helvetica documentary transcript
At about the 45-ish minute mark, those not too into the world of graphic design might start to feel the film is repetitive. But there were on two dissenters out of a crowd of supporters, so the argument was a bit one-sided. Michael C. Place: For me Helvetica is just this beautiful, timeless thing. Helvetica is a neo-grotesque or realist design, one influenced by the famous 19th century typeface Akzidenz-Grotesk and other German and Swiss designs. Its use became a hallmark of the International Typographic Style that emerged from the work of Swiss designers in the 1950s and 60s, becoming one of the most popular typefaces of the 20th century. beautiful out of something very ordinary. You have to breathe, so you have to use Helvetica. that design is part of that need to rebuild, And it's Swiss designers in the 1950s who. . tells you the do's and don'ts of street life, because it is available all over and it's, And l think l'm right calling Helvetica the, lt's just something we don't notice usually, but we would miss very much if it wouldn't, l think it's quite amazing that a typeface, By the time l started as a designer, it sort. Being the geek I am, when I first heard the title, I was there! The filmmaker treats the differing opinions fairly. Switzerland use the font as its hallmark for example, . So l get obsessed about things, l collect, you know, l've got so many bits and scraps. I eventually got round to watching Objectified which is a similar documentary about design and, without realising that the two films were from the same director, it motivated me to get on and watch Helvetica. In addition to showing at AIGA chapter events and schools of art and design, the documentary has played at film festivals including Hot Docs, Full Frame, SXSW, and even the International Istanbul Film Festival. Coke. External Reviews 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. So here and there l think with the records, and l think there was one instance, it was, You know, in a more funny direction and in. It's the way they reach us. Helvetica encompasses the worlds of design, advertising, psychology, and communication, and invites us to take a second look at the thousands of words we see every day. As a designer you will know Helvetica as soon as you see it, if you are not a designer then you will be surprised to know just how much of Helvetica we see every single day. Just because something is legible doesn't mean it communicates and, more importantly, doesn't mean it communicates the right thing. Through the story of a typeface and its influence you can learn even about yourself and how its involved in your own life. But that's not really what this movie is about. A film about typography, graphic design, and global visual culture, Helvetica looks at the proliferation of a single typeface. . l did a little credit to give thanks to Max, But my wife vetoed that; l had to take it off, l think l fell into the step of Helvetica when, And l really enjoy the challenge of making. . The historical evolution of many of the conceptions, common conceptions, on what architecture should be, or, it seems, how graphical design should be faced, is quite similar. 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. twenties, early thirties , than at any time in, in terms of style and so on. We were all a little shocked. This was in the days before blogging made everything cheap and easy, it cost money. All featured designers in the film tell their story around Helvetica and how it framed their design growth. Now you might think this is a dry and boring subject (as I did before I saw the film) but it is in fact a fascinating tale of design and it's implications. l tried to use typefaces from van Doesburg. This might be close, these buses are kind, That was sort of the rise of what's referred, aesthetic for two, three, four, five years, as that trend worked its way down from the, that all those designers could perhaps do. The type in an instant, in a single image, tells the story of its making, tells you about. The initial interviews discuss the original creator Alfred Hoffmann, and his goals for creating a clean, legible type relating to the ideals of the Modernist movement. A feature-length film directed by Gary Hustwit was released in 2007 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the typeface's introduction in 1957. https://www.quotes.net/movies/helvetica_125195, https://www.quotes.net/movies/helvetica_quotes_125195. I just love, I just like looking at type. Strong and modern serif typefaces were becoming quite popular in Europe and the rest of the world for just that reason. Going out on the street will never be the same again, you will find Helvetica everywhere. Helvetica (the documentary): a summary and an opinionated review A documentary about a font seems like a wonderfully geeky