Talkback
How does a typeface create a mood, feeling or image? Can you describe an occasion when you had a particular reaction to something in print, not because of the content, but because of the typeface?
Think of the font you most commonly use when working on your computer. Which is it and why do you use that one?
Share your responses and your reactions to HELVETICA.
Tell us what you think>>
Submissions will be posted here regularly, so visit again to read more.
Amazing. Perfect. Powerful. Carless.
If "Human Race" have to be described, shall be like Helvetica Font... and must be writed with Helvetica too (85).
The biggest creation after the wheel. Simply. The world can't be the same without them.
God save Helvetica.
I really enjoyed this show and wish I'd recorded it so I could watch it again.
I never thought about fonts in quite the same way since seeing Helvetica. I'm in the K-12 education business and in thinking of what font to use for our company's literature and website, today for the first time, I realize there is actually a sort of mis-education we provide to the entire global English writing population. We teach our children and new English writers to write their letters in certain ways, in cursive and in print.
Even with the fonts of Helvetica and Arial, which are supposed to be the easiest to fonts to read, in the lower case "a" we actually confuse readers and writers of English. We don't teach them to write the "a" like that at all. Just write the word "apple" or "meat" yourself in print, and you will see what I mean. Should we start to teach people to print their letters in Arial or Helvetica? Or should these fonts and so many other fonts in the world change to meet the way we actually write in print?
I usually prefer Arial or some other sans serif font. I find that it is easier to read. I have my TexPad screen font set as Comic Sans.
Your test for font personality was interesting but irrelevant for me: What did you do on your summer vacation? Tent camping at a national forest. On a typical Saturday evening, you can usually be found... In front of the tv. What kind of music do you listen to? Oldies, Blues, or Classic Rock. What is your favorite magazine? Vogue. Told to wait 90 minutes. What do you do? Go run an errand or take a walk. You find a kitten on your doorstep. What do you do? Call an animal shelter.
This film was so interesting. I learned lettering in thet late 50's in Holland, but was never taught the depth of it. I am E-mailing this site to my daughter who has a sign business and did not have a chance to watch.
To The Helvetica Film Team:
I recently had the pleasure of watching your movie, Helvetica, and I thought that it was very good overall. However, never once was Geigy Pharmaceutical and its top graphic design team (many now in Helvetica Heaven like Fred Troller, Theo Welti, Marcus Lowe and many others.) mentioned in the role that Helvetica played in the worldwide corporate identity (Branding) that Geigy created using Helvetica. (In the beginning Geigy originally had an exclusive contractual agreement for the use of Helvetica to my knowledge)
Geigy literally wrote the book on Corporate/Brand Identity through their in-house design group both in Basel and in the U.S. which many others followed throughout the world and in many cases still follow. We all have creative license to create history as we choose and that is very acceptable here in the colonies, but to have the Swiss designers who w ere interviewed in your film leave Geigy out is astonishing. All the designers interviewed missed a valuable part of Graphic Design History by leaving out the incredible Graphic Design movement at Geigy, Basel. There has been nothing like it since. Maybe you were aware of this or maybe it was edited out.... but unfortunately many young and growing designers have lost a valuable piece of inspiring graphic design/type history needed in today's industry.
Geigy In-House Design ( design/copy standards continued through the merger of Ciba & Geigy ) played a very important role in the use of Helvetica globally in setting Swiss Design standards including the grid, flush left, copy setting and copy writing standards. Most of all, when design©= concept, the audience would actually be GRABBED by the combination ofgraphic+headline and would actually READ stunning copy in an era of perfection and creativity when design© ruled. In my opinion, you had the opportunity to preserve a fabulous movement in glob al graphic design© concept guided by Helvetica. Clean & Simple... when marketing wasn't a department and design& copy had a godfather... or today when creativity and democracy = mediocrity. It doesn't have to be good anymore... just good enough.
Thanks, Bob Talarczyk,
Creative Director/CEO Darkhorse Design, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
I got so excited watching this film- like that first crocus in spring excitement-Thank You for this! I can't wait for it to come back on.
