Wassel Design

“Helvetica” opened in Chicago on Friday night. Unluckily for me, I was out of town. Luckily for me, it is playing all this week at the Siskel Film Center. So last night, after a little tag team client work, a friend and I headed over and bought a couple tickets to see the hottest movie to hit the design world since… well, ever.

For a Monday evening, I was quite surprised at the turn out. There were good 40 people in the theater. We could overhear conversations going on all around us, most of which centered on design, a refreshing change from the usual “waiting for the movie to begin” banter.

Finally, the lights go dark and we’re in a letterpress shop watching the typeface being spelled out and pressed into the name of the film. We’re off.

We’re in New York, London, Berlin, Amsterdam, Zurich; we’re circling the globe. We’re stopping to look at every day street scenes, the kind you’d pass everyday but pay no attention to. As we stare at them a little longer you realize that Helvetica is the typeface on that cab’s “on duty” sign. Or on the box the UPS man is carrying down the street. Or on the subway signage. You realize the one common thread in all these scenes is Helvetica.

It is about this time, maybe 10 minutes into the film, that I realize something I must’ve glossed over in the past. Helvetica is a display type. How did I not realize this until now? This is one of the very first typefaces I learned in art school. I saw it in numerous projects over the years. It’s the most distinguishable typeface ever drawn, and here I was just now realizing that the only time it’s used is on posters, signage and logotypes. I rack my memory. Is this true? Have I ever tried to use Helvetica as text? Yes I have… but I gave up trying to kern it and used another face instead. How did I not figure it out then?

Meanwhile, back on screen, we make stops with Massimo Vignelli, Matthew Carter, Neville Brody, Erik Spiekermann, Paula Scher, David Carson. I refocus on the film. This dialogue in my head can wait until afterwards. These giants of design are candid about their love or hate ofHelvetica. Vignelli? Loves it. Spiekermann ? Calls it similar to McDonald’s - crap. Neither of these really strike me as a surprise. What did, though, was how intimate these interviews were. They reminded me very much of the Hillman Curtis Artist Series. We get a feeling for how these legends think. A little glimpse into greatness.

Mashed between the interviews is a brief history on the birth of Helvetica. We’re taken to the Haas type foundry in Germany and see the building it originated from. We learn about it’s background, how the two creators worked together to draw it, it’s original name, Neue Haas Grotesk, and why it wasn’t used. We all become Helvetica historians. Cut to the studios doing contemporary work with Helvetica. We see where Experimental Jetset is taking the face, where NORM is pushing it to. We hear about their philosophies. We can see a future full of Helvetica.

Fade to black.

How can a movie about a typeface provide such a ride?