Helvetica

Have you noticed that at the top of this blog I list Graphic Design as one of the topics this blog is about? And have you been waiting for a couple of years to read any mention here of graphic design? Wait no more. Tonight I have graphic design on my mind.

We saw a fascinating movie the other night. It is a documentary about the typeface called Helvetica, which is the title of the movie. I am a self-professed "type nerd" so it was right up my alley, but I think most creative people will find it interesting. I especially loved the interviews with the German typographer Erik Spiekermann. You can see a clip here. (He's not much of a fan of Helvetica)

If you are not familiar with the typeface this is it:

It was designed in Switzerland 50 years ago and has become the most commonly used typeface in the world. You probably see it in advertising, signage and print hundreds of times a day. The movie talks about why it has become so ubiquitous.

When our small group was at the beach a discussion of movies led to discussion of Helvetica, the movie. I shocked Gerrie when I said that I don't much care for Helvetica, the typeface. (Loved the movie; the typeface—not so much) The thing that has made it so useful for such things as signage, is its transparency. It is a type that you don't notice. It has no character. It is like air. I do appreciate those useful properties, but it seems to me so overused that to use it is almost a concession to having no real opinion or point of view.

So, what do I like? For sans serif type, which is what Helvetica is (serifs are those little feet you see at the bottom of letters, like the type I am using here. Sans serif type has no little feet) I am quite fond of Gill Sans, which some may also argue is overused. This is Gill Sans:

Unlike Helvetica, Gill Sans is what is called a "humanist" face because the form of the letters follows the modulations that are natural to handwritten text, written with a broad-nib pen. You can see this most clearly in the thick and thin curves of the n, r and a. To my eye Gill Sans is a warmer, friendlier face than the machine-like Helvetica.

Another sans serif (but just barely—if you look hard you will see slight hints of serifs here and there), not nearly so useful, but fun to use for invitations and some special applications is Goudy Sans, designed in the 1920s. Quirky, but quite elegant. I tend to overuse it. I am quite in love with this typeface.

If you have not yet nodded off and banged your head against your keyboard and might have some interest in type, the best book, by far, (in my opinion) is The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst. It is a book I have read several times and is as engaging to me as any good novel. It has history, romance, intrigue and even humor.

So, what, you may ask, does Bringhurst have to say about Helvetica? Not much. It isn't even listed among his type examples toward the back of the book.