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I had the chance to visit with my friend Melissa in Richmond on our week off before classes began. While walking down Carry Street, a prominent street with several successful businesses, I couldn’t help but identifying all of these different fonts that I knew of. Melissa, who happens to be a perpetual teaser, told me that I was such a “nerd” for knowing all of these different types of type. Of course, I kind of questioned my affinity for the fonts after she taunted me.

After watching the documentary ‘Helvetica,’ I learned that my font fondness doesn’t stand a chance amongst the typographers interviewed. Their insight opened my eyes to a whole new world that I had not realized existed. Of course, I know that type is important to any design, but I wasn’t aware of how much of an art it really is.

I had also not realized how much Helvetica has infused the globe. It’s in retail stores, subways, airports, buses, and street signs. To watch the typographers and graphic designers interviewed was entertaining because some of them were obsessed with its simplicity and perfection while others loathed it for those same reasons.

While in undergrad, I was a designer for the AdTeam, a student-run design team that created advertisements for different organizations and offices on campus. For two years, I maybe used Helvetica once, but after watching this, I have this strong yearning to use Helvetica. I don’t know, but it felt like the documentary was selling me this font that I thought was arbitrary and now I think it is extraordinary. It’s the “nerd” in me I guess (according to Melissa).

Look out world, Kelsey has discovered the power of Helvetica and modernism!

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