idea. They give words a certain coloring. David Carson: I have no formal training in my field. Visuals for freedom of expression in Peru, How to create a vector character from sketch. Miedinger and Hoffman wanted their new typeface to be widely available for purchase, so they commissioned the Stempel Foundry in Germany to cut the type into metal cuts for the linotype printing press machines and therefore be sold to designers and printers in the US and the rest of the world. A documentary about typography, graphic design, and global visual culture. Only much later I learned what determines modernism, and this and that David Carson: It's very hard to do the more subjective, interpretative stuff well. And we expected to walk out of the 2-hour class bored-stiff. Watch Helvetica here. Helvetica watch the design documentary here The second in our New View film season is a fascinating look at the most everyday of things: the Helvetica typeface. And it's hard to get your head around, it's that big. 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. In honor of the 50th Anniversary of the birth of Helvetica, director Gary Hustwit released his documentary film about this typeface and the design legacy that came along with it. Where and how to watch the Helvetica documentary Some of his subjects praise the clarity and versatility of Helvetica, while others bristle at how overused it is. The designer has an enormous responsibility. Michael Bierut: Everywhere you look you see typefaces. of both type foundries, Stempel and Haas. Helvetica is a 2007 American independent feature-length documentary film about typography and graphic design, centered on the Helvetica typeface. Directed by Gary Hustwit, it was released in 2007 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the typeface's introduction in 1957 and is considered the first of the Design Trilogy by the director. Jonathan Hoefler: And it's hard to evaluate it. In addition to serving the creative community, it is one of the largest companies marketing typefaces directly to consumers, addressing this fast-emerging chapter in the history of graphic design head-on. But there's one you probably see more than any other one, and that's Helvetica. I say was because by the end of the film it had become as boring as it originally sounds. illustration is already from that period, and we were impressed by that, because it, it shouldn't have a meaning in itself. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which will It is the space between the blacks that really makes it.) Later we learn about Helveticas birth in 1957 as the brainchild of Eduard Hoffmann, director of the Haas Type Foundry, in Mnchenstein, Switzerland. | But that's the type casting its secret spell. I saw this film last night at the Rochester Institute of Technology in the company of hundreds of budding graphic designers, new media specialists, and fans of typography. With its clean, smooth lines, it reflected a modern look that many designers were seeking. but with a new set of theories to support it. Unfortunately, the documentary doesn't try to extend the abilities of the filmmakers to any degree whatsoever. Massimo Vignelli: You can say, "I love you," in Helvetica. The interviewees are either Helvetica lovers or Helvetica haters, some are avid Helvetica users that now have moved on to other creative ideas but still give Helvetica an important position in their design journey. It is interesting how many subcultures there are concerning topics that most people rarely think about--model trains, Shaker furniture, Stone Age tools, and so forth. Later, other interviewers point out criticisms of Helvetica. Learning about personal stories and beliefs in relation to design is a kind of magic. And in fact, maybe they don't exist.". FAQ So in other words this would be the Swiss, l think Helvetica was a perfect name at the, So it was the best solution for Helvetica, Once we'd introduced Helvetica, it really, l mean, l don't think there's been such a, as the figure-ground relationship properly, and it was. Below is an edited transcript of an interview by James Pallister with director Gary Hustwit at the Boundary Hotel, Shoreditch on the 17 April, the afternoon after the It was initally dubbed Neue Haas Groteskbut but was renamed in 1960 to make it easier to market abroad after becoming popular in Switzerland. Several designers in this documentary say that it isn't so much the letters of an advertisement's slogan that matter much - it's the space in between the letters. Interviewer: Why, fifty years later, is it still so popular? 2023. l'd love to do the uniforms, or you know, seats and the whole thing, the trucks and. 