Helvetica

A documentary about a typeface designed in Switzerland in 1957. The film covers how Helvetica came about, why it spread as far as it did, and where it is now: metro signage, tax forms, airline logos, supermarket shelves. Gary Hustwit directs. It was made for the typeface's fiftieth anniversary. The method is to talk to designers and let them disagree. Massimo Vignelli and Wim Crouwel defend it; for them the typeface is neutral, clean and modern. Erik Spiekermann and David Carson object; for them the same qualities mean an absence of character and the language of corporate power. The film takes no side and leaves the argument open. The most effective passages are shot in the street. The camera moves through a city and keeps finding the same letters, and that repetition is the documentary's actual evidence. Hustwit made two more design films after this: Objectified on industrial design and Urbanized on the design of cities. The three are treated as a series. Who it is for: anyone interested in design, typography and visual culture. Who it is not for: the subject is extremely narrow and the same letters are debated throughout. Ninety minutes is long if typography does not interest you.