Reaction
My reaction to the Helvetica film was, to be honest, kind of lackluster. I don’t find the content of the film boring but the actual film itself lacked the appeal to keep my focus throughout the whole thing. I do find it interesting how typefaces can be such a prominent part of our everyday lives, it’s not something I thought about much before this. Although, even with this interest it did seem to drag on, regurgitating the same info I felt like I had already heard earlier in the film.
Quotes
My first quote was by Wim Crouwel, he says,
“You’re always a child of your time, and you cannot step out of that.”
In this quote Crouwel describes how when you were born will always play a role in what you create and what your preferences are. I completely agree with what he is saying and find it quite interesting to just look at different examples of people in your life, or in the public eye, and see the differences between them just based off of when they grew up.
My second quote is by Michael C. Place, he explains,
“For me Helvetica is just this beautiful, timeless thing. And certain things shouldn’t be messed with, you know?”
While I do partially agree with Place in the quote when he discusses how certain things just shouldn’t be changed, I also believe that just because something seems perfect to one person doesn’t mean it is like that for everyone. Any person should be able to attempt to improve something that they believe could be better. So yes, some things shouldn’t change based on your perspective, but that doesn’t mean someone else can’t try to make it better for themselves.
My last quote is by Rick Poynor, he describes,
“Typefaces express a mood, an atmosphere. They give words a certain coloring.”
I think in this quote Poynor describes something that we all have felt at some point. Typefaces do make a difference in what you are writing, or the message you are trying to get across. As silly as it might seem, because the words don’t actually change themselves, changing the way your words look on a page can really impact the way it might be perceived. Thinking about this more when writing or creating a piece of art is really important and definitely something I will be doing more!
Galleries
Wim Crouwel
Michael C. Place
Rick Poynor
