I found myself a little annoyed with myself while watching “Helvetica”. While its history is fascinating and full of anecdotes told my many, I couldn’t get over for a large portion of the film that I was possibly seeing Helvetica in action all around me but I was not recognizing it. The filmmaker does an amazing job of intertwining the telling of Helvetica’s story with countless images of Helvetica in action…on buildings, on signs, in logos, tax forms, etc. I felt like everyone was in on the joke but me.
After getting over that, I was able to really get into the story of Helvetica. It has such a rich history that is perfect for a film. What I found to be very interested is that many of those who deal primarily in typeface stressed only using a few fonts regularly. One man said that he only thinks there are a dozen “good” typefaces that exist, Helvetica being one of them. It’s become timeless.
Before having even enrolled in this program, when designing my resumé, I decided to utilize Helvetica and my reason was because of its innate modern flare. It felt striking enough but not too overwhelming, with a smoothness that feels natural and not contrived.
What I think is absolutely amazing is that in most cases when something is so highly used, it would become out of fashion or out of style, a victim of overexposure but Helvetica is like the familiar stranger. We recognize it when we study it but when we walk by it or skim over a page, we confide in its comfort without realize it’s Helvetica. I don’t think we will ever see a time where Helvetica isn’t used and dominant. There may come a time when it’s popularity wavers but it’s proven itself to be so steadfast and constant that it will always find itself on my page or my screen, hiding in a logo or sprawled across a billboard.
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