"We are all prompted in subliminal ways"

I am going to just start off by saying I honestly had NO idea that there were people in the world who's job it was to design fonts. I mean it makes sense now of course but I guess I never really thought about it. Very, very interesting.

I don't even know where to begin about Helvetica. I actually enjoyed the documentary more than I thought I would. My question after watching it is does this typeface represent capitalism or socialism...because we all know it has to be one or the other!! (sarcasm) The title of my blog is a quote from the movie that I deemed important to write down...it was stated in reference to the secretive spell casted over the public by typeface. We have talked all semester about forms of media, and if I recall correctly, the first class we even discussed the text on the covers of our books...and what they might mean or why they were chosen. There was a divide in the movie about the expressiveness of the Helvetica font. One contributor stated that it was neutral and "shouldn't have a meaning in itself". Another said that just because helvetica is "legible doesn't mean it communicates". I guess after this class I believe everything communicates something...even if it's supposed to be neutral. I can wear a white polo shirt with khaki pants and sperry's and I KNOW that communicates something to someone who may see me.

The encoding/decoding article and the medium is the message all discuss these ideas and queries. We all chose our fonts for presentations on our preferences...doesn't that say something about us? I sure think it does. It was stated multiple times in the film that designers have responsibilities...I don't think they ever explicitly stated what those were...I would think designers have the responsibilty to do work as they deem appropriate. Isn't that the great thing about art? That artists have the free will to express themselves or specific subjects any way they feel? Isn't that the point of art?

Using this to segway into Leonardo Drew's exhibit that we visited. To many people...that may not seem like art or they may not get it. But it definitely speaks about our world...in many ways. his art is very structured, yet chaotic...isn't that how our world is? Can helvetica be both capitalist and socialist? or maybe even neither...

I don't know if I just got way too deep, but these are just some things I thought about after class...