February 7, 2007
Helvetica, the Prim Juggernaut
The typeface that defined high modernity and thrives today as something "at once populist and authoritarian," according to graphic designer Steven McCarthy, is getting its own cinematic biography. Helvetica, the film, will survey the panorama of “typography, graphic design and global visual culture” that has evolved since Max Miedinger unveiled the bedevilingly sleek Helvetica typeface fifty years ago.
New Yorkers and other city dwellers wallow in the Helvetica typeface; we encounter it many times daily without necessarily recognizing it. Like painted lane stripes and telephone booths, it has become native to the modern landscape. Consider the logos for American Apparel, Crate & Barrel, Target, and Microsoft. Look again at the signage of the NYC subway platforms and entrances.
The upcoming film includes interviews with graphic design stars who speculate on Helvetica’s runaway success and its double-edged social implications. Wim Crouwel calls it "the most neutral typeface," which makes it either perfect or inadequate for communication, depending on what you’re trying to sell or tell. British designer Neville Brody says, "The Helvetica is a club. It's a mark of membership. It's a badge. It says we're part of modern society, we share the same ideals." Sublimely bland, the typeface embodies Bruce Mau's definition of nirvana: "The secret ambition of design is to become invisible, to be taken up into the culture, absorbed into the background. The highest order of success in design is to achieve ubiquity, to become banal."
The feature-length Helvetica is produced and directed by Gary Hustwit, who is also known for creating I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, the award-winning documentary film about the band Wilco. Helvetica will debut in March at an Austin, TX film festival, but will make its way to NYC later in the spring. Meanwhile, the website has trailers, stills, and clips, including this gem from Berlin-based graphicist Erik Spiekermann: "I'm obviously a typomaniac, which is an incurable if not mortal disease… Other people look at bottles of wine or whatever, or girls' bottoms, I get kicks out of looking at type.”
More:
Fontshop: To Helvetica and Back (Helv isn’t always the right sans for the job)
Steven McBride: Helvetica, the Voice of Opposition (abstract)
Darren Wilson: Helvetica vs. Arial Quiz
Gothamist: MTA Hack: Make Your Own Sign!
New York Times: In Search of the Characters of New York
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thanks for the info, but the links dont work
there is a bug in the urls for the "more" section
they should all be fixed now.
Isn't the NYC Subway font Akzidenz Grotesk?
oh wow, this is super exciting.
I'm more of a Futura man myself but Helvetica is my second favorite.
Akzidenz Grotesk--
This was indeed the NYC Subway font specified by Massimo Vignelli (who also designed the classic abstract NYC subway map, 1972-79). Akzidenz Grotesk was a precursor to Helvetica and bears a very close resemblance. In recent years, however, some sources have reported that the MTA has switched over to genuine Helvetica.
In any case, in the context of the Helvetica documentary, it is appropriate to include the original Akzidenz Grotesk in the subways as part of the same visual/typographic movement of "Helvetization."
I Am Trying To Break Your Heart was directed by Sam Jones, not Gary Hustwit, who you credited with "creating" it, whatever that means.
Hustwit was the producer of I Am Trying to Break Your Heart.
I could be wrong, but I think a lot of times when movie marketing says "creators of," it means "producers of," and when it says "director of" it means "director of."
According to the 1970 New York City Transit Authority Graphics Standards Manual the 1970s subway typeface was "Standard Medium" not Akzidenz Grotesk, although it is a doppelgänger for it.
ttp://www.subtraction.com/archives/2007/0126_the_helvetic.php
Hel-FUCKING-vetica.
Greetings all. Couple things:
- I agree, the term "creator" generally means director of a film, and I didn't direct the Wilco doc, I was one of the producers.
- Akzidenz Grotesk and Standard are the same typeface. They changed the name to Standard when it was originally marketed in the US because they didn't think Americans would/could pronounce Akzidenz Grotesk.
- The NYC subway signage is Helvetica now. There are some old holdout signs/trains still in Standard (the 2/3 line comes to mind), but the majority of the system and all new signage is in Helvetica. Vignelli wanted to use Helvetica originally, but it wasn't available in the quantity and sizes they needed back in the late '60s, and the MTA had loads of Standard on hand. But even Vignelli's 1972 subway map is in Helvetica.
That's enough font geeking-out for me... but thanks for everyone's interest in the film!
Cheers,
-Gary
The 2nd Avenue station has a few "2nd Avenue" signs along the platform that are in Akzidenz rather than Helvetica. You can tell by looking carefully at the number 2.
www.forgotten-ny.com
A Copperplate, Arial and Franklin site in a Helvetica world
microsoft's logotype is franklin gothic bold italic, not helv. and even their new one is trebuchet.
Crate and Barrell uses helvetica predominantly, but their logo is custom-- check the "e"s.
i heart helvetica
bb, this Microsoft logo is not in Franklin Gothic:
Franklin Gothic has slanted terminals on the lower case "c" "s" on the top of the "t".
Next feature: The Death of Comic Sans.
http://www.iliveonyourvisits.com/helvetica/
How many of you can tell the difference between Helvetica and Arial?
Here is a fun quiz with Examples
I recommend also reading the essay from which I am quoted, "Helvetica: the Voice of Opposition."
It was originally presented at the Hidden Typography conference at the St. Bride Printing Library, London, in October 2003.
It's online, just Google it (as this site won't allow URL's in posts).