Helvetica
Interesting documentary. I really had no idea. About any of it. The evolution of type, the controversy surrounding some, the range of emotions a font could express, and the strong feelings type can evoke in others.
For some dumb reason, I really hadn’t thought of the artistry that went into typography, although now it seems obvious. I also wasn’t aware of Helvetica being the rock star of the font world. Typography is probably the only arena where a non-assuming, neutral, non-threatening form could rise to fame. I kind of like that.
The most interesting parts of the documentary for me, though, were the discussions about how different fonts convey different emotions. Again, this seems obvious, but I hadn’t really considered it.
I wonder why we have a warm response to some fonts and are repelled by others? I love how one of the designers answered that question by saying “That’s the type casting it’s magic spell”.
I guess it’s true–fonts have personalities. We react to their chemistry in a similar way that we do people. So I played around a little with different fonts put to different images to see how it changed the emotional context and it was interesting how each font gave the image a different mood.
