When in doubt, Helvetica it out?

Typography has always been an interesting subject for me.  I definitely agree that a font can portray an overall feeling, theme, or emotion for whatever it accompanies.  And for me, choosing one has always been extremely hard.  Having said that, I did not realize how often Helvetica is used in everyday life.

It is interesting how Helvetica has gained and lost its popularity several times since its existence.  I feel like a big movement occurred about three years ago because I saw it everywhere on personal websites and blogs; it was the IT font.  I feel like stores like Urban Outfitters and American Apparel really pushed that font too – even to the extent of making it ironic.

Anyway, I’ve been wondering about our purpose in watching the film.  Since we just had a week-long crash course on art history, I think I’m going to have to say that learning about Helvetica is like learning about Jackson Pollock of the Abstract Expressionist movement; Helvetica is our leading messenger in modern media.  As we have seen in the movie, the font was extensively analyzed and picked apart.  Even the negative spaces between Helvetica’s letters were designed to have a static, powerful hold for the letters themselves.  All of the interviewees seemed to agree that the font just looked nice.  In a way, Helvetica is a hypothesis that has turned into a scientific theory.  It is generally accepted as true and correct.

However, we did see a few designers that wanted to venture away from Helvetica.  And that’s to be expected.  I believe we will see even more fonts in the future because of our growing technology.  More people will have access to tools that can create new fonts.  I still think Helvetica will be here to stay though.  The guy with the bald cat said it well: Helvetica was only created 50-60 years ago.  It is still very much new and developing.