Credits
Directed by Gary Hustwit
Source 35mm print
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Features: The 2007 South by Southwest Film Festival
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Posted on 22 March 2007
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Reviews
Helvetica / USA / 2007
Helvetica is the most ubiquitous piece of graphic design in history, and as such has populated the world like a plague, either gracing or littering everything from Times Square to metropolitan transit directions to corporate identities to NASA spacecrafts to tax forms to this website. Designed in Switzerland in 1957 as an industry sans serif, it nourished the design community in such profusion that its very abundance has become the predominant contention against it. It is an icon of precision, or it is frustratingly familiar; it is perfectly subliminal, or it is the typeface of socialism.
Gary Hustwit’s film is replete with summary photography that finds Helvetica everywhere (and exiting this film into the open world, it is difficult not to continue the film’s scrutiny of urban signage). But Hustwit’s film remains austere and distant, concerned with articulating the arguments for and against Helvetica’s use via a series of interviews with internationally renowned typographers and designers. The film will neither endorse nor condemn these debates, but in its distance — retained in placid photography and an anonymous electronic score — it will reinforce the typeface’s idealism or familiarity, depending upon which camp you’re in. Helvetica is a touchstone that encourages many potent rants, among them David Carson, a self-taught graphic designer. He observes the word “caffeinated” set in bold, lowercase Helvetica in his studio: “Look at this!” he remarks excitedly, “This doesn’t say ‘caffeinated’!”
Helvetica remains so carefully ascetic it retains the very qualities of its subject: concise yet unexpressive, purposeful yet not caustic, utilitarian and unembellished. This is entirely appropriate in concept, and yet remains engaging, how something so two-dimensional and contestably uncinematic supplies the subject of a film. Appropriately, once the final credits roll, you’re likely to sit through them with an enhanced understanding of the typeface they’re in.
Rumsey Taylor | © 2007 notcoming.com
Mark / 22 March 2007 / 1:21 PM
that actually sounds like a compelling documentary.
any thoughts on giving users an opportunity to select the font of their choice for leaving comments on this site?
CK / 29 March 2007 / 11:58 PM / URL
A lover of typography (particularly in terms of web and magazine design), I was hugely excited when I first hear about this independent movie.
Others around me stared at me in stunned silence.
They do not understand.
Landwehrkanal / 14 May 2007 / 7:29 PM
I’d just like to add that the Rumsey Taylor’s review of Helvetica is not displayed in a Helvetica typeface, at least not in my browser. The typeface used here is very similar to Helvetica and also belongs to the family of “grotesk” typefaces; to point to one major and easily discernible difference, just compare for example the capital G with that of the Helvetica typeface.
Rumsey / 14 May 2007 / 7:55 PM / URL
Correct you are Landwehrkanal. For you (and you other type snobs out there — a party to which I am also shamelessly admitted) our reviews are in Lucida Grande, but likely default to Lucida Sans Unicode or Verdana if you’re on a PC. We do use Helvetica for headings (again, probably not unless you’re on a Mac), and you can also find it here and there in some of our splash pages. But this will soon change…
Mike / 17 November 2007 / 11:39 PM
This film is the equilvalent to the British show Grumpy Old Men where these well-established designers rant over Helvetica. It more of an enjoyable film where you can gain insight into its history and who uses it.
By the way, David Carson thinks he is a Graphic Designer but he is not.