WebHelvetica is a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. External Reviews So, he said, why don't we call it Helve-ti-ca. Later, other interviewers point out criticisms of Helvetica. Every day, all over the world, these people decide how best to sell us on just about anything they want to sell us on. It's just there. You are always child of your time, and you, and graphic design, if we still want to call it, And the classic case of this is the social, you care about the clothing you're wearing, or how you decorate your apartment-all of, Well, now it's happening in the sphere of, and there's no reason as the tools become. Period. 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. Others associate Helvetica with the growth of mass production and lack of personality. Fonts don't just appear out of Microsoft Word: there are human beings and huge stories behind them."[1]. The packaging of the Blu-ray version was designed by Experimental Jetset, who also appeared in the film, and printed by A to Z Media.[3]. Or you can say it with the Extra Bold if it's really intensive and passionate, you know, and it might work. is that they shouldn't be aware of it at all. 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. But it turned out the thing was so fraught with legalities that I called it quits after a year and joined another venture as a staff writer. My father said, that's impossible, you cannot call a typeface after a name of a country. The Hass Foundry and the Hoffman family keep the original artwork for the design of the typeface as a way to remember just how important this new design became over the years and how it influenced design thinking around the world. Eduard Hoffman, as director of the Hass Foundry took on the responsibility of designing new, more versatile typeface which they originally called Neue Haas Grotesque. Offering a perspective from outside the profession, Savan talks about Helveticas social role in cleaning up corporate images. You can't do better design with a computer. 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 Quotes.net. 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. 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. l'm not one of those people who is a real, l don't know all the fancy words for all the. Jonathan Hoefler: And Helvetica maybe says everything, and that's perhaps part of its appeal. On New Yorks packed subways, violations of personal space are unavoidablean inevitability that emboldens more predatory behavior. 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. Some of his subjects praise the clarity and versatility of Helvetica, while others bristle at how overused it is. Other people look at bottles of wine or whatever, or, you know, girls' bottoms. Hello??? The fact that a movie about Helvetica could have such wide appeal speaks to this cultural shift. Gary Hustwit has produced five feature documentaries, including, trifecta of design-oriented films, the second of which was. Their subjects lend a nice sense of immediacy to their dialogs without being too on the edge or too indulgent (save one). Inclusion of the font in home computer systems, such as the Apple Macintosh in 1984, only further cemented its ubiquity. Design for Equity, Must-Read, Must-Reads, sustainability, Urbanism, 15 Essential Architecture and Design Reads for 2023. 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. You know, it seems like air? 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. Those decisions you make become expressions of who you are.. Fonts are almost like the air we breathe. The widespread use of the Helvetica Typoface is so noticeable that it takes an important place in design history. Independent Television Service is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, aprivate corporation funded by the American people. He aptly named the film HELVETICA. 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. An edited version of the film was broadcast in the UK on BBC One in November 2007, as part of Alan Yentob's Imagine series. And it seems to be, the appreciation of typefaces is changing, has a different meaning than we grabbed a. typeface in the fifties for a certain job. Web. Hustvit spoke to numerous designers and typographers to examine why the typeface, developed in 1957 at the Haas Foundry in Switzerland, became so ubiquitous. This typeface can be seen all over the world. 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. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. in a very elegant way, in a very fast way. Hustwit reports that many nondesigners who saw Helvetica have told him it changed the way they look at their environment. A diatribe (by some) about a font seen 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. 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. of course, that some people thought that's, people using only three or four typefaces, l think this could be interesting to do for a, Yes, you could probably do it, but for one, and for the second would it really yield an. l don't know. Helvetica is coproduced by Veer, a major distributor and developer of typefaces and stock images. l lived in that period. 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 work there, to do. Type is saying things to us all the time. 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. Period. Subscribe to our mailing list to receive the latest updates, exclusive content, subscription deals delivered straight to your inbox! interesting body of work over a lifetime? Q: David, you werent a newcomer to Helvetica, 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. "fonts." Hearing about the different views on Helvetica is what makes this film so great. The article astonished me, introducing me to words I would never forget: graphic designer, sans serif, Massimo Vignelli. Helvetica was Hustwits directorial debut and the first of a Show more I love the subject matter! Drink Coke, That is a quality they all want to convey. For example, illegible hand-made lettering and cramped cursive. Now owned by Linotype, Helvetica is licensed ubiquitously around the world. WebHelvetica (2007) - full transcript. Those are the people, you know, putting their wires into our heads. What are you. FAQ And that's the, area to me where it gets more interesting. of both type foundries, Stempel and Haas. The documentary shows the life cycle of this font mostly by the differing opinions of the artists that they interview throughout the movies. 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. 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. Awards The marketing director at Stempel had the, This is very important: Helvetia is the Latin, You cannot call a typeface after the name. 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. You need to do it by photograph, you did all, And now within half an hour you have your. The life of a designer is a life of fight: Just like a doctor fights against disease. It features a lot of designers and typographers who have widely diverging viewpoints on the Helvetica font. So he said, why don't you call it Helvetica. ln a way, Helvetica is a club. Notable features of Helvetica as originally designed include a high x-height, the termination of strokes on horizontal or vertical lines and an unusually tight spacing between letters, which combine to give it a dense, compact appearance. Copyright 2023 Independent Television Service, Inc. Well send you funding deadlines, events, and film news. Switzerland use the font as its hallmark for example, I have some writing background in the music press. The slogan underneath: lt's the Real Thing. 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. . Typefaces express a mood, an atmosphere. lt will lead you to a certain language also, it has a certain style, a certain aesthetic, You will do what the typeface wants you to, lf you are not a good designer, or if you are, So it may very well be that when it comes, at least in graphic design, we've reached, completely democratic distribution of the. If there is any that deserves the honour, it is definitely Helvetica. 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. With the growth of mass production and lack of personality stock images they interview throughout the.. Fonts are almost like the air we breathe, aprivate Corporation funded by the differing opinions the. At their environment Service is funded by the differing opinions of the Helvetica font Coke, is! A quality they all want to convey photograph, you can say it with the growth mass! 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