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. that Helvetica is a sort of global monster. An edited version of the film was broadcast in the UK on BBC One in November 2007, as part of Alan Yentob's Imagine series. Before becomnig a filmmaker, he worked with punk label SST Records in the late 1980s, ran the independent book publishing house Incommunicado Press during the 1990s, was vice president of the media website Salon.com in 2000 and started the indie DVD label Plexifilm in 2001. Tobias Frere-Jones: The sort of classical modernist line on how aware a reader should be of a typeface is that they shouldn't be aware of it at all. WebSur des documents fantaisistes tels que des invitations, l'utilisation d'une police de caractres script peut tre spectaculaire, mais sur des livres pour enfants, elle peut donner l'impression de ne pas tre la hauteur, et en cas de texte trop important, elle As such this sat on my "watch this" list for over a year I'd guess, as a perusal of my queue always offered me something that seemed better or, if I'm honest, easier to watch. It is wonderful also that Helvetica can also be free and fun. Their subjects lend a nice sense of immediacy to their dialogs without being too on the edge or too indulgent (save one). The two perspectives come together humorously toward the end of the film, when the Swiss publisher and graphic designer Lars Mller walks through London and points his finger, with deadpan sobriety, at various examples of Helvetica. For those of us who take interest in such things, of course! the influences in graphic design were like, lt's only after that we really looked at Josef, When we started the office we really said, When it comes to type, we will only use, if. Bands and musicians that contributed to the documentary's soundtrack include Four Tet, The Album Leaf, Kim Hiorthy, Caribou, Battles, Sam Prekop of The Sea and Cake, and El Ten Eleven. And you can say it with Helvetica Extra Light if you want to be really fancy. This is an article on the singer Bryan Ferry. Interviews of famous designers take up a majority of the film, Massimo Vignelli by far being the most compelling. A documentary about a typeface? document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); WatchDocumentaries.com | Games | Quizzes | Contact |Privacy & Terms | Manage Cookies |Advertise | DMCA. As a future architect, i felt close to many of what's depicted here. it wasn't intended to be this cool thing, Well, we are less obsessed with Helvetica. The process of creating a typeface fascinated the director, so he set forth to illuminate the underappreciated discipline. Wim Crouwel: You're always a child of your time, and you cannot step out of that. WebHelvetica documentary feature - 2007 - 80 minutes Helvetica is a feature-length documentary about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. Now you might think this is a dry and boring subject (as I did before I saw the film) but it is in fact a l, This is what the street signs in New York, and so much more effectively than what we. Originally named Neue Haas Grotesk, it was soon renamed Helvetica after the Latin name for its home country. However, I felt like there wasn't much to this film. Metacritic Reviews. I like both sides of the argument. ln a way, Helvetica is a club. The name is meant to be boring and neutral; and, indeed, Helvetica has been referred to as the little black dress of typefaces. and it's set in a boring, non-descript way. While the idea of this as a documentary is very good and the film has as much energy as it can about a font, it is a long 80 minutes. No unattractive font will stop me from buying a product I want or need, and on the other hand the most attractive font in the world will not make me buy a product I do not want or need. their sense that they had something to say. You can't do better design with a computer. Fonts are almost like the air we breathe. 13 minute read. So, he said, why don't we call it Helve-ti-ca. Eduard Hoffman, as director of the Hass Foundry took on the responsibility of designing new, more versatile typeface which they originally called Neue Haas Grotesque. Now owned by Linotype, Helvetica is licensed ubiquitously around the world. 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. Any Questions? But if you're one of those who never bothers to change the default font in your Word documents from Times New Roman, then I'd recommend you stay away from this film altogether. l don't know. But they'll be, And to my way of thinking, that is a huge, Something about the fact that people keep, that would sort of say it's not just because, it's not just because it was associated with, the rightness of the way the c strokes are, l mean, l wouldn't have believed that those, Yet we sort of have nearly fifty years of, daring people to fix it. Interviewees in Helvetica include some of the most illustrious and innovative names in the design world, including Erik Spiekermann, Matthew Carter, Massimo Vignelli, Wim Crouwel, Hermann Zapf, Neville Brody, Stefan Sagmeister, Michael Bierut, David Carson, Paula Scher, Jonathan Hoefler, Tobias Frere-Jones, Experimental Jetset, Michael C. Place, Norm, Alfred Hoffmann, Mike Parker, Bruno Steinert, Otmar Hoefer, Leslie Savan, Rick Poynor, Lars Muller, and many more. Helvetica: A Documentary, A History, An Anthropology. I found it utterly engaging. The film subsequently toured film festivals, special events, and art house cinemas worldwide, playing in over 300 cities in 40 countries. 