Film Viewing Assignment: Helvetica

Helvetica was extremely interesting, both in the design concepts it delved into and the broader questions it raised.

According to many designers and design historians interviewed in the film, Helvetica represented a radical transition in graphic design. Before the font debuted in 1957, advertising and graphics were busy, lengthy and convoluted. Afterwards, both typeface and graphics themselves became simple, modern and bold. One designer held up two Coke ads to serve as before and after examples. The after was markedly stronger than the before, zeroing in on one crisp image and a short phrase in Helvetica. The transition to simplicity, he implies, followed the transition to Helvetica. The idea of a typeface as the genesis of a design revolution is fascinating. It suggests the extreme importance of that which most casual consumers take for granted. As one interviewee pointed out, Helvetica “says everything.” As it began to “say” simplicity, then, the rest of the medium followed suit. If Helvetica truly did spark a revolution, text is highly undervalued in our interpretations of the media that surround us. This film forces the viewer to rethink type’s role in communication.

Though a relatively minor point, multiple figures in the film discussed the use of negative space in text-based designs. While many people view negative space solely as incidental space created by images, the designers point out that all space surrounding and inside letters is negative as well. They even go so far as to suggest that the use of type is “all about” the negative space created. So often, novice designers and graphic students are tempted to choose a font for what it itself lends to their message. The film creatively reinterpreted the use of text, however, inviting the viewer to consider the impact of the spaces around the text while paying less attention to the type itself.

Particularly interesting is the film’s attempt to paint Helvetica as a global power in design. From seemingly endless shots of the typeface cluttering signs in cosmopolitan cities to a plethora of designer interviews, the message is clear: Helvetica is ubiquitous, not only to the viewer’s world but to the world at large. Several designers claim that everyone knows the font, and the film’s distinctly international feel enforces their claims. The director labels each new city and country depicted and chooses frames that showcase the type in as many languages as possible. Perhaps the most telling comment comes from a designer who likens Helvetica to air saying, “You have to breath, so you have to use Helvetica.” This idea raises an interesting question about the cultural limits of graphics, and particularly type. Global as it may appear in the film, Helvetica is only available to those who design in Roman alphabet languages. This excludes at least half the world’s population. So then, is there an east/west divide in design? Images, of course, always have and always will transcend languages. But with type playing such an integral role in the designs and ideas that infiltrate daily life, it appears that Helvetica is not as universal as Gary Hustwit would have us believe.