Monday 18th April 2016
In this Monday lecture we were shown the film "Helvetica" as mentioned in the title. This film was a documentary about the font and how it came around, it also informed us on how important and well known/used it is in today's designs. Starting the lecture, they mentioned that the next film in the series was also worth watching, as it was just as informative.
Now starting the documentary, a point that I had picked up from the film was that typefaces express a mood and atmosphere. And Helvetica gives the atmosphere of a very informative scene, this is because of how it is used on many different media's - such as advertising serious issues or on road signs. One of the designers in the film also said that, like music, it is not the notes that express the sound properly, its the spacing between each of them.
Throughout the whole film several designers and typographers comment on how the font is so clear, meaning that things written in Helvetica mean much more than others do. For example, a writer that I have used before, during my essay, Rick Poynor mentioned in the film that "Design is part of what we need to rebuild". In all, the film was informative on how special Helvetica is, and that it came when there was a great need for rational typefaces. That rational typeface is still greatly used to this day.
