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★ 8 / 10
Helvetica" is a surprisingly interesting documentary about the
Sheldon Nylander
"Helvetica" is a surprisingly interesting documentary about the creation and influence of a font. Yes, a font. Yet, the story behind it is more interesting…
"Helvetica" is a surprisingly interesting documentary about the creation and influence of a font. Yes, a font. Yet, the story behind it is more interesting than you might believe, not to mention the influence it's had since its creation, both by its design and by the creation of an anti-Helvetica faction that rebels against its button-down and now traditional design. The influence of that rebellion alone is actually quite interesting, and as you watch this film you realize the design and the work that's gone on behind the scenes for things that we see every day and likely take for granted. Afterall, someone had to invent it at some point (like I've always said, the first person who figured out that you could drink cows' milk had to have been really weird). Worth a look, both for graphic design nerds as well as those simply curious about what's really behind the scenes of everyday things.
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Unrepresented Presentation
tedg
This is surely the best documentary I have seen. I use several metrics in this.A film is almost without exception a story. A documentary is usually presumed to…
This is surely the best documentary I have seen. I use several metrics in this.A film is almost without exception a story. A documentary is usually presumed to be a found story, an existing one that the filmmaker merely exposes. We come to the thing expecting some coherent story, already formed, the problem having two threads: Can we trust the filmmaker? Does the story resonate? Often a solid position in one mitigates the other.But real life at least the life I know has no stories that are blunt. Real stories, the ones that weave themselves through the world, are rich, only somewhat visible, immensely intriguing and often educational. I expect to be puzzled. If there are "two sides," I immediately mistrust the teller, because true movement is simply itself.This film should be celebrated simply because it decides to present a story in its unformed state. We hear from designers young and old, clever and not. Some are geniuses and some see the genius of design and we have no idea which is which. They report profoundly different views on a typeface. Lest we think this is an irrelevant subject, the observations on the typeface are bridged by examples to show how thoroughly it has saturated. So we are left with the same form as "Ten Tiny Love Stories," perspectives that surround the notion and instead of pulling out the answer, illuminated the mystery. The simple fact is that this is a powerful, mysterious force that makes us do things. The comparison of font design and romance is not misplaced: both somehow relate to the bricks of stories we use in constructing a life or for some of us a fort to protect from life.So I can recommend this to you. I recommend seeing it with your partner, your real partner. And then sit with them quietly and reflect on the nature of clarity and knowing.I can criticize this though. There is much that could easily have been said that wasn't.Its usually presumed that spoken language is quite old and written language a relatively modern technology compromised to make it persist. In this context, type design is merely a matter of style, a choice.But there is evidence that spoken language predates modern humans and evolved over time through collaborative toolmaking, most particularly weaving and stonechipping. Acts of hands. Shapes -- physical form, with symmetries. Spoken language in this history is itself an adaptation, and written language perhaps closer to the core of how we think. In this history, shapes matter. The process of creating form in story all manner of form matters. The story is how the story is shaped.We bump against this intuitively. It was why the Macintosh was a giant step forward in the 80's, because storytellers could for the first time be storyshapers (publishers, in the corporate lexicon). And why Microsoft is such an evil. And why type design elements have become so deeply viral. The original features come from carved inscriptions and independently from monks' pens.Anyway, from that Mac beginning came a focus on type as never before. And several design journals that struggled with the issues spoken about in this film. Pulling them out of print to put on screen should carry some more weight than we have here. I am hoping that some truly talented filmmaker is inspired by this.The most edgy but still intelligent design and font design journal from the last decades is "Emigre," which you should peruse if this movie intrigues you. Also you might want to check out Darius, who was behind the first designed font.My typeface is Vendetta.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.
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★ 7 / 10
Fonts as social witness
qmediacom
The one bad review notwithstanding this is an honest, insightful film about the most ubiquitous of fonts, Helvetica. As a designer for over 20 years, one…
The one bad review notwithstanding this is an honest, insightful film about the most ubiquitous of fonts, Helvetica. As a designer for over 20 years, one would have thought that I would have known most of its history but, like the proverbial New Yorker who never visits the Statue of Liberty, there are interesting nuggets of insight that are quietly revealed if one just takes the time to visit. Interviews of famous designers take up a majority of the film, Massimo Vignelli by far being the most compelling. Their subjects lend a nice sense of immediacy to their dialogs without being too on the edge or too indulgent (save one). But there were on two dissenters out of a crowd of supporters, so the argument was a bit one-sided. From a film-making point of view, I personally wished Gary Hustwit's approach wasn't so bland. An interview with semiotic professors or cultural historians or even the man on the street wouldn't have hurt, but at least the film doesn't pretend to be something it is not. Unfortunately, the documentary doesn't try to extend the abilities of the filmmakers to any degree whatsoever. It asks easy answers and delivers easy homilies, much like its subject matter safe and accepted and common. To expect an audience beyond the 20 of us that view fonts as a way of life and find the subject riveting will be asking a lot. Is Helvetica the greatest font every designed? No, absolutely not. Is it the one of the most influential? Undoubtedly. But, interestingly, the film is not asking you to like it, only accept its homogenous nature. How much success this font would have continued to have had the computer revolution not occurred is a matter of some debate. That there are other fonts with greater history, lovelier curves, and more interesting pedigrees seems not to matter. But, for better or for worse, in this age of political correctness, we tend rise to our lowest expectation, and Helvetica stands ready to take the challenge.
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