As an online content creator of stop-motion animation and live action films, I like to consider myself something of an artist - embracing visual mediums to engage in communicating creative expression. In the movie world, there is a divide between traditional/classic filmmaking and more mainstream/blockbuster franchise filmmaking, and what dictates creativity in the medium is equally divisive. Watching Helvetica has made me realize that not only is typography itself an art form, but it too has a similar debate between artists within it.
The documentary features a number of professional artists who have been involved in the typography industry for many years, contributing different work to it over that time. Similar to how college students have majors that indicate their intended career path in life, this is theirs - they live and breathe this profession in the same way we live in breathe our own. Their passion for their craft really makes us care about their opinions on the happenings in their field, since their work is ever present in everyone’s day to day surroundings - mostly in how various fonts are used to build the infrastructure of our cities, and how they are implemented to advertise different products or services to us. When all of these artists have a different stance on the Helvetica font in particular, we are curious as to why it matters so much - especially since it is described in the documentary itself by several testimonials as being “neutral” in terms of design.
Similar to the debate on what defines “cinema” in the film world, there is a debate as to what Helvetica as a font stands for - but the typography fight would have a greater presence in the everyday life of people than film would, since people are constantly exposed to fonts without even realizing it. Some of the typographers of the world think Helvetica font represents the modern era’s conforming to standardized, machinery-based typeface, while others claim that it embodies elements of artistic freedom despite its surface level simplicity. Some even argue that it is more a matter of practical concern, that Helvetica is a font which embraces legibility in a way that more abstract fonts often fail to do - even though it typically lacks serifs that were typically utilized for easier reading.
In any case, the documentary is able to provide us these largely differing formats in a clear manner by splitting the documentary narrative roughly in half - the first putting a positive spotlight on Helvetica by featuring its advocates, and the second shedding light on the negative implications and associations the font has while featuring its biggest critics. The documentary not only implies how big of a deal this otherwise trivial conflict is to these people, but it provides us, outside observers, more than enough context to come to our own conclusions.
I personally really enjoyed seeing all of the establishing shots in cities across the globe - specifically on the subway signs in NYC and the street signs in Switzerland (the home of the Helvetica font) - emphasizing just how ingrained the Helvetica font truly is in our cultures and that this debate actually does have implications outside the typography realm. My favorite shots/sequence of shots was the title sequence showing the handiwork involved in printing words using ink and metal cast letters to form a title card. Like Helvetica as a font, the final result is simple, but there are so many more complex layers to it than what is on the surface.
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