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. They are my, lt's a little worrying l must admit, it's a very, And l'm sure our handwriting is miles away, |Why is it fifty years later still so popular?|. lt had its original, and his method of doing that was sort of to, than you might just assume by reading in a, You can easily say this was a joint product, But boy could you see his mind at work on, what it's all about is the interrelationship of, with the black if you like, with the inked. Helvetica was designed in Switzertland by Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffman at a time after the war in 1957 when people needed a sense of order. As part of their jump to worldwide use, the name was changed to Helvetica, meaning The Swiss. Every day, all over the world, these people decide how best to sell us on just about anything they want to sell us on. Hustwit reports that many nondesigners who saw Helvetica have told him it changed the way they look at their environment. to bring two or three layers into the work. Inclusion of the font in home computer systems, such as the Apple Macintosh in 1984, only further cemented its ubiquity. So, in other words, this would be "the Swiss typeface". An interesting film if you are a total geek such as I am, but if you are looking for Rock XX this probably wont entertain you. You can watch it here, via Documentary Lovers. The marketing director at Stempel had the, This is very important: Helvetia is the Latin, You cannot call a typeface after the name. Notable features of Helvetica as originally designed include a high x-height, the termination of strokes on horizontal or vertical lines and an unusually tight spacing between letters, which combine to give it a dense, compact appearance. Certain bands l buy. Other people look at bottles of wine or whatever, or, you know, girls' bottoms. Helvetica is a neo-grotesque or realist design, one influenced by the famous 19th century typeface Akzidenz-Grotesk and other German and Swiss designs. But l don't think it's really, The same way that an actor that's miscast, in a role will affect someone's experience. Because all the letters . It was by far, the most NOT-boring documentary i've ever seen. The Econ Extra Credit team sat down with David Brancaccio to ask him what he thought of the eponymous documentary. Fortunately for us, Gary Hustwit did not stop creating films about design with Helvetica, he went on to create a Design Trilogy. Is Helvetica the greatest font every designed? My father said, that's impossible, you cannot call a typeface after a name of a country. obviously. We live in a media-saturated environment that exposes us to a daily stream of visual information, and the typography that shapes these visual messages can determine how we respond. The subject is at once esoteric and universal. It's like being asked what you think about off-white paint. Lars M?ller: And I think I'm right calling Helvetica the perfume of the city. than any other one, and that's Helvetica. You've got zany hand lettering everywhere, ''Almost everyone appreciates the best. Erik Spiekermann: I'm very much a word person, so that's why typography for me is the obvious extension. After Helvetica comes Objectified about Industrial Design and then Urbanized about architecture and urban design. Helvetica must mean something different to readers, writers, schoolchildren, shopkeepers, scrapbookers, secretaries, sign makers, and other users around the world. Many designers believe this typeface is used for its modernism, legibility and its clarity. . This is surely the best documentary I have seen. Related Videos 1:16 Typecast Typecast 1:38 The Frankenstein Theory The Frankenstein Theory 3:16 Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm Trailer I was just experimenting, really. If that is your idea of a good time, you'll love this. What are you. Helvetica has been touring around the globe, often to sold-out audiences. of seemed there was only one trick in town, but it seemed like Helvetica had just been, and associated with so many big, faceless, that it had lost all its capacity even, to my, that this way of designing is imposing on. This typeface can be seen all over the world. And, corporate identity in the sixties, that's what, piles of goofy old brochures from the fifties, and all it implies, and this is what we're, they'd have a crisp bright white piece of, Can you imagine how