Helvetica: A Predominant Character

Review
Character 4: 26 Letters a Second
Helvetica, 2007
ACMI July 22

It's winter in Melbourne, and you know a Character event is just around the corner. Character has been a series of yearly design and typography-based events and forums devised by Stephen Banham in conjunction with RMIT's Communication Design program. This year, graphic design and its relationship with cinema/the moving image was to be explored. Gary Hustwit's new documentary film Helvetica was to be the focus of this always well-attended event.

Staged at an ACMI cinema, which I think Banham jokingly referred to as 'Pat Benatar Theatre' (!), a few cinematic shorts were screened:

Toast by France's Bagard, Dufoure and Harang was a suitable (if effect-driven) opening sequence.

Float by Stephen Watkins, saw typography liberate itself from city signage and hover and glide over Melbourne (shades of Hitchcock's The Birds, but with type).

Kapitaal by Holland's Studio Smack is quite a well-known piece exploring the typography found in advertising throughout a modern cityscape – and was great to see on the big screen.

But the main attraction was the eagerly awaited Helvetica. When I first heard that someone was making a film about Helvetica, I must admit I envisaged something about as dry as eating Salada biscuits in the desert. Thankfully, Gary Hustwit's film is very juicy indeed.

Helvetica (the film) is a terrific, and well-researched document that explores developments in graphic design since modernism and zooms in and focuses on a particular cultural artefact from the modern movement, namely, the typeface Helvetica.

As there are reviews aplenty of the film, I'll cut straight to the chase.

Helvetica (the typeface) accurately embodies all that modernism stood for: universiality, neutrality, cleanliness, order, clarity and European-ness (amongst other things). One thread through the film deals with this design-related and cultural aspect.

It's to Hustwit's credit he embellishes this historical and cultural background with interesting stories and insightful personal observations and reflections of various designers and typographers. This aspect successfully transforms the narrative from being 'merely about a font' to a story rich in typographic obsession and heart-felt designer-passion. Character is abundant in Helvetica (supplied in spades by the various interviewed designers) – very ironic given that Helvetica (the typeface) was designed to have no real (outgoing) character in itself – yet it certainly engenders glowing, fawning praise or loathing and contempt from the design community. Which of course creates a hugely entertaining scenario – there's nothing quite like diametrically opposed opinion to make some interesting viewing.

Highly entertaining, insightful and a great meditation on something so familiar and everyday – "it's just like air", as Erik Spiekermann says – yet Helvetica makes such interesting 'drama'. (I should mention that, for me, Spiekermann delightfully steals the show).

Hats off to Character 4 for showcasing such a wonderful 'humanistic' document on design. Long may there be more films about design – made with such character.

..........................................

Notes

The upcoming DVD of this film features much more interview footage too – hours were cut down into minutes for the film. Hustwit's music selection for Helvetica is really quite inspired as well – the soundtrack CD will be well-worth a listen.

Comments

[Bec]

Having missed the opportunity... is there any other way to see Helvetica?

I'm in Melbourne.

[Andrew Haig]

I'm not sure, Bec... I know quite a few people that missed it and are keen to see Helvetica (non-designers too).

Might be best for you to email the director directly: gary (at) helveticafilm.com

I'll be grabbing a DVD for sure (released in November I believe).

[the impost!]

"..to a story rich in typographic obsession and heart-felt designer-passion."

yes, fully agree.
as do i endorse the "5-stars" for our mate erik....!
spiekerman is the star, quite a standout.
i wont go as far as the pun, "..{sic}.....a character".

but the more attentive viewer will have observed, erik was the only one to have sworn in the film "helvetica".

well worth getting hold of the dvd, hopefully sometime this november. and warm congratulations to gary, a great sense of engagement and interest in what {as andrew states} could have been quite a dry subject.

"death to helvetica, - long live helvetia", - aye stephen!....??

[Barry Spencer]

It was great to see.

I too will be grabbing the DVD when it comes out, and yes, I will be looking forward to more Erik Spiekerman interview.

But now what?