Helvetica!

Seems I'm a tad late to the party on this one, since the film Helvetica was released in 2007 (what's a mere seven years?), but a delightful discovery it was last night, and fascinating stuff for anyone interested in design history. Produced and directed by Gary Hustwit, the film explores the origins of the type, Helvetica, featuring graphic designers and type artists with very strong opinions about the font--some who's designs are firmly tied to it, and a handful who absolutely disdain its sober, unaffected character. 

The film begins with an introduction to the Swiss designers who helped build the ubiquitous typeface and later shifts to designers who currently play with a more postmodern style, rejecting the clean, precise type that represents much of corporate America. 

I loved learning Helvetica's history, realizing as I watched just how much I've come to depend upon and expect the uniformity of the graphics around me. Consider the GAP logo or even our U.S. tax forms (all in Helvetica) and how, as one cast member put it, we find a sense of security in the way corporate signage seems to sort of hold or "contain" the chaos and messiness of the rest of our lives--how there exists a reassurance of control and order via the signposts and street markers around us. Those words with their straight lines, sans serif, are many layered in their semiotics.

There's a moment when one designer takes us through the pages of an old LIFE Magazine, highlighting examples of advertising from pre-Helvetica 1950's:

Of course the film also made me consider the font here in this space, and how it feels for a reader seeing words in one type versus another.  Lots to consider...

The film is available on Netflix (if you happened to miss it the last few years, like me). And the trailer:

What's your take on a serif font? Yay or nay? Do you have a go-to type? Happy wintery Tuesday to you!