Helvetica (originally Die Neue Haas Grotesk) was designed in the Haas Type Foundry in Switzerland in 1957. It is a font. The movie is an hour and twenty minutes about a font. This might sound completely boring to a lot of people. But I found it to be absolutely fascinating. Probably because I am a designer. But also because of the role that it plays in the world.
Helvetica is a beautifully designed font. It is also widely used throughout the world. These make a very nice combination. Maybe this is the part that is of interest to me.
Street signs. Public transportation. Corporate identity. Every where you look, you see the use of Helvetica. Why? Because it is both readable and accessible. Urban and corporate. Timeless.
Could you imagine if Comic Sans was the font of choice? That would not be a world I would want to live in. Luckily we have Helvetica!
(Image by splorp via Flickr, used under a Creative Commons license.)
