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Helvetica

My Opinion on the Film

Prior to watching this film I’d known of Helvetica and had used it in projects before in high school, but I never considered it to be as big as it truly is. Watching this movie really made me realize just how much the typeface is used and I stated to see it in different things throughout my day. It definitely made me think more about the typefaces all around me and the different styles that exist, and how few are actually used in the real world. Every time they showed different company logos and signs in Helvetica it really stuck with me, because I never realized they were the same font. Although the film felt slightly repetitive to me, it still made an impact on the way I think of typefaces and will effect how I place type now.

Quotes

“Type is saying things to us all the time. Typefaces express a mood, an atmosphere. They give words a certain color.” – Rick Poynor

This quote really resonated with me because I agree that the way something is written or the style that’s used to write it can really give off different personalities to the words. If a serious text is written in a basic and common font, it’ll give off the vibe of being a serious and important piece of text, whereas if it were written in a cursive or silly type of font, I may not look at it in the same way. I agree with Rick Poynor that font is so important to how the message is presented.

“And I think I’m right calling Helvetica the perfume of the city. It’s just something we don’t usually notice but we would miss very much if it wouldn’t be there.” – Lars Muller

When thinking about Helvetica and seeing it so prominently in the movie, it really is something that doesn’t go noticed. I know for myself I never looked at the font that different stores used and realized they were all the same, but I think that Lars Muller is right in saying that if it were gone, it would be noticed. It’s something that seems so insignificant but actually makes an impact on our lives.

“For me, Helvetica is just this beautiful, timeless thing. And certain things shouldn’t be messed with, you know?” -Michael C. Place

Although Helvetica is everywhere, it’s not something that’s obnoxious to see all the time or something that really stands out as overused in my opinion. I agree with what Michael C. Place that it just shouldn’t be changed, it works as a font for all these different things.