LOVED this documentary. Kudos to Gary Hustwit for recognizing that the topic of FONTS, in general, and Helvetica, specifically, were WORTHY of an entire film! Aside from the very informative historical data, the film INSTANTLY makes us notice how observant we have, or have not, been in our daily lives. I know that I shall never again look at signage with the same eyes. Thank you for contributing to increasing our awareness, PBS.
This film has made everything so complete for what I have been taught and used during the past 15 years. A film that shows very intrigue part of not just Helvetica but typography could be so significant in our daily life. Great job!
wow. i *so* agree with how typeface can create an emotion...a statement...an impact. that documentary took me back to my graphic design roots in the early '80s. my graphics design professor was a big fan of helvetica...she made us work with it over and over...
when i was translating/retouching manga for Ironcat Studios, i found that typeface was really the only way to "express myself" since i was simply replacing japanese dialogue with english in the word balloons. now, i do my own comic and, even though i "express myself" with my own art, i still find manipulating fonts can add much more meaning to what is happening in each panel.
thank-you so much for presenting that documentry!
for examples of my usage of fonts, please check out my comic, The Legend Of Béo-Woolfe at www.studiorobb.com (^.~)
I liked this documentary. Helvetica, and type in general, is worthy of one. I am interested in knowing: Why Arial is considered by many people to be clearly inferior to Helvetica?
Wow !!! I am lost for words and typing in Courier. Rats !! I was in awe with your program - yes - I am obsessed with FONTS too !! I was feeling high just watching the program. I am filling in for a lady that works here in this Typewriter Shop in Victoria, B.C. The IBM Selectrics and all the different elements, the printwheels, all the different machines including Manual Typewriters - what a rush !! I could not believe that after all these years that I was watching this on TV in 2009. It makes me wonder about new fonts - how to get new ones made - people's handwriting and printing that we see on greeting cards (personal handwriting) ... can this be done ?? How ??
Where do we start ?? There are more fonts and personalities to express - so many fonts, and so little time. I learned to Keypunch on an IBM Selectric Typewriter with an "Optifont" ball at Eaton's in Toronto in the early '70's typing the catalogue orders. I would love to find another one of these elements. I was addicted by the touch of the IBM Selectrics and the feeling has never gone away. Keyboards are addicting - their different touches and personalities. I still can't get over the fact that it has taken so long to finally see something like this on TV. I do have one problem ... I am not into Computers though. We have started "N.E.W.A.C." here ... ("Not Everyone Wants A Computer"). The lady I am filling in for so eloquently said that one day. People come in the shop and they just want to type a letter. They are fed up with this computer thing and just want to turn it on and type a letter. I love the Word Processors - huge privacy issue for people's personal information. When it is deleted on a Word Processor there is no way to get the information back. This has made a wonderful world of a Typing Service for people with them knowing the "threat" of their information is totally private. We do need a "Helvetica" element for the IBM Selectrics !! I am really hooked on that font now. Can't get enough of it. Thank You for putting on such an awesome program. Can't wait to see it again. "Hooked".
Gotta stop before I write a book about how awesome this is, and the personalities and emotions behind the fonts. I felt so alone with my obsession ... but now I want more !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I LOVED IT...very graphics nerdy. you feel comfortable with your insanity about typeface when there is a documentary like this on tv. i really respect him and his making the classicism of helvetica intriging.
While I haven't yet seen the film (It appears on Conn. Public Television at 3 am on Jan. 22!) I read the credits and did not find the name Muriel Cooper,Director of design at the MIT Press in the mid to late 1960's. As I recall, she mandated that ALL books published in that period would be set in Helvetica. Notebly among the books she designed was the American edition of book "Bauhaus" which came out in 1969. Muriel was surely a pioneer in the introduction of Helvetica to America.
I was fascinated by the film. I am a calligrapher who is just starting out and has been reading a lot about the history of the alphabet. It's so funny that I happen to come upon the film a couple of days ago, because a couple of weeks ago I was asking myself, "what is that font I see everywhere?" It is not on my computer and I find myself really paying attention to that stuff lately. I love PBS. The programming people have ESP. :)
That movie really struck a chord. It is nice to see that so many others ponder the same things I do when designing. What a wonderfully unique art form, TYPOGRAPHY!!
