Helvetica: A Documentary Film European Premiere

Yesterday I took a three hour train ride to Zurich where I attended a series of events themed around the typeface Helvetica’s 50th anniversary. Helvetica was designed in Switzerland (Helvetia is the Latin name for the country and Helvetica means “the Swiss,” as in “the Swiss typeface”) and is very much a product of the Swiss school of design, transferred via Basel to DAAP’s graphic design program.

Things kicked off with a panel discussion, “Will This Typeface Last Forever?,” moderated by designer/publisher Lars Müller who authored a book in homage to the font.

From left to right, the panel consisted of: Gary Hustwit (director of the film), Erik Spiekermann (German type designer), Alfred Hoffmann (son of one of the typeface’s creators), Lars Müller, an empty chair for David Carson (90s wünderkind and typographic boundary-pusher), and Manuel Krebs (of Zurich firm Norm).

I should begin by saying that I’m ambivalent towards the typeface. I do think it is well-designed, but I also think it’s bland and stiff. I rarely use it except as a secondary face to support something more lively. However, given it’s history and my educational training in a somewhat Swiss-based design approach, I do appreciate it when used well.
The panel was a bit more divided. While some like Krebs are big proponents, others like—huge revelation—Carson (who showed up about 15 minutes late) find it to be the most uninteresting thing on the planet. The discussion was lively, with the designers gently ribbing each other and disagreeing passionately on everything from the term “information architect” to the importance of rules. I will say that after having Carson (below, speaking) cancel on our AIGA group at UC three years ago, it was nice to finally hear him talk.

He can be pretty entertaining, almost enough so to assuage my bitterness over that debacle.


There was a nice spread of appetizers and drinks as an intermission. On display were the twelve favorite posters from an invitational competition of sorts among (I’m guessing) German-Swiss designers in celebration of Helvetica50. (Geneva pretty much exists in a design vacuum from the rest of the country, so I’d not heard anything about this.)

They were all pretty amusing and generally displayed the designers’ personal relationships with Helvetica. Here are a couple of my favorites. The one on the left obviously punnily says Helvetica is the “wurst.” The one of the right expresses the designer’s issues with the leg of the “R.”



Finally, it was time for the European premiere of Helvetica: A Documentary Film by Gary Hustwit. The film is not so much a history of the typeface as much as a history of the profession and some of its prominent practitioners over the past 50 years. Indeed, Hustwit said he wanted to make a movie “about the people who make fonts and the people who use them.” He also likened it to a music documentary with Helvetica standing in for the band and a look at its critics, groupies, tour of the world, etc.
In my eyes, he completely suceeded. As a film buff and design fan, this was a great marriage of subject and media. I dare say that it has the potential to appeal to an audience wider than just designers—or at the very least help my parents better understand what graphic designer and typography are. Designers, of course, will get the most from it as it is essentially a love-letter to our profession. Helvetica’s past is touched on as is its appropriation by corporate America (because it’s so “safe”), proliferation through the advent of the Macintosh (and evil clone Arial created for the PC), fall from grace in the post-modern 90s (through Brody’s Emigre and Carson’s Raygun), and re-embrace by a new generation of Swiss-style devotees. A veritable who’s-who among contemporary designers appear in the film including all the aforementioned panelists, UC-alum Michael Bierut, Paula Scher, Stefan Sagmeister, Rick Poyner, Massimo Vignelli, Neville Brody and several more. They provide personal narritives, historical perspectives and their own views on Helvetica and its ubiquity.
While some may gripe that about the lack of a more concrete linear history of the face itself, I found the personal anecdotes much more engaging. It is well-paced and edited, and the subtle animations by Trollbäck and Co are effective without being too showy. The reaction from the world premiere at Austin’s SXSW music festival was positive and last night’s Swiss audience seemed equally pleased. Keep an eye out for screenings in your area.

The official poster designed by Experimental Jetset

Unfortunately, I had to miss the “50th birthday party” after the film to catch my train back to Geneva, but even so I feel renewed and excited. I don’t know why exactly, but design ignites something within me. When I’m exposed to it in creative and professional environments I feel a sense of joy and concurrent rush of creativity. I suppose this is “passion” or “inspiration” and I’m lucky to have chosen a profession so closely linked to my gifts and interests. Of course, this also means I can’t walk down a street without seeing bad kerning (letter-spacing), dumb quotes (people using inch marks instead of quotation marks), or Comic Sans. To paraphrase Tobey Maguire in Spider-Man, “This is my gift, my curse. Who am I? I’m a graphic designer.”

Berlin, Germany Part 3: Walking Tour + Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds

Monday
On Monday morning Caroline, Meghan and I took a 4.5 hour English walking tour around the city. Our guide was Torben, a German-born guy who grew up on Long Island and is now a history student in Berlin. Though we saw a few things we’d already visited on our own, it was nice to get the historical context for everything. It was a great tour and he was a very informative guide.


