Review: Helvetica directed by Gary Hustwit
Posted in Review on January 28th, 2011
- Movie Description: Helvetica is a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which will celebrate its 50th birthday in 2007) as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives. 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
Actors: David Carson, Erik Spiekermann, Matthew Carter, Massimo Vignelli, Wim Crouwel…
Films Website: http://www.helveticafilm.com/
I’ve had this movie on my Netflix list for a long, long time. Today I finally decided to watch it. I was enthralled with a movie about a typeface. How weird is that? This movie is about more than a font. It’s about design and how it effects you in ways you may not even notice.
At the beginning of the movie, Michael Bierut, a graphic designer, design critic, and educator, says,
“Everywhere you look you see typefaces. But there’s one you probably see more than any other one, and that’s Helvetica. You know, there it is, and it seems to come from no where. You know, it seems like air? It seems like gravity?”
His statement is so true. Until I watched the movie I didn’t realize how many times a day or an hour that I see Helvetica used for signage. It’s everywhere — on buses, on billboards, on buildings, street signs, advertising…just everywhere.
It’s a plain, no nonsense, elegant typeface/font that disappears and doesn’t come between the reader and the message. Many other fonts have or carry a message of their own, in a way. I don’t know how to really express it but I often look through my word processor’s list of fonts looking for one that seems to speak to me, and there are some that I really like. But in truth when I just write, I use a plain one, usually Times New Roman because I like serifs.
But the movie is also about design, designers, and various philosophies of design. I find it fascinating to hear and see how the people who design print materials think and feel about what they do. The fact that they actually sit and think about how people will relate to the font they use and whether it will appeal to them or make them think about what they want them to think is thought provoking. Would the Gap have a different clientele if they used a grunge font? Probably because the font is also part of the message — it would stand out.
Rick Poynor, who writes on design, graphic design, typography, and visual communication, said,
“Graphic Design is the communication framework through which these messages about what the world is now, and what we should aspire to. It’s the way they reach us. The designer has an enormous responsibility. Those are the people, you know, putting their wires into our heads.”
But for most of us we don’t even know that our heads are being messed with. We see ads and announcements and other communications in newspapers, journals, on billboards, TV, commercials, print advertising, and we don’t think — we respond. Helvetica gives us some insight into what goes into the design of those communications.
If you’ve ever had a desire to learn more about the design process and fonts and typefaces but felt it would be inaccessible, this is the movie to watch. It’s beautifully done with history, wit, humor, and thoughtful consideration and well worth the time you’d spend watching it. I believe that you’d never quite look at the world around you in the same way again. There would forever be an awareness of print in your environment.