Helvetica The Film: Part I

This will be the first in a series of several posts on the recent film documentary, Helvetica. In this first edition I will look solely at the push and pull the movie provides, more specifically, modern vs post modern and pro-Helvetica vs anti-Helvetica.

If you go into this film with a strong view on the typeface of Helvetica, the you most likely did not feel this so called push and pull. However, going in as a student, it’s something I felt very heavily. In a way, I am very glad I didn’t already have my mind made up on this subject, that way I could let the film sway from one side to the other, flip flopping more than a politician.

As a student of design, this was actually my introduction to the font Helvetica. I had heard of it before, and used it before, but never had I learned so deeply about it before. It also had never come to my attention of it’s wide, almost unbelievable use. After viewing the film for the first time I immediately started to identify uses of the typeface, just around my house.

Following my second viewing of the film, which came not long after the first, I began to use Helvetica in side projects. Not long after that it became the only typeface I was using. It was more than a disease, it was an obsession. Now, it’s not as if this went on for months, but I often do small things outside of class work, and I found myself designing things with Helvetica in mind, dangerous as I’ve now come to realize.

Then, after viewing the film yet again, I had a completely different approach. I wanted nothing to do with Helvetica, nothing to do with Swiss type and certainly nothing to do with something that looked so damn pretty. What caused this sudden shift? It was most likely the words of Erik Spiekermann, Paula Scher, David Carson and Stefan Sagmeister, just to name a few. In previous viewings of the film, the words and dialogue spoken by these four was heard, and I laughed, but for some reason didn’t completely take in just what it was that they were saying. However, after the third viewing, I understood exactly what they were trying to tell me.

Spiekermann’s thoughts on the typeface reached out and slapped me across the face. He showed no mercy for the typeface, and made it clear what his thoughts on it were. Paula Scher then showed me that type is not meant to be so uniform and precise, let it live, let if have feeling. As Spiekermann stated, it needs to have rhythm, similar to someone’s handwriting.

Those two kicked if off, and then Carson continued on further. Carson comes off as brash, yet at the same time uses that brashness to scrub away all the clean thoughts you once had of Helvetica.

If the first three were not enough, along comes Stefan Sagmeister with a swift kick square in the mouth, most likely knocking out not only a few teeth, but the love you once had for the typeface, Helvetica.

After thinking about why I had this sudden transformation on my feelings towards the typeface, I came to the following conclusion; in the first or even second viewing, the intricacies of Helvetica were very new to me. I had never seen it used so beautifully and perfectly. So, I was taken back by this and really could only pay full attention to that aspect. The hatred and distain for Helvetica was put aside since I was far too wrapped up in it’s beauty, even it was only on the surface.

In the third viewing, there was no possible way I could love the typeface any further, so there was only one direction I could go, and that was the route of the post-modernist. I suddenly realized what Carson was trying to say and I suddenly grasped why there was such hate thrown at the typeface from Spiekermann, Scher and Sagmeister.

I couldn’t believe what was happening, just through the media of film, I had went from loving every single character of a typeface, to wanting it to be whipped off the face of the earth. This powerful push and pull and balance is what makes this film so well done. Especially for those who have not yet formulated their own opinion on the typeface, as many students may not have done yet.

If you are a student and have not yet watched this film, it should be on the top of your list, higher than paying your student loan bill. Your emotions for a type will be swayed and shifted, and when it’s all over you’ll have to stop and think what your position is. Hopefully you’ll end up where I have, that the typeface Helvetica has it’s place, but it also has places where it should not go.

This film can in some way be a introduction into you thinking this way about other typefaces, and looking deeper at them. Evaluating their current uses and how you would use them, along with forming your own thoughts on them.

As Neville Brody said in the film, “type is the primary, weapon, if you will” and make no mistake, that is an accurate statement. As young designers, we must learn not only what typeface to use, but how to use it. It’s far too easy to fall into a groove of doing something like using Helvetica almost exclusively. So, let this be a lesson, and the film be a teaching, know thy weapon of choice and know how to wield it.

Be sure to check back for the other installments just on the film Helvetica. To learn more about the film, you may visit www.helveticafilm.com or www.helveticafilm.com/shop to purchase the film.

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Filed under: Design: Film