HELVETICA

Thanks to good old Netflix, I watched a great little documentary last night. Helvetica is about – you guessed it – the ubiquitous typeface. How could a documentary about a font not be great?

Call it “corporate”, or “boring” if you must, but Helvetica is everywhere. (It’s also described in the film with any of the following adjectives: democratic, socialist, inscrutable, brilliant, legible, limited, unlimited. Oh yeah, and let’s not forget that according to one interviewee in the film, Helvetica is responsible for both the Vietnam and Iraq wars!)

The documentary is packed with literally hundreds of cut shots of Helvetica in action. I bet you didn’t realize how many logos and storefronts use the font. But probably more interesting is the film’s investigation of its status as the apex of “modern” fonts. If you don’t quite understand the difference between modern and post-modern, this film will make you think you understand. (Perhaps this might be helpful if you’re not sure why Grace Church has two “expressions”.)

But then you will inevitably ask the question, “What is post-modern?” Is the proliferation of more expressive, more curvy, more avant garde typefaces the post-modern reaction to Helvetica? But what about all the designers who now flock back to Helvetica in reaction to these expressive post-modern fonts? Does that make them post-post-modern? Or is there room within post-modernism to react against oneself? Can Helvetica be both modern and post-modern?

If you are a designer - or even just a student of culture - I would recommend a viewing of Helvetica.