Response to the film:
I think that the biggest impact that the film “Helvetica” had on me was just how prominent the font is. Seeing the backstory/creation of the font was cool but seeing how the font was everywhere is really what got my attention. Before I saw this film I didn’t really think much of seeing different fonts or graphic designs in the real world. After the film I am noticing the use of graphics/different fonts a lot more. Its crazy to think that such a simple font is used all around us but we don’t know till we look for it.
Michael Bierut:
“It was a refreshing glass of water.” Michael Bierut said this during his interview in “Helvetica”. He was talking about how old fonts could be hard to read and that the main point of Helvetica was to be a simple and easy to read font. Compared to other fonts he is saying that its nice to have something so simple. I liked this quote because I agree that fonts should not be hard to read. I like how he uses the idiom to compare the font to something refreshing.
Neville Brody:
“Its gonna be clear you fit and you’re not gonna stand out” While talking about Helvetica, Brody describes the font as like a pair of jeans. He is saying pretty much that the font is a same boring font you always see. There is nothing that stands out about this font and if you use it you’ll be like all the other boring fonts. I liked this quote because I can see where Brody is coming from. I agree that the font is boring. Its message is to display a name not to grab your attention. So while for reading things I agree that a simple font is good, for something that needs to grab your attention Helvetica isn’t the font.
David Carson:
“There is nothing caffeinated about it, what’s caffeinated?” David Carson was talking about a wall with a bunch of pieces of paper with words on it. All the words were typed in Helvetica. David singled out the word “Caffeinated” written on the wall. He asked the interviewer what was caffeinated about it. He said this because he believed the font was boring and that if you want to express emotion with typed words you need a good font to back that up. Similarly with Neville Brody I agree with this statement because I think good fonts have big impacts on the telling of a message.