One of the sites we took some time at was Peter Eisenman’s (architect behind DAAP) Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. It is an interesting project that I found affecting, though others take issue with (with good reason). Though I think the abstract nature does a good job at alluding to tombs, the feeling of being lost and isolated, and even the idea of the hidden (at the time)breadth and depth of the event, there are people who end up playing Hide and Seek and letting their kids run around on it. This obviously isn’t the most respectful thing in the world, but then again, the metaphor of life rising from death is also powerful.


Some things that are slightly dubious: the Jewish community wasn’t really part of the planning, as the memorial is more of a reminder of everyday Berliners’ compliance in the Holocaust; and there is no real signage to indicate what the memorial is (just some plaques with rules, such as no jumping from the sculptures). However, I think those are issues that Eisenman isn’t really responsible for, so whatever.


Here’s the largest remaining section of the Wall.


Checkpoint Charlie, site of the former entrance to the American-occupied area of the city.


Giftshop and Museum about the wall. Only an “r” away from being an even better photo op.


After the tour we stopped at an Einstein Cafe for an afternoon snack. I had some amazing homemade Apfelstrudel. I don’t even normally go for fruit-based desserts, but this was too good to pass up.


We decided to head to the Reichstag, one of the city’s best-known landmarks, and home to the lower house of their Parliament. Behind that building is the new governmental complex featuring some nice architecture by Stephan Braunfels.


Here’re some pics of the Reichstag, including me on the roof in front of the dome (which was closed due to cleaning).




And a look at the Victory Column in the Tiergarten which we passed at a couple points on our journey (and I passed quite often on my morning runs).


It was nearing late afternoon, so we headed back to the friary briefly before taking off for the main event:

Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds at Columbiahalle

One of the main reasons for the timing of this trip was to see Dave Matthews during a rare European tour. I think this was the 9th time I’ve seen he and/or the band live, but the first at a general admission concert hall.
It was probably the closest I will ever be to Dave in my life (since the band only plays stadiums and amphitheaters and you have to be in the fan club to even have a shot at decent seats, etc.) and quite a good show.

Unfortunately, the tickets stated point-blank that no photography or video was allowed, so I left my camera at home. Of course, they only patted me down from the waist up so I could have easily taken it (and many other people had theirs). That was the only disappointment of the evening.
(Here’s a tiny pic from the website. I was much closer than this)


The setlist was a good mix of old, new and solo tunes. The last acoustic Dave & Tim (sans band) show I went to was several months before Some Devil released, so it was nice to hear some of those songs as well as “Old Dirt Hill,” one of my favorites from 2005’s Stand Up.

They played for over two and a half hours so we definitely got our money’s worth.
For anyone still reading, here is the setlist:

Bartender
Save Me
Stay Or Leave
Satellite
Crush
Old Dirt Hill
Smooth Rider
Everyday
Lie In Our Graves
Oh
So Damn Lucky
Where Are You Going
Gravedigger
Tim Solo
When The World Ends
Jimi Thing
(Still Water)
Don’t Drink the Water
#41
Crash Into Me
Dancing Nancies
__________________

Some Devil
Sister
Ants Marching
The Maker
Two Step

We returned to the friary exhausted and happy.

Tuesday
Before we departed Berlin on Tuesday afternoon, we went with Fr Hans-Georg to visit the city’s other friary in Pankow. They run an impressive soup kitchen (and free store, housing, etc.) serving 500 meals a day. It was again nice to have the opportunity to connect with other Franciscans and hear about their work as well as share a bit about ours.

It was soon time to catch our flight, so we headed to the airport, ate some Burger King (hooray!), and EasyJetted back to Geneva by late afternoon.

All in all, a wonderful—albeit tiring—trip that I’ll certainly carry with me.

Berlin, Germany Part 2: Design History

Sunday

We were asked to talk briefly about our work and Franciscans International at the family church service on Sunday morning, which was interesting since none of us speak German.

Fr Hans-Georg translated for us. We then joined some of the families from the church for a fellowship hour afterwards. Germans really know how to do fellowship—homemade cheesecake, made-to-order waffles and even beer if you wanted to start your morning off right (we abstained seeing as it was only 11:30).
While the other three had waffles, I opted (as anyone who knows me well may have guessed) for the cheesecake. It was excellent.


Following church, we headed out to do a bit more sight-seeing (or is the correct term site-seeing?). Aside from Monday’s Dave Matthews concert, the only thing I was sure I needed to do in Berlin was visit the Bauhaus Archiv.


For the uninitiated (i.e. non-designers), the Bauhaus was a famous design school/movement started in Weimer in the 1920s. It was later moved to Dessau and finally Berlin before being closed due to the Nazi rise to power. They shaped much of the design and architectural thinking that is still practiced today (and taught at UC, by way of Basel).


