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.”