Helvetica

Seeing as we are currently on the subject of documentaries, I figured I'd blog about my most favorite; Helvetica. Helvetica is a FANTASTIC documentary about typographers. I love it so much because it is so intriguing to watch men and women so in love with their job of simply making letters that it is if they are living creatures themselves that they are creating. But truthfully, being a typographer is not simple at all. It involves a lot of measuring (which at least for me is something nearly impossible-put a ruler in my hand and I'm already frustrated) and a lot a lot A LOT of patience. Yet, it is beautiful to see typographers express the way letters themselves have a voice. And not only a voice, but a BODY, and an ATTITUDE, and a POINT OF VIEW which they are apt to express despite what others will think. Yet, when combined to form a word is is even more!! It's not only a word, it's a WORD. It has meaning, it has life behind it, emotion, it's expression may even be tangible. The typographers in the documentary talk about their letters so genuinely as if they make up a part of their family. It is so moving to see how we overlook something so artistic, something so small, yet something that we truly cannot live without. Think about how fonts can express emotion and mood. Which sounds more like "I love you"... Is it I love you or I love you....??

I would say it is the second one. The first to me would be aggressive or even desperate, clingy, or needy. The second one is gentle and truthful. Just what I think... Typography is an art and something we as artists should no longer overlook.

Type is saying things to us all the time. Typefaces express a mood, an atmosphere. They give words a certain coloring. -Rick Poyner