Helvetica

I found this movie (and the discussion) very interesting. The views from the different majors in the class seemed to represent their area of study. The history students liked the traditional fonts while the design students liked the more modern fonts. Personally, I love modern, I love clean and simple lines, I love sans-serif. I don’t love, but I like Helvetica. I enjoyed watching the video and seeing the way people reacted to this font becoming so popular. The movie itself was an intense form of media. The people interviewed were so adamant about the font and what it stood for. Their views were powerful and strong. Those who appreciated the font stood for clarity and a sense of newness, while those who did not appreciate the font enjoyed tradition. However, I agree with Micah, when he mentioned a neutral voice would have been helpful. The only voices on the movie were from the extremes, and not everyone has an extreme view on Helvetica. The neutral voice might have made it more relatable to the audience as a whole.

The images in the movie, flashing of the screen showing the repetitive use of Helvetica, throughout the world, made me believe (even more so then I did before) that Helvetica is a powerful font and the font itself portrays clarity and simplicity. However, what I found ironic was the development of Helvetica was to create a typeface that was neutral, had no intrinsic meaning, and was clear to read. Granted, it is clear to read, it is simple, but when it was produced it did have a huge meaning behind it. Some people associated it with war and conformity, probably not exactly the feelings they expected. Obviously, some people did not see how this font was trying to make a simple, neutral statement.