Helvetica

I definitely enjoyed the movie about Helvetica. From watching it I learned that it is a Neo-grotesque sans serif, and modernist style. It derived from the Swiss style of the 1960’s and its original name was Akzidenz-grotesk. It was designed by Max Miedinger. The word “Helvetica” comes from the Latin word for Swiss.
It surprised me how often Helvetica is used in everyday life and how type has become such a big part of life that we hardly notice it anymore. It also surprised me that it’s still being used as often as ever, even though its 60 years old. It seems to be timeless.
It made me laugh the way each of the designers analyzed Helvetica. Some of them slatted it, saying it has only a few uses. Some of them found it funny how often it’s used and how it can seem to be adapted to fit many different styles/circumstances/situations.
I discovered a few designers during watching this movie, some of which I already knew and some of which I didn’t but would like to know more about.
-Mathew Carter
- Eduard Hoffman
- Herman Zapf
- David Carson
- Neville Brody
- Michael C. Place
and Push-Pin studios.
The designers speaking in the film, some of them went into great detail about the technical analysis of the font but most of them spoke about its emotional meanings/connotations. For example, how Helvetica, like most fonts has a rhythm to it, much like handwriting. How it’s a neutral font and can be used for many different things to communicate different meanings/emotions. How it’s almost a default typeface (Arial default on pc’s – Helvetica copy) How it’s the most commonly used typeface (ultimate typeface) and how people keep looking for ways to improve it or make it better, but there are none. It was also mentioned that it’s used a lot on street signs and how it’s not as legible as other fonts (maybe serif fonts?) but it’s used anyway because its recognisable and looks nice.
It was also described as a font that commands the reader – anything that is typed in Helvetica feels like an order. Helvetica was also mentioned as having personality, like most fonts, it portrays feelings and is beautiful by itself (type as design).
Clearly a great deal of thought had been put into the design of how the font would look on paper, how the counters (negative spaces) would look. The horizontal terminals. The contrast of thick and thin within different letters.
This movie has helped me to identify different aspects of type design to analyse if I were to speak about type in the future I would start by typographically analysing it and then look at its uses and meanings. I do agree that Helvetica in all weights is a beautiful font. I also agree that its timeless, has many different uses, its neutral and the font itself is a design. However, since listening to all the thoughts and views on it in the movie is has made me think that designers maybe just get lazy and know that Helvetica will most likely look good on their design/look modern/timeless, therefore spend less time looking into different fonts to use because  Helvetica is the most commonly used.
Since studying Graphic Design and type, I only recently because aware of  how often Helvetica is used in everday life, although before that I was aware of its existence I didn’t notice it as much as I do now.
I think now that I’ve learned so much about Helvetica, I’ll think twice before using the “default” font just because it in itself is a design, and maybe broaden by font choices, but still use similar style sans serif fonts.

That font sure is saucy

Getting Around

Font choice: All the fonts used in this parking meter sign are bold sans-serifs.
Font guess – Zurich bold? Possibly two slightly different fonts used between all the text on the right hand side and all the text on the left hand side?
The fonts have obviously been chosen so as to stand out to the reader and the important information is  clearly visible , although the majority of text (mainly the headers for each point down the right) are all in caps presumably to indicate hierarchy, but this is slightly confusing as to what has been made to be viewed first because so much of the text is in caps.

Information Hierarchy: Number 2 and 4 on the right haven’t been very well thought out, the designer could easily have made the font size the same for each and fitted the whole sentence on one line. Instead number 4 is a smaller font size than number 2 and spread over 2 lines this looks odd.
The “how-to” steps down the right are most noticeable to me, not only because the background is a bright colour, but because the type is aligned left (easiest to read/most common) and because the headings are bolder or have more weight than the text not in caps.

Usability: Considering this parking meter will mainly be used by people in a hurry and in the busy town centre (so that it doesn’t cost them too much for parking) its not very well laid out in terms of hierarchy at a glance. I would have said the most important information (therefore what to make stand out most) would have been either the times at which you can’t park or the prices for parking.
I also think for people viewing this quickly, the wording of “controlled hours” should maybe be changed to something else so that its more obvious that this is when you SHOULD pay.

If I were to re-design this parking meter to better suit to customers needs, It’d look something like this below. So that the controlled hours/price were more noticeable at a glance, and the step by step instructions were less noticeable (because its pretty self explanatory how to buy a ticket?)

gridsss



1 size of type & flush left alignment only



1 size of type, flush left and variable weights



vary the size of type but keep it flush left and one weight



anything goes

ampers&

Classification and style:

This is a Transitional style serif letterform because its more abstract and less organic than Humanist typefaces which are more closely connected to calligraphy and the movement of the hand. Transitional typefaces correspond roughly to the Baroque period in history as reflected in their swirly embellishments. It looks like the Greek letter ‘Episilon.’

I like this ampersand because it looks like an image of a cloud in which the grey or silver line on the left might give the impression of the speed or movement of the cloud drifting by or might hint at the saying “every cloud has a silver lining”

Anatomy:

- bottom of ampersand exceeds baseline slightly.

- the finial (far right) comes higher than x-height but not as high as cap height.

- the terminal (top) exceeds the cap height and might reach the ascender height?

- there is a break in the line of ampersand.

- there is a smooth contrast from thick to thin strokes in this letterform.

- counters and bowls are very rounded.

Ampersand profile:

If this & was a person I would describe them as being bubbly and playful yet naturally elegant and beautiful. The contrast in stroke thickness reflects an effortless grace.

alignment

I agree with some of the points made in the text:

" There are ways of setting lines of type which may work well enough, and yet keep the reader subconsciously worried by the fear of 'doubling' lines, reading three words as one, and so forth."

"Typography is modernist" in the sense that how it looks is considered by the designer.

"Talking, broadcasting, writing, and printing are all quite literally forms of thought transference, and it is the ability and eagerness to transfer and receive the contents of the mind that is almost alone responsible for human civilization."

However some points are now redundant, for example is states that: "printing in English will not qualify as an art until the present English language no longer conveys ideas to future generations, and until printing itself hands its usefulness to some yet unimagined successor."

Which I don't think is true today, print is now considered an art because nothing has succeeded it yet.