This is a great documentary, full of details and important info.
and helvetica rocks!

Helvetica is now more than 50 years old ! Perhaps that doesn't sound even vaguely familiar to you, but typography buff Gary Hustwit has filmed a documentary about the predominance of this typeface in modern life. I cannot wait to see it. But then I am a type geek. (via Helvetica Film)

great documentary!

Pure design inspiration. Helvetica is the ultimate character actor. From uber corporate to generically common, helvetica has been used to express almost every kind of messaging in existence. This film is brimming with compelling typographic insights from David Carson, Neville Brody, Stefan Sagmeister, Erik Spiekermann (designer of Meta, one of my all time favorite fonts), Paula Scher, Massimo Vignelli, Johnathan Hoefler, Tobias Frere-Jones and more. Best of all, there's a history of how helvetica was names and designed, and a look at the original drawings in the Linotype vault.

This a great documentary film by Gary Hustwit about the typeface "Helvetica". Celebrating over 50 years in use, the famous Helvetica finally gets its due attention.

"About the Typeface- Helvetica was developed by Max Miedinger with Eduard Hoffmann in 1957 for the Haas Type Foundry in Münchenstein, Switzerland. In the late 1950s, the European design world saw a revival of older sans-serif typefaces such as the German face Akzidenz Grotesk. Haas' director Hoffmann commissioned Miedinger, a former employee and freelance designer, to draw an updated sans-serif typeface to add to their line. The result was called Neue Haas Grotesk, but its name was later changed to Helvetica, derived from Helvetia, the Latin name for Switzerland, when Haas' German parent companies Stempel and Linotype began marketing the font internationally in 1961. " --http://www.helveticafilm.com/

Who knew that a typeface could inspire such emotion? Helvetica was embraced by designers in the late 1950s, and many American corporations used it in their marketing. In the 60's and 70's, Helvetica became a symbol of corporate greed, government abuse of power and the Vietnam War. After seeing this documentary, you will look at signage differently. At some point, we need a documentary called "Trajan" which is almost exclusively the typeface of choice for movie titles and posters. The question is - how is it being used to manipulate our choices?