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[netflix] [IMDb] [http://www.helveticafilm.com/]

This is the first movie-length thing I’ve watched using Netflix’s “Watch Instantly” feature. It’s flawless. Highly recommended. I can only hope they get more and more inventory available. At some point, maybe they could get rid of disks altogether.

Anyway, the movie. This is a documentary about what has become one of the most universal typefaces around: Helvetica, which is 50 years old this year. It’s an interesting story and well told. But what really comes across is just how, um, hmmm, how to say this … fanatical type face designers can be. Think of the most out-there Mac zealot you can imagine. That’s the sort of personality many of them have. For example, one graphics designer said that using Helvetica showed you supported the Vietnam War. Is the typeface “clean” or is it “boring”? Is it “fascistic” or is it “corporatist”? What do typefaces tell you about the words written in them? Anything?

There is no doubt that type, and graphic design generally, are important. Changing the design of a product or packaging can stimulate or retard sales, so clearly it does have an impact. How do you describe this effect in concrete, measurable terms? Maybe it’s the engineer in me, but I don’t see how it’s done. When I look at a typeface, words like “delightful”, “playful”, “severe”, “austere” don’t come into my mind. I think of things like “clear” or “fancy” and that’s about it. But to these people, it borders on religion. Or at least to some of them. It’s similar, in a way, to how architects argue about the aesthetic beauty of a building, but at least with a building, even I can tell the difference between beauties and beasts.

I was tangentially exposed to type designers when I did a contract at Bitstream, so some of this is not surprising. And it also meant that I was familiar with some of the names of the people interviewed (Zapf, Carter, Hoffmann, and a few others) and it was interesting to put a face with the name.

But if I have one nit to pick with the film, they never actually say, in real words, what Helvetica is. What makes Helvetica Helvetica? Yes, it’s a sans serif font, but beyond that, the only design information they give you is that the cutoffs in the S and C are horizontal. So, I think I know it when I see it. But I couldn’t tell you with any certainty whether it really is or not. Maybe it’s something very similar but those “in the know” as it were, would look at it and say “of course it isn’t, it’s $something_else”.

“Swiss” is Bitstream’s version of Helvetica (”all” typeface names are trademarks, so no two companies will have the same name for the same font)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 6th, 2008 at 5:06 pm and is filed under Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.