Helvetica is: it's a typeface that was. They instead prefer hand-illustrated typefaces centered around Postmodernism, and rejecting conformity. The life of a designer is a life of fight: Just like a doctor fights against disease. Fonts don't just appear out of Microsoft Word: there are human beings and huge stories behind them."[1]. And it's hard to get your head around, it's that big. And that's the, area to me where it gets more interesting. Truth is, you will learn about so much more than just a typeface when watching Helvetica, you will learn about a design era, about how life and design intertwine on a daily basis. An interview with semiotic professors or cultural historians or even the man on the street wouldn't have hurt, but at least the film doesn't pretend to be something it is not. it's the whole, the guy who designed it tried to make all. Or you can say it with the Extra Bold if it's really intensive and passionate, you know, and it might work. Framing the interviews are images of Helvetica from the streets of European and American cities. 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. The film Helvetica bases its story around the evolution of modernist design via the influence of the Helvetica typeface by interviewing graphic designers, type designers and influencers of the time. Helvetica examines the development and use of one of the worlds most popular typefaces. It's a little worrying, I admit, but it's a very nerdish thing to do. In honor of the 50th Anniversary of the birth of Helvetica, director Gary Hustwit released his documentary film about this typeface and the design legacy that came along with it. Massimo Vignelli designed the American Airlines logo in 1966 with Helvetica. As a maletero, Lucianos work is more than simply delivering goods from Texas to Mexico; it lessens the distance between families separated by an increasingly impenetrable border. A diatribe (by some) about a font seen | to clear away all this horrible, kind of like, lt must have been just fantastic. On New Yorks packed subways, violations of personal space are unavoidablean inevitability that emboldens more predatory behavior. 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. Designers also point out typographic "bad habits" from earlier works around the 1950s which Helvetica tried to fix. He aptly named the film HELVETICA. 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. Because all the letters . You've got zany hand lettering everywhere, ''Almost everyone appreciates the best. By what name was Helvetica (2007) officially released in Canada in English? It should be this crystal goblet there to just hold and display and organize the information. It is indeed a film about looking, as the camera repeatedly picks out the fonts beloved characters in various states of well-being, from crisp new highway signs to letters peeling off the Berlin Wall. 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. Being the geek I am, when I first heard the title, I was there! Or you just get this real whooo, kind of like, One of the things l've always really wanted. Helvetica is a typeface that originates from Switzerland. STANDS4 LLC, 2023. How could a film about a font be so good? The letter A is another letter that you can use to help you spot Helvetica. It's just there. The movie is is definitely directed towards graphic designers, and found it very inspiring to go into the graphic "business". The film subsequently toured film festivals, special events, and art house cinemas worldwide, playing in over 300 cities in 40 countries. Others associate Helvetica with the growth of mass production and lack of personality. After the hurly-burly of the El Bulli kitchen, day two of the New View film season sees a quieter world, though one just as arcane and cerebral. 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. And in fact, maybe they don't exist.". I just get a total kick out of it: they are my friends. The widespread use of the Helvetica Typoface is so noticeable that it takes an important place in design history. WebHelvetica is a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. I use several metrics in this. Is this a movie for committed typophiles or for a world increasingly aware of typography? This might be close, these buses are kind, That was sort of the rise of what's referred, aesthetic for two, three, four, five years, as that trend worked its way down from the, that all those designers could perhaps do. The subject is at once esoteric and universal. Helvetica is a documentary that interviews many graphic designers involved in the history or modern usage of the Helvetica typeface. so l'm never sort of a classical type guy. But it's also: a musing on the history of modern graphic design. However, I felt like there wasn't much to this film. . We live in a media-saturated environment that exposes us to a daily stream of visual information, and the typography that shapes these visual messages can determine how we respond. FAQ the conclusion of one line of reasoning was, l can't explain it l just love, l just like, l just get a total kick out of it. A documentary about typography, graphic design, and global visual culture. And you can say it with Helvetica Extra Light if you want to be really fancy. In a million years it would never have occurred to me to do a documentary on a type font. So, in other words, this would be "the Swiss typeface". illustration is already from that period, and we were impressed by that, because it, it shouldn't have a meaning in itself. I have some writing background in the music press. Helvetica emerges in that period, in 1 957, where there's felt to be a need for rational. A documentary about a typeface? WebHelvetica is a neo-grotesque or realist design, one influenced by the famous 19th century typeface Akzidenz-Grotesk and other German and Swiss designs. WebSur des documents fantaisistes tels que des invitations, l'utilisation d'une police de caractres script peut tre spectaculaire, mais sur des livres pour enfants, elle peut donner l'impression de ne pas tre la hauteur, et en cas de texte trop important, elle 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. Is Helvetica the greatest font every designed? 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. Undoubtedly. Helvetica hasn't got *any* of that. going to fit in, you're not going to stand out. Helvetica is a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. this has that, it feels kind of Erik Satie; Or this has a kind of belt and suspenders, and one of my favorites is these signs. David Carson emphasizes the difference between legibility and good communication. What's so important about the empty space? Typefaces express a mood, an atmosphere. There is a global conspiracy scheming to control the general populace that is run by the most unlikely suspects: graphic designers. Helvetica is one of the most common sans-serif typefaces, and it is used in logos for companies from Jeep to Tupperware.

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