I really enjoyed the show and learning more about modern typeface. I have been doing calligraphy for many years and have always enjoyed the written word. I would love to learn more about where type artists get their inspiration and if they have any background in more ancient scrips such as calligraphy.
Concerning the program about the type font Helvetica-
can you say, "Over analyze"?
.......Like, to the point of some psychopathic obsession.
I happened upon the show last night, and was pleasantly surprised to see some of my professions icons on TV! (Massimo looks the same as he did back in 1985 at the first AIGA National Conference!) The computer has certainly changed the way typography is done, but moreover the way a designer approaches type. Back when you had to actually "set" type, and then "spec" type, you had to go with what you intuitively knew would work. It was a major capital investment. Now, with a couple of clicks, you can see a myriad of options. Whether this is a good thing or not, provides the content for the follow-up documentary... As far as fonts go, I gravitate to Gill Sans (more human than Helvetica) and Robert Granjon/Mathew Carter's Galliard.
The program's content, pacing, and people were all excellent. I suspect that many people who graduated from college within the past 20 years don't have a good sense of the history of typographical style, and of how typography shapes the impact and memorability of a printed message.
This program really brought home the fact that those addicted to text messaging and its highly limited typography, are missing out on a lot. If these people are in marketing, advertising, sales promotion, industrial design, or Web design, they must have a highly sophisticated, broad, and refined sense of what well-chosen, topic-focused type can add to how a message or Web site can best communicate.
Me? I have a lot of years in the business, with a Wharton MBA degree. Neither Wharton, nor Bucknell, my undergraduate alma mater, pay any attention to typography and its history in their course offerings. What a shame!
PBS does it again with one of the most intriguing in-depth looks at typography, the designers and typographers behind the typeface, why type is used and how it creates mood and feeling - this was an absolutely fantastic film. I have always been interested in typefaces since my early days attending a Los Angeles High School where “print shop” was required curriculum, and to be able to "meet" the original designers, understand the history of the typeface, and hear others reactions and feelings about typefaces in general was fantastic. I applaud PBS for showing such a wonderful piece to its audience, and I encourage anyone interested in how typefaces are used and how it affects you to watch this wonderful film. Kudos all around.
If I could post this note in a typeface of my choice, it would be Helvetica Large Bold for the “Hooray To The Film Makers” Title!
i loved the program! i had no idea about helvetica at all until this show. i do have a question about the program. Could you tell me who did the music or what band it was that was playing throughout the show. thanks
brian
Editors note:
List of the bands that contributed music:
The Album, Leaf Battles, Caribou, Chicago Underground Quartet, El Ten Eleven, Four Tet, Kim Hiorthøy, Motohiro Nakashima, Sam Prekop
I am a graphic design student in my last semester before graduating with an Associates of Applied Science degree from IADT-San Antonio, and when I was in on-campus classes, one of my teachers showed the class this film. It has had a tremendous influence on me as a graphic designer.
Thanks in part to this film, I have opened my eyes, so to speak, to the different aspects of type design as it spins through our daily lives. One interesting example in my city is the design of the street signs in the Medical Center area; instead of using Helvetica, the type designer deliberately used Futura. Prior to attending design school, I would never have registered this in any way other than to think, "hmm, that looks different somehow," but not know why. Now I do. Thanks for a great film!
This quiz is immature and made me completely lose interest in even watching this show. Bad judgement. Weak execution. You should know better. I love Independent Lens. This "cute" little quiz really diminishes your important work.
I can't wait to see this. Fonts are so exciting to me. I have them all memorized, and not just the ones that are standard. I download new ones constantly to use in my designs. I feel so nerdy because riding around town or just doing everyday thiings, I say out loud the name of the font I see wherever it may be. Its almost a disorder. I can be riding quietly in the car, see a font on a billboard and just out of nowhere say, "Scriptina, bold." Whoever is with me will say, "What are you talking about?" My husband is used to this. Right now, my favorite fonts are the A&S series.
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