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I find more interest in Art… #La Ferrari!
ASSIGNMENT 7
ASSIGNMENT 6
Response to Helvetica movie
Justice Okeke
10/29/2014
Response to the film Helvetica
Helvetica was a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. It looked at the proliferation of one typeface as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives. The film was an exploration of urban spaces in major cities, the type that inhabits them, and a fluid discussion with renowned designers about their work, the creative process, and the choices and aesthetics behind their use of type. Varying type size is one of the best ways to differentiate content. Hierarchy can be achieved in other ways too. Using different sizes of type to achieve it and different styles; for example, all-caps. The spacing between letters and shapes create a sense of order and asymmetrical balance. As mentioned in the film Helvetica the white and space between the letters are important to help shape the letters and hold them in place. Furthermore, in the movie Helvetica Post-modernism in graphic design was said to be a more recent movement and a response to modernism.
If modernism was interested in legibility, post-modernism was interested in expressive design and typography, rather than transparency and clarity. Post-modernism tends to ignore rigid restraints of any kind. It rejects the anonymous and corporate nature of modernism and instead embraces pop culture and a more free form style in everything from illustration to typography. In Helvetica, this particular typeface was seen as the embodiment of modernism, and was fully embraced by modernists for its comparative simplicity and how its character can change according to its context. In the movie Helvetica, type designers, graphic designer, and people educated in the art of fonts discussed the global reach of the font Helvetica. I was shocked to see how many places Helvetica was used in the movie documentary; in advertisements, street signs, shop windows, books, computer desktops, bags and even t-shirts all over the world. It’s all around me and I never really noticed it. The universality of this font is where the designers elaborated most and came to butt heads in the movie. Some designers said that its simplicity and functionality makes it ideal for communicating anything and everything like it is the chameleon of fonts; familiarity and originality living simultaneously in words.
In my opinion, I genuinely have no strong feelings either way. Perhaps it is because I am still a student and not as invested in graphic design as a whole as these professional designers who have been working in graphic design for much of their lives. I have always seen any typeface, including Helvetica, as a tool, and there is a time and a place where it should be used, and there are some situations where Helvetica is not optimal. Modernism and post-modernism is a similar situation, although I can attribute that to my inexperience, I do not
identify with either movement in particular. Helvetica encompasses the worlds of design, advertising, psychology, and communication, and invites us to take a second look at the thousands of words we see every day. Colours and pretty boxes might help but different sizes of type used consistently throughout the pages will signal loud and clear to the readers the relative importance of the pages clarity. It also means that if the readers are in a hurry, they can quickly pick out the important bits and that could mean that they stay longer and read on. The film was shot in high-definition on location in the United States,
Helvetica
The major concept in the film is about a specific text font created in the 1950’s. This text was quickly titled as Helvetica. The creator of this font was to create a sense of order and similarity within all of the letters in the alphabet. The main focus, made by a Switz car salesman, was to have an even amount of space between the black, an even amount of negative space, and there was background focus. In order to even make Helvetica, grids were made to allow such an organized and clear-cut design. Before this text, everything from magazines, books, and advertisements were all in different font texts; this was considered problematic because it was unorganized. In the 1950’s the change of artistic design led to a new and neutral deign of text. Therefore, Helvetica was the solution to this messy problem. The idea of Helvetica definitely works with the idea of 2D design in that it deals with everything from organized grids to negative space.
Modernism was a design that emerged with the idea of Helvetica. It was created in the late 19th to the early 20th century. It was the creation of traditional forms of art, specifically the Helvetica text. Differently, Postmodernism moved its focus of art and design significantly. Postmodernism disagreed with modernism entirely in its ways of purpose and look. The focus changed from neutral to expression and character. During the late 20th, art and design was about using as many different feelings and personalities as possible through different text and design. It went from a non-emotional process, to an entirely emotional process.
Personally for me, I believe the idea of postmodernism is more of what I enjoy about art and design. I believe that art should be a means of expression. I believe every piece of work an artist captures a part of themselves in it. That’s why I think it’s impossible to not have charismatic and unique art because it makes a specific part of an artist visible to the audience. Due to the fact that this world has so many different characters, personalities, emotions, beliefs, and thoughts this is why art needs to be so versatile. It is impossible to attempt to make it neutral and orderly. I believe in creativity and different styles of art. Why would I ever want to live in a world of order… that’s no fun at all? In order to be somewhat capable of capturing the beauty of this world, art must be as versatile and emotional as the world around us.
-SKYLA GORMAN
HELVETICA
After watching the documentary Helvetica, please please respond to the writing assignment by leaving a reply here in the post
2D DESIGN FALL 2014 UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND 