Comments on: Helvetica, a documentary film

Helvetica, a documentary film

londontube — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 08:16:41 -0800

Helvetica, a documentary film. "Helvetica is a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which is celebrating its 50th birthday this year) as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives."

By: graymouser

graymouser — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 08:20:26 -0800

The filmmakers will be following up with a fascinating piece about the evolution of bullet points.

By: mwhybark

mwhybark — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 08:20:40 -0800

from site's page-source: p.body { font-size: 10px; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans; letter-spacing: 0px; color: #333333; line-height: 13px; } Which I found amusing. Still, neat idea for a flick.

By: empath

empath — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 08:21:25 -0800

I think a good documentary about typography is long over due. I'm interesting to see how they approach it.

By: Armitage Shanks

Armitage Shanks — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 08:27:15 -0800

It's going to take a lot to improve on Behind the Typeface: Cooper Black.

By: phaedon

phaedon — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 08:27:37 -0800

that movie looks like a real snore.

By: sandking

sandking — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 08:29:10 -0800

Weren't the old Onion "advice" columns called "Ask a Fontographer"? Wherein the advice given would be hilariously irrelevant to the task at hand. Hilarious I tell you!

By: effwerd

effwerd — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 08:42:21 -0800

Dashed hopes for a good movie right from the title. Everyone knows Helvetica is an overrated hack that just gets parts like this because its so well-known. Luckily this time, I don't think they'll cast Comic Sans as the sidekick, so at least we're spared that embarrassment. I mean as far as front men go, why not some of the classic performers like Caslon, or Garamond? Or even one of the new up-and-comers like Slimbach or Caecilia? I'm just afraid this will be typical Hollywood fluff with a bunch of overblown car chase scenes.

By: Western Infidels

Western Infidels — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 08:46:01 -0800

font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans;

Well, sure. Most people probably don't even have Helvitica on their computers at all. And Verdana looks better on a low-res computer display anyway; that's what it was invented for.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 08:54:33 -0800

I don't speak Swiss.

By: sfts2

sfts2 — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 09:14:18 -0800

Will it be a family picture?

By: Smart Dalek

Smart Dalek — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 09:14:35 -0800

I'm still waiting for Comic Sans. *ducks*

By: tadellin

tadellin — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 09:39:05 -0800

Tahoma is a wonderful font.

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 09:41:24 -0800

Helvetica's the iPhone system font, and might be the system font in Leopard.

By: kimota

kimota — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 09:58:40 -0800

I've got Georgia on my mind.

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 09:59:42 -0800

Helvetica is also the #1 font of all time, according to a panel of designers and type experts. Babelfish translation of their About page:

How does one arrange a canon of the best Fonts? We put on and weighted objective and two subjective measuring poles as follows: Sales figures: 40% historical meaning: 30% aesthetic quality: 30%

[via via] Typographica's take on the film. A Brief History of Helvetica Is it Arial or Helvetica? quiz. How to spot Arial cheat-sheet, plus The Scourge of Arial. Helvetica Lovers Anonymous

By: sparkletone

sparkletone — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 10:56:25 -0800

I came across the website for this film some months ago back when they were still in the process of making it (as in filming it, post production hadn't started). I am enough of a typography dilettante that I am way more excited at the prospect of a good documentary like this one than I probably should be. It's directed by a guy who worked on the excellent Wilco documentary, I Am Trying To Break Your Heart. I've wanted to see his Moog documentary for a while now too.

By: tkchrist

tkchrist — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 11:13:13 -0800

It's going to take a lot to improve on Behind the Typeface: Cooper Black. This was so AWESOME. Who ever did that I will give them money. Real money. Not that funny money I have been passing around lately. When I worked at Cole & Webber in the Production Studio back in the day we had the typical handmade studio in-joke posters like: You can have any font you want. As long as it's Helvetica. Auto kerning is for pussies. If you have to ask. It's Helvetica. Use Hobo. Go to Jail. Greymantle. It's the new Cooper Black

By: hal9k

hal9k — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 11:50:58 -0800

People who torrent this movie would steal sheep.

By: hal9k

hal9k — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 11:55:25 -0800

The client blanched, wiped the blood spatter from his face and asked "That's quite a presentation. So what do you call yourselves?" The Ultra Bodonis!

By: tkchrist

tkchrist — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 12:14:11 -0800

The Ultra Bodonis! HAH!

By: Armitage Shanks

Armitage Shanks — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 12:49:26 -0800

Who ever did that I will give them money. Real money. Not that funny money I have been passing around lately. It was this guy. Btw, there's a better quality version here.

By: WerewolvesRancheros

WerewolvesRancheros — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 13:30:17 -0800

Does Comic Sans die in the end?

By: booksandlibretti

booksandlibretti — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 14:52:37 -0800

I would be thrilled to see this if its focus weren't Helvetica (aka "hay guys let's see how tight we can track it!1!!"). I'll still wind up seeing it, though.

By: DesbaratsDays

DesbaratsDays — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 15:32:25 -0800

As a veteran of Compugraphic, I have always loved typefaces. Thanks for this thread! (Souvenir Demi is my all time favorite. Too bad ITC, Adobe, etc are as bad as the RIAA as far as stifling use goes.)

By: DesbaratsDays

DesbaratsDays — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 05:35:51 -0800

In other not-so-news: US Bans Courier New