Anna's lecture this afternoon gave us, learning graphic designers, a chance to watch the Helvetica film, produced and directed by Gary Huswitt. Gary Hustwit is an independent filmmaker and photographer based in New York. 'I like the idea of taking a look at the things we take for granted and changing the way people think about them, whether its type or objects' - Gary Huswitt.
The film is feature-length independent, all about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. It looks into one typeface, which celebrated its 50th birthday in 2007, as part of a larger conversation about how type affects our lives. Helvetica is used in the world of design, advertising, psychology and communication, and the film discusses work with renowned designers including the creative process, and the choices behind their use of type. Typography is important in every aspect. It is seen as a pinnacle, end goal of the sans serif. Vernacular typography.
"The real achievement of the film is the way it sharpens your eye in general and makes connections between form and content, and between art and life."— CHICAGO TRIBUNE -News reporter
Interesting contradictions: acid test, how it reads.
Helvetica is very neutral, invites interpretation.
Helvetica appeared very quickly in corporate logos, signage for transportation systems, fine art prints, and myriad other uses world wide. Inclusion of the font in home computer systems such as the Apple Macintosh in 1984 only further cemented its ubiquity. It is a widely used sans serif typeface, and over the years, variants have been released in different weights, widths and sizes, as well as matching designs for a range of non-Latin alphabets.The termination of all strokes on horizontal or vertical lines and unusually tight letter spacing, giving it a dense, compact appearance are all notable features of Helvetica as originally designed.
Helvetica
Helvetica appeared very quickly in corporate logos, signage for transportation systems, fine art prints, and myriad other uses world wide. Inclusion of the font in home computer systems such as the Apple Macintosh in 1984 only further cemented its ubiquity. It is a widely used sans serif typeface, and over the years, variants have been released in different weights, widths and sizes, as well as matching designs for a range of non-Latin alphabets.The termination of all strokes on horizontal or vertical lines and unusually tight letter spacing, giving it a dense, compact appearance are all notable features of Helvetica as originally designed.
Helvetica
David Carson:
Anna also looked briefly at David Carson, an american graphic designer and art director, known for his use of experimental type. The screenshot below shows a range of work on google images created by Carson, all including typography. I researched David Carson again in my own time, I found two posters he designed for the Helvetica film, again, focusing on type with imagery behind. He uses layering techniques, overlapping elements on the poster, including pieces of type to create a distinctive layout with an interesting understand of how all the features work together. I like the idea of using a font like this to be able to interpret a personal design style.
Anna also looked briefly at David Carson, an american graphic designer and art director, known for his use of experimental type. The screenshot below shows a range of work on google images created by Carson, all including typography. I researched David Carson again in my own time, I found two posters he designed for the Helvetica film, again, focusing on type with imagery behind. He uses layering techniques, overlapping elements on the poster, including pieces of type to create a distinctive layout with an interesting understand of how all the features work together. I like the idea of using a font like this to be able to interpret a personal design style.
Seminar activity: Deconstructing Helvetica
This seminar was one of my favourite so far. The session after this mornings lecture, also focused on Helvetica. We used sheets of existing typogaphy, ranging different weights, and opposing colours, to create a new type design. I do believe that David Carson creates a new way of looking at a font, so I was exploring a practice that he had produced. We explored different shapes and letter forms, whether it was using a letter from each style, or using more than one style for one letter, which is what I did throughout putting my type together. I personlised the original word and enjoyed the task, however I did not finish the piece of work.
Once I was home, I decided to create a few more pieces using the same typeface. I used Illustrator to invite my own interpretation to three pieces, using the same word - hand gloves. I was able to use all the font family, and create contrasts between the black and white features. I used an overlapping technique, all the italic type faces, and adjusted each of the letters to become distinctive and unique.
