I watched the documentary “Helvetica” today. I enjoyed it quite a bit. As far as the content goes, I do not know which side is for me. On the one hand, I completely agree that Helvetica as a font is tired and used. I don’t think that it conveys the same message that it did when it was first designed. But, on the other hand, I think that there is something fresh, clean, & timeless.
It would certainly be hard to argue that Heltvetica had no impact upon the world of type. Because it had one of the most profound impacts upon type that has ever occurred. Every graphic designer has defaulted to Helvetica at some point in their career. Who can blame them? Helvetica can be a fairly bland type. It is used by countless government agencies because of its clean emotionless feel. Thought most people substitute the word “emotionless” for something like “concise” or “clear”.
Most of me thinks that if a font is too clearly readable, one tends to not even notice. Type should be like handwriting. Your personal handwriting changes as your write, and type should too. Type has emotion.
