May 11th, 2007
Categories: Art Direction, Creative, Video Development
Well, it turns out the Helvetica documentary WAS coming to Charlotte - for one screening. I was there last night and was pleasantly surprised that it didn’t devolve into History of Typography 101.
Chock full of example after example of Helvetica used in the everyday things we take for granted, it was both an entertaining look at the typography/graphic design profession and an inspiring education on the pros and cons of font variety. There were interviews with an impressive list of designers, including David Carson, Alfred Hoffman, Massimo Vignelli, Hermann Zapf, Matthew Carter, Lars Müller, Erik Spiekermann, Neville Brody and many more. Nearly everyone interviewed described the typeface as “like air - like breathing. It’s just there.”
The surprising thing for me was the passionate way that all these people felt about loving or hating Helvetica. One person would be describing in wordy detail how incredibly earth-shaking it must have been to have had your ugly, outdated, scripty, dirty corporate identity renovated and modernized with a gorgeous, clean, crisp, refreshing typeface. Another would shake his head bewilderedly about why anyone would bother using such a boring, BAD typeface. Yet another would wax poetic about the absolute perfection that it represents, how the figure/space relationship was in such perfect harmony that the white space held each letter in a locked embrace. Nearly everyone agreed that there was no way it could be improved upon. Helvetica - “the swiss typeface” - just is, love it or hate it.
Big thanks to AIGA Charlotte for bringing the screening to Charlotte!
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