bracing and thrilling, with your mouth just caked with filthy dust. l've got to, You know, l wake up and usually l want to, l mean, everybody puts their history into. l've done other people's wedding invites. The average person would think it was very boring, but in fact, it was very fun and informative. Helvetica is coproduced by Veer, a major distributor and developer of typefaces and stock images. The fact that a movie about Helvetica could have such wide appeal speaks to this cultural shift. The letter A is another letter that you can use to help you spot Helvetica. use and the letter spacing and the colors. Rick Poynor: Type is saying things to us all the time. Helvetica, do you know? (Providing the films dominant voice of authority is Rick Poynor, a writer who speaks from a deep knowledge of designs evolution and internal discourse.). Helvetica was Hustwits directorial debut and the first of a Show more Offering a perspective from outside the profession, Savan talks about Helveticas social role in cleaning up corporate images. How could a film about a font be so good? It was subsequently broadcast on networks in 15 other countries. Interviewees in Helvetica include some of the most illustrious and innovative names in the design world, including Erik Spiekermann, Matthew Carter, Massimo Vignelli, Wim Crouwel, Hermann Zapf, Neville Brody, Stefan Sagmeister, Michael Bierut, David Carson, Paula Scher, Jonathan Hoefler, Tobias Frere-Jones, Experimental Jetset, Michael C. Place, Norm, Alfred Hoffmann, Mike Parker, Bruno Steinert, Otmar Hoefer, Leslie Savan, Rick Poynor, Lars Muller, and many more. '', This was everywhere in the Fifties, this is, You cut to - this is after Helvetica was in. Helvetica emerges in that period, in 1 957, where there's felt to be a need for rational. Helvetica is a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives. By what name was Helvetica (2007) officially released in Canada in English? My family and I saw this movie at the Gene Siskel Theatre in downtown Chicago yesterday evening. Its a movie about graphic designabout the evolution of the profession over a 50-year period, about sea changes in style and ideology, about the people who create and implement typefaces. But my father said, lf ever l have an idea of. I think that's where we, the consumers, are allowed to fill in the blank with our own wishes and dreams for whatever product or politician is being shown to us at that moment. And how to communicate the most important element of your pitch the big idea. At that time, I studies typefaces to make sure that my paper looked as good as it could. Developed by the Haas'sche Schriftgiesserei (Haas Type Foundry) of Mnchenstein, Switzerland, its release was planned to match a trend: a resurgence of interest in turn-of-the-century "grotesque" sans-serifs among European graphic designers, that also saw the release of Univers by Adrian Frutiger the same year. Directed by Gary Hustvit, the film is the first of a trilogy examining elements of contemporary design. or aesthetically or culturally or politically. l just more, sort of, react to certain things. lf you see that same message in Helvetica, You know it's going to be clean, that you're. This movie is brilliant. I can teach anyone from the street how to design a reasonable business card, newsletter, but if I bring the same group of the street in and play a CD and say, OK, let's interpret that music for a cover, well, 9 out of 10 people will be lost, and they're gonna do something really corny and expected, and one person's gonna do something amazing because that music spoke to them and it sent them in some direction where nobody else could go, and that's the area for me where it gets more interesting and exciting, and more emotional, and that's where the best work comes from. There was nothing cooler it seemed to me as a teenager than writing for a music mag, so I went out and published my own from scratch, 80 color pages. All that hunting to the next typeface every, and l can still remember as students that, l think all three of us grew up in the '70s, So for us it is almost like a natural mother, lt's not that we l mean, a lot of people. the more you appreciate it when it's terrific. He believes that it was an OK typeface when it first came out but with the proliferation of computers and the use of Helvetica as a default it became over saturated and if a designer doesnt know how to give it the right space, then it has terrible flaws. It looks at the l certainly can write a few, lt just had all the right connotations we, The 1950s is an interesting period in the, after the horror and the cataclysm of the. It took me six months to get an issue out while juggling school and other stuff. It should be this crystal goblet there to just hold and display and organize the information.
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