Anyway, the Archiv is a museum tracing the history of the school, including student work, architectural models and plans, special exhibitions and more. The current temporary exhibit was about Die Neue Linie, a fashion/lifestyle magazine designed by Bauhaus members in the school’s hey-dey. I quickly learned that photography was not allowed in the museum, but I snuck these shots before being forced to shutter my lens.
The entrance to the exhibit was a lifesize recreation of the first issue of the magazine.



Original art for an unused cover idea.



It was a really nice place and interesting to see a piece of design history come to life.

We continued on our journey, stopping to get some sausages for lunch near museum island. There is a special exhibit at the German History Museum called “Art and Propaganda” that I was really interested in seeing, so we headed to that. The museum has a modern addition designed by I.M. Pei which is quite nice, and that’s where the exhibit is.

Unfortunately photography was prohibited there too, so I can’t share any pictures. I can say it was one of the best-curated exhibitions I’ve ever been to. It traced parallel paths of state-sponsored art from the 20s through the end of WWII in the United States, Germany, the Soviet Union, and Italy. It was really interesting to see the differences in styles and how those became associated with the governments that sponsored them (i.e. futurism in facist Italy). There was a lot of art on loan from Washington D.C. (including Dorothea Lange’s famous “Migrant Mother” photograph), so I wonder if the exhibit may end up traveling. If so, it’s well-worth a visit.


It was soon time to return to friary where we shared dinner with the Franciscans and postulants (basically Franciscan seminary students) from the area. It was a nice opportunity to again share a bit about our work and better understand their work in Berlin. And also drink some good beer.

Berlin, Germany Part 1: Sight-seeing

On Friday March 9th Caroline, Meghan, Farhad and I hopped on an Easy Jet plane and traveled to Berlin, Germany for a long weekend mini-vacation. We packed a lot into 4 days, and so I’m going to break up my summary of the trip a bit since I tend to be pretty long-winded at these things anyway.

Friday
Our flight arrived more or less on time, around 7:30pm. We had arranged to stay with some Franciscans in the city, so we took the S and U-Bahns to the Wilmerdorf area of town. The Franciscans there do parish work at a beautiful church called St. Ludwig, and our quarters was just across the road from the church.

We were greeted by Fr. Hans-Georg who showed us our rooms and took us out to dinner at an (of all things) American-themed 50s-style diner just around the corner.

The food was good, though, and we started off our journey right—with a tower of Berliner Pilsner.


After dinner we popped into an Irish pub for another beer or two and a bit of live music. Here’s Caroline drinking some non-German beer (Newcastle, to be exact, which was just what the doctor ordered).



Saturday
We awoke fairly early on Saturday to begin exploring the city, starting at Potsdamerplatz. Sony has a complex there with movie theaters, restaurants, and a home for the German Film Museum, which was built within the past 10 years.


Nearby is part of the Berlin Wall and information about its history, etc.
I’ll state this for the record: Maurer (my last name) means bricklayer in German. Mauer (without the first “r”) means wall. Hope that clears things up.





We next headed to Alexanderplatz. The Television Tower is one of the city’s easy reference points. We didn’t go up in it (considering the others are basically all from Toronto, it doesn’t really equal the CN Tower), but ate some Currywurst nearby.


As we continued to wander, we passed this amazing fountain. The sculptural detail was gorgeous.


We soon made it to Museum Island, an actual island containing—you guessed it—many of the city’s museums. We also had a chance to check out the impressive Berlin Cathedral.


We decided to go to the Pergamon museum which features a variety of sculptures, etc. from antiquity. The museum gets its name from the Pergamon altar which has been reconstructed inside.


The interior of this place was massive to allow the presentation artifacts from Greece (like this set of columns) and the Near East.

A lot of the statuary was really interesting. This is a dying Amazonian.

My personal favorite was the Ishtar Gate from ancient Babylon. Reading about it in Art History couldn’t do justice to walking into a room and having it loom over you.



The museum also has a nice collection of Islamic art. Here, a prayer niche and some tiles.


This room is actually from the house of a wealthy Christian, but is really interesting because the art to either side of the doors depicts biblical stories in a Persian style.


After leaving the museum, we continued down Unter den Linden (a street literally meaning “under the Linden trees”), the main drag to the Brandenburg Gate.

That was a pretty impressive site. One of the things that is really apparent in the city is the massive scale of everything. I suppose that’s the facist influence, but the grandiosity of everything was both pretentious and impressive. The Gate was no exception.



We through the Tiergarten, Berlin’s central park, on the way back home. We passed by the Memorial Church which is an interesting site. The preexisting church was bombed during the war, but has since been complemented by very modern glass additions.

Later on in our trip we passed a chocolate shop offering this depiction of the building.


That evening we went out to Oranienburger Strasse which is a pretty cool artsy bar area. We found (Hooray!) a Mexican restaurant and had a really good meal. It was a great end to a full day.

Mmm… guacamole.