DISQUS

DISQUS Hello! John's Blog is using DISQUS, a powerful comment system, to manage its comments. Learn more.

Community Page

John's Blog

Jump to original thread »
Author

helvetica

Started by johnlilly · 10 months ago

I’ve long been meaning to watch Helvetica, a documentary about fonts, design, and modernism more generally, but also about the specifics of a typeface that many consider a culmination of that line of design thinking, since it so perfectly represents the modernist ideal.
So ... Continue reading »

2 comments

  • Mike Hanson

    1 year ago

    I knew you'd like it, John! For a though-provoking counterpoint, check out Sebastiaan de With's piece on "Swiss Interface Syndrome" at http://blog.cocoia.com/2008/04/12/swiss-interfa...
    reply
  • Knee Pain

    6 months ago

    Tracing the roots of the Helvetica (née Neue Haas Grotesk) font back to a small foundry in Münchenstein, Switzerland in the 1950s, the film charts its rise as a staple of corporate logos, warning signs and any form of communication that requires a direct, pithy and functional mode of expression.

    It's almost absurd that something so quotidian could provoke such controversy but, as we soon discover, the graphic design world is very much split over its cultural connotations and artistic worth, allying it as easily with fascism as socialism, progress as decline, superficiality as substance.
    reply

Add New Comment

Returning? Login