Helvetica

      Why did Helvetica become so popular?

The Helvetica emerged a little while after world war two and right after the Vietnam war started. It was a quite chaotic time period in recent time. It is known that every overly systematic or chaotic time will be followed by the opposite reaction. This the same with design and society. In addition to the chaos in the society, the design before the modernist movement in the 50s was busy with cursive and apostrophes Helvetica was the response to the former clutter. It is a clean font that does nothing more than delivering the message intended. It does nothing else. People needed the order to function Helvetica was an easy answer to that. It delivers the message and wastes no time to understand. It is an anonym font, which made it popular. Helvetica could be used anywhere. It would be the other elements that set the mood.

       What is your opinion on this?

I agree that it is an anonym font, it is not offensive to most, because there is nothing to have a meaning about, I do agree with Erik Spiekermann that Helvetica does not have a rhythm. It is straightforward, but it had its use in the 60s as it created a new wave of doing typography. Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann really did a good job at creating a font that could just be, not be anything special but just is. I am a big fan of the minimalist design but, I would not go to Helvetica first, I enjoy having a little more interest in my typography.

      Does it support its uses?

Helvetica does support its uses in a way of creating a system for the type to follow. It does deliver the message, but it does nothing more. That is the point of Helvetica, so it does deliver that, and it could be manipulated, but it is usually not as successful as you would want it to be because it is a heavy typeface.

       What do you think of the role of the designer after seeing the documentary?

I believe the designer should be able to be creative with their work, if not everything would look the same, anyone could be able to do it. With that I believe that the true design loses its power. Design and art is similar in that it should be possible to see who did it. I am not a fan of mass-produced design, as it is robotic, and I enjoy a rhythm over my work. That can create a new world within the design and make people think of a different way of looking at the world. I also believe that we as designer should be able to bee tools sometimes because it is important with contrast in good design. There should always be some element of play in the work behind the scenes at least, I strongly believe in refined work with a bit of quirk.

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