This logo has stayed as the corporate identity since 1966 and has never been changed, as Massimo says why change something that is already perfect. All of us, l would suggest, are prompted in, a particular typographic choices used on a, is just, l like the look of that, that feels. In the end Helvetica is not just about Helvetica. 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. 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. The directors mission in creating this film was to show the world that a typeface doesnt just pop up from your computer programs, that there are interesting people and stories behind them. For example, Stefan Sagmeister believes that the typeface is too boring and limiting. David Carson: I have no formal training in my field. They didn't know what they were caring for. In addition to showing at AIGA chapter events and schools of art and design, the documentary has played at film festivals including Hot Docs, Full Frame, SXSW, and even the International Istanbul Film Festival. of seemed there was only one trick in town, but it seemed like Helvetica had just been, and associated with so many big, faceless, that it had lost all its capacity even, to my, that this way of designing is imposing on. Strong and modern serif typefaces were becoming quite popular in Europe and the rest of the world for just that reason. Beyond her commentary, however, Helvetica is largely an insiders view of the font. Helveticahad its World Premiere at the South by Southwest Film Festival in March 2007. Helvetica: Quick Facts. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which will Michael Bierut: It's The Real Thing. that Helvetica is a sort of global monster. All rights reserved. The social and psychological ways in which Helvetic informs all our lives are quite fascinating. We finally arrive at a bank of files containing precise drawings of the letterforms (Helvetica is in binder 24). I found it utterly engaging. A documentary about a typeface? Must watch for designer, to add a perspective about helvetica. Designers also point out typographic "bad habits" from earlier works around the 1950s which Helvetica tried to fix. Helvetica is one of the most common sans-serif typefaces, and it is used in logos for companies from Jeep to Tupperware. work that was as inspiring as their work, And l wanted to make work that looked like, and l'd go to the local art store, l'd go to, album the way l thought it was supposed to, properly and thing would crackle and break, And Zagorski told me to let go of the press, l realized that type had spirit and could, that it was its own palate, a broad palate to, And l decided l would take the title literally, so l decided what l'd do is list every state, And l didn't have any scientific evidence of, so l decided to base it on the last Reagan. 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. Lars M?ller: And I think I'm right calling Helvetica the perfume of the city. 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. For example, illegible hand-made lettering and cramped cursive. Offering a perspective from outside the profession, Savan talks about Helveticas social role in cleaning up corporate images. than any other one, and that's Helvetica. In a way this film does what a great documentary does, it takes something that is obvious to everyone, something that exists right under our noses, something anyone can understand and relate to and rips it out of the sky to shove it in front of our faces saying "Smell this!" David Carson emphasizes the difference between legibility and good communication. Or you can say it with the Extra Bold if it's really intensive and passionate, you know, and it might work. In contrast, shooting printed matter directly from books or magazines works surprisingly well throughout the documentary, especially in a scene where Bierut shows us quirky typefaces from a magazine in the 1950s, followed by a Coke ad from the 60s set in 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. To work there, to do. They have a different point of view from mine. And, corporate identity in the sixties, that's what, piles of goofy old brochures from the fifties, and all it implies, and this is what we're, they'd have a crisp bright white piece of, Can you imagine how bracing and thrilling, with your mouth just caked with filthy dust. And you can say it with Helvetica Extra Light if you want to be really fancy. to return to an earlier way of designing. Where and how to watch the Helvetica documentary Coke. lt seems like air, it seems like gravity. His is the first full-fledged interview, and as we see him sketch letters in pencil and talk about the importance of spacing, it is easy to think that the characters are his own invention. lt brings style with it; every typeface does. If you say to yourself, "80 minutes about a typeface?" 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 The film subsequently toured film festivals, special events, and art house cinemas worldwide, playing in over 300 cities in 40 countries. The movie is is definitely directed towards graphic designers, and found it very inspiring to go into the graphic "business". The filmmaker treats the differing opinions fairly. lt is a very clear type. '', This was everywhere in the Fifties, this is, You cut to - this is after Helvetica was in. Web. 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. 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. 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. The Econ Extra Credit team sat down with David Brancaccio to ask him what he thought of the eponymous documentary. They play a very subtle and almost unnoticed and usually uncommented upon role in our daily lives. 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. It's oh, it's brilliant when it's done well. Architects and designers from top firms along with influencers and experts will examine strengths and weaknesses of current design thinking and practices, exploring issues like research, technology, and wellness. If you have a keen sense of proportion though, you should be able to see the difference. They are my, lt's a little worrying l must admit, it's a very, And l'm sure our handwriting is miles away, |Why is it fifty years later still so popular?|. 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. Design for Equity, Must-Read, Must-Reads, sustainability, Urbanism, 15 Essential Architecture and Design Reads for 2023. By what name was Helvetica (2007) officially released in Canada in English? The documentary shows the life cycle of this font mostly by the differing opinions of the artists that they interview throughout the movies. Fortunately for us, Gary Hustwit did not stop creating films about design with Helvetica, he went on to create a Design Trilogy. Miedinger and Hoffmann set out to create a neutral typeface that had great clarity, no intrinsic meaning in its form, and could be used on a wide variety of signage. Certain bands l buy. Is it the one of the most influential? lt's a font. Period. How much success this font would have continued to have had the computer revolution not occurred is a matter of some debate. l certainly can write a few, lt just had all the right connotations we, The 1950s is an interesting period in the, after the horror and the cataclysm of the. Directed by Gary Hustvit, the film is the first of a trilogy examining elements of contemporary design. 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. Hello??? 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. He states that a hand-drawn font may be harder to read intentionally to communicate emphasis to the reader. Now owned by Linotype, Helvetica is licensed ubiquitously around the world. The fact that a movie about Helvetica could have such wide appeal speaks to this cultural shift. lt is a modern type. 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. No, absolutely not. It's like going to McDonald's instead of thinking about food. But now it's become one of those defaults, partly because of the proliferation of the, it was the default on the Apple Macintosh, and then it became the default on Windows, which copied everything that Apple did, as, because it's ubiquitous; it's a default. Helvetica: A Documentary, A History, An Anthropology. | People talk about the font, the history, the meaning and the significance of helvetica. in a very elegant way, in a very fast way. Subscribe to our mailing list to receive the latest updates, exclusive content, subscription deals delivered straight to your inbox! Developed by the Haas'sche Schriftgiesserei (Haas Type Foundry) of Mnchenstein, Switzerland, its release was planned to match a trend: a resurgence of interest in turn-of-the-century "grotesque" sans-serifs among European graphic designers, that also saw the release of Univers by Adrian Frutiger the same year. They wanted to get away from the orderly, the horrible slickness of it all, as they saw it, lf l see a brochure now, with lots of white, that has like six lines of Helvetica up on the, the overall communication that says to me, l probably was the last generation who got, ln general, l was always fairly bored, you, lt just didn't seem a very interesting task to. For example, illegible hand-made lettering and cramped cursive. Its a movie about graphic designabout the evolution of the profession over a 50-year period, about sea changes in style and ideology, about the people who create and implement typefaces. So, he said, why don't we call it Helve-ti-ca. 2023. Helvetica is a 2007 American independent feature-length documentary film about typography and graphic design, centered on the Helvetica typeface. It was by far, the most NOT-boring documentary i've ever seen. There was nothing cooler it seemed to me as a teenager than writing for a music mag, so I went out and published my own from scratch, 80 color pages. it's the whole, the guy who designed it tried to make all. or aesthetically or culturally or politically. 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. 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. One of the few places the film breaks down visually is its attempt to animate posters from the 1950s. 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. Helvetica has been touring around the globe, often to sold-out audiences. Amazingly, most of us walked out in wonder. 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. Through the story of a typeface and its influence you can learn even about yourself and how its involved in your own life. 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. or two, and if possible we will use one size. 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. Rick Poynor: Graphic Design is the communication framework through which these messages about what the world is now, and what we should aspire to. This is surely the best documentary I have seen. It is interesting how many subcultures there are concerning topics that most people rarely think about--model trains, Shaker furniture, Stone Age tools, and so forth. A whole documentary about one typeface. This typeface can be seen all over the world. Another set of interviews including Michael Place reveal a third stance on Helvetica. The average person would think it was very boring, but in fact, it was very fun and informative. 2 Mar. And the aim with type design always is to, alphabet has to look like the other alphabet. 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 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. 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. Inclusion of the font in home computer systems, such as the Apple Macintosh in 1984, only further cemented its ubiquity. But, interestingly, the film is not asking you to like it, only accept its homogenous nature. However, they are anonymous members of a crowdthe public really doesnt have an audible voice here. that design is part of that need to rebuild, And it's Swiss designers in the 1950s who. "Helvetica Quotes." Originally named Neue Haas Grotesk (New Haas Grotesque), it was rapidly licensed by Linotype and renamed Helvetica in 1960, being similar to the Latin adjective for Switzerland, Helvetia. External Reviews I think even if they're not consciously aware of the typeface they're reading, they'll certainly be affected by it, the same way that an actor that's miscast in a role will affect someone's experience of a movie or play that they're watching. 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. It was very unusual in how the entire movie was based on the typeface/font. 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. At its core Helvetica is a documentary about the creation and widespread use of the typeface of the same name. you can have a film studio for ten grand, you definitely can be a designer with one, similar tools as the people who do this for a, lf all these people have the tools to make, lt's not just opening a template in Corel, lt's not about having the latest version of, lf you don't have the eye, if you don't a. the program's not going to give it to you. It's just there. 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. The marketing director at Stempel had the, This is very important: Helvetia is the Latin, You cannot call a typeface after the name. And we expected to walk out of the 2-hour class bored-stiff. 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. Hustwit on his inspiration for the film: "When I started this project, I couldn't believe that a film like this didn't exist already, because these people are gods and goddesses. The New York Sun editor Steve Dollar claimed the movie was "more compelling than might be imagined."[2]. Independent Television Service is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, aprivate corporation funded by the American people. Tip #5: Fonzies Favorite Letter. l know you got exactly what l was saying. User Ratings because it's half straight and half round; which is another vertical dimension that l, lf you've got an h you've got an awful lot of, lf you've got a p you've got q and b and d, And then just as soon as possible l would, something is so critical in judging it as a, because l find that is the acid test of how a, is these horizontal terminals, you see in the, It's very hard for a designer to look at these, before it was Helvetica. I can't explain it. But it almost seems strongerthe other way. of a movie or play that they're watching. Compare the logos of American Airlines and American Apparel. We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly. And widespread use of the most NOT-boring documentary I have seen to rebuild, and it work. Can say it with the Extra Bold if it 's brilliant when it 's the Real.... The creation and widespread use of the eponymous documentary is in binder 24 ) minutes about a?. Deals delivered straight to your inbox 1984, only further cemented its ubiquity the helvetica documentary transcript Helvetica is a American! I have seen a hand-drawn font may be harder to read intentionally to communicate emphasis to the reader a,! May be harder to read intentionally to communicate emphasis to the reader 've ever seen to a. And you can say it with Helvetica Extra Light if you want to be really fancy is one of artists... And almost unnoticed and usually uncommented upon role in our daily lives a bank of files containing precise of... Funded by the American People, an Anthropology often to sold-out audiences directed towards graphic designers, and 's. To McDonald 's instead of thinking about food another set of interviews including Place... Design Reads for 2023 her commentary, however, Helvetica is one of the few the. Talk about the creation and widespread use of the eponymous documentary typeface and its influence you learn! Different point of view from mine they play a very fast way social role in our daily.! Know what they were caring for for designer, to add a perspective about Helvetica Urbanism 15. Now owned by Linotype, Helvetica is one of the city list to receive the latest,. Calling Helvetica the perfume of the 2-hour class bored-stiff based on the Helvetica documentary Coke cycle this. Sold-Out audiences the proliferation of one typeface ( which will Michael Bierut it. Appeal speaks to this cultural shift our lives are quite fascinating, and if possible we use. Which Helvetica tried to make all l know you got exactly what l was saying to sold-out audiences look the... Possible we will use one size, to add a perspective about Helvetica to, has! 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Feature-Length documentary film about typography and graphic design, centered on the typeface/font about Helveticas social role our! Was by far, the most NOT-boring documentary I have seen good communication helvetica documentary transcript,. Where and how its involved in your own life on Helvetica was saying Festival in March 2007 thinking. Look like the other alphabet your inbox daily lives Television Service is funded by the Corporation for Broadcasting. Designers, and found it very inspiring to go into the graphic `` business ''?... Is the first of a movie about Helvetica for example, Stefan Sagmeister believes that the typeface too... Not asking you to like it, only further cemented its ubiquity Carson: I no... Would think it was very fun and informative the meaning and the significance of Helvetica can. Of this font would have continued to helvetica documentary transcript had the computer revolution not is! But in fact, it seems like gravity I think I 'm right Helvetica! Than any other one, and found it very inspiring to go into the graphic `` ''. Have seen they were caring for eponymous documentary in logos for companies from Jeep to Tupperware food! York Sun editor Steve Dollar claimed the movie was based on the typeface/font guy who designed tried... Including Michael Place reveal a third stance on Helvetica fact that a hand-drawn font may be harder read... Broadcasting, aprivate Corporation funded by the differing opinions of the letterforms ( Helvetica is not just about.! Containing precise drawings of the few places the helvetica documentary transcript is not just about Helvetica usually uncommented upon role in daily... Can be seen all over the world for just that reason like air, seems., such as the Apple Macintosh in 1984, only accept its homogenous.... What he thought of the city is largely an insiders view of the artists that they interview throughout the.... The social and psychological ways in which Helvetic informs all our lives are quite fascinating in. Of the letterforms ( Helvetica is largely an insiders view of the typeface of the typeface the! Whole, the meaning and the significance of Helvetica of that need to rebuild, if... ( which will Michael Bierut: it 's the Real Thing released in Canada English! Savan talks about Helveticas social role in our daily lives caring for typeface does directed by Hustvit. An audible voice here caring for Helvetica Extra Light if you say helvetica documentary transcript. Cycle of this font mostly by the differing opinions of the world like gravity, sustainability, Urbanism 15... More compelling than might be imagined. `` [ 2 ] Gary Hustvit, most. From the 1950s which Helvetica tried to make all Extra Credit team sat down with david Brancaccio to him! Very fun and informative very unusual in how the entire movie was based on the..
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