Typophile - Helvetica Documentary - Comments

As a closure to this

72p — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 03:24:08 -0700

As a closure to this wonderful conversation, impossible to imagine without the piece of film itself, I would like to thank you all for your always passionate and sincere comments.

I now believe, many posts after, that the part of me that viscerally rejected this documentary and that automatically and irrationally initiated this topic was the same one that received it as an unauthorized biography.
Never before I had felt so uncomfortable watching a piece of film, and It surely was because this time every single frame was a close-up of a very important part of me. Just like it no doubt was of many of you.

It was probably inappropriate to even start this topic in the first place and the question should have stayed as a personal reflection. But the number of comments, even if just motivated by the relevance of the typeface in question, have surely made the journey worth it and the evolution of the internal debate much more interesting.

Maybe I will even start a similar topic one day asking for opinions on a piece of film of my own. And hopefully somebody will try to define it as an “orange plastic olivetti typewriter roman holiday expresso”.

—-

I loved the Helvetica film

BrooklynRob — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 19:20:13 -0700

I loved the Helvetica film — it is really a joyous celebration of design.
I also love it because I’ve shown it to three friends and my partner, none of them designers, who all were riveted (wasn’t expecting that, I’ll admit) and now they understand quite a bit more about what design is and, consequently, what I do for a living.
As a result, they now will sometimes initiate conversations about typefaces... it’s not unusual for one of them to ask me out on the street if a poster is set in Helvetica or Univers... (!)

By the way, I think the Experimental Jetset package is both a better design *and* a stronger concept than the Westinghouse cover.

—Rob

I was speaking

dezcom — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 07:13:29 -0700

I was speaking hypothetically—I was not familiar with the link you posted. I was just trying to show an example of what kind of thing gets movies made more often than typography.

ChrisL

Chris, were you speaking

Ehague — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 06:55:07 -0700

Chris, were you speaking hypothetically, or referring to Looking for Mr Gill?

Thanks, Gary! There have

dezcom — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 12:45:19 -0700

Thanks, Gary! There have been so few (0) films in the area of typography that I was thrilled to see yours come out and hope more is coming from others as well. I know it it one of those vertical market things and hard to see reaching a broader market. Helvetica the typeface had the better chance of getting some viewing as a film for the very reason so many people get riled up about it. It made the fatal error of becoming extremely popular. Something like Perpetua might have its share of fans but this is a tiny bunch of type geeks, not a mass appeal. Dirty little scandals about folks like Gill might have some market bump but not because of the type. It would be about the sleeze factor.

ChrisL

The Jetset have historically

swiss dots — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 12:19:08 -0700

The Jetset have historically done statements explaining their process (see the website) and frankly, that’s what I like about their work. If you know them, have seen one of their exhibits/lectures, or have followed their designs over the last decade, you’ll get it. If not, you might not. I don’t think that text is BS, and I was the one who asked them to let us include it on the site. I like it.

And Chris, I don’t have any further info on that Westinghouse brochure, unfortunately. It’s great work, though.

In response to the comment that started this thread: we’ve all got our own opinions of what a documentary about type could or should be. Helvetica just happened to be mine. The film had its world premiere a year ago, and if someone had been reading the press and blogs about it for the past year and then just watched it now for the first time, who knows what they’d be expecting. And veteran designers will have different opinions than students, or non-designers, etc.

If anyone has their own ideas about how a film about type should be made, by all means pick up a camera and make it. And I’m not saying that as a challenge to criticism... I’m not saying “put up or shut up.” I just really want to see more films about design, as a viewer! That’s the reason I made Helvetica, to be able to watch the film I had in my head. Other people have different points of view, and I’d like to see those on the screen. Filmmaking should be a conversation, not a declaration, and in terms of design films there are still plenty more issues and people that we can focus on (no pun intended).

Cheers,

-Gary

Christian, if you read on

sii — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 11:55:13 -0700

Christian, if you read on you’ll see a quote from Gary...

”...I nearly peed myself. That’s technical jargon for: I appreciated their wit and creativity.”

translation - “great packaging + wonderfully over-the-top BS explanation.”

Designers don’t need to “buy” the explanation, they just need to buy the product. ;-)

I don’t think of it as

albriks — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 11:44:25 -0700

I don’t think of it as plagiarism as its clearly not. I only posted it because it reminded me about it. It is, like Gary points out, different concepts, but perhaps rooted in a similar idea. The EJ version is also much better in my opinion if you look away from the BS statement, though. That might work on a normal client, but come on, do they really think designers would buy that crap?

edit: Certainly not suggesting the client in this case is stupid. They could’ve just spared themselves as I don’t think it was neccessary to say in order to sell the idea/design.

Gary, I have a question

dezcom — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 08:21:30 -0700

Gary,
I have a question about the Westinghouse Emergencies cover. Years ago when I was a young buck, I worked for Westinghose Corporate design Center in Pittsburgh. I know this piece from those days. I am trying to remember if it were done by Ken Hiebert, Peter Megert, or Eddy Byrd. We were all very Gerstner “Designing Programmes” conscious in those days so this is no surprise to see. My guess would be that it was a Hiebert design since he was a Basle guy. He was one of my professors and I worked for him part time in the mid-sixties. Peter was a Mueller-Brockmann apprentice and came to Westinghouse in 1968. He was my boss while I was there. I am having trouble remembering who actually designed this piece and hope you can come up with the correct name? Fred Troller is another possibility but I doubt if it was him.

ChrisL

Sorry, can someone explain

Jem — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 21:27:13 -0700

Sorry, can someone explain what this post is about?

Someone didn’t like the Helvetica film.......and?

Into the archives you go.

Experimental Jetset says

swiss dots — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 21:09:29 -0700

Experimental Jetset says they hadn’t seen the Westinghouse brochure before this similarity was pointed out, post-release, and I believe them. They’re some of the most brilliant designers I’ve met. Let’s look at the full designs side by side (excuse my thumb):

I think they’re very different concepts.

-Gary

Neil, you missed the

sii — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 10:28:34 -0700

Neil, you missed the attribution... “Explains Experimental Jetest, in an email to Plexifilm:” - blame the designers, not the client! ;-)

albriks, um yeah... I

Hiroshige — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 09:23:41 -0700

albriks, um yeah...

I think we’ll see another charity auction, lol.

“Why these spirals you might ask? Well, first of all, the disc-like forms refer to the idea of formats: Blu-ray, vinyl, etc. Secondly, we liked the idea of Helvetica as a typeface spiralling out of control, or revolving almost like a planet, or a dark sun, or a universe in itself. We also thought that the spiral-like disc would refer to rays, radiation, etc., underlining the idea of Blu-ray.

But most of all, we really wanted to show the typeface in a sort of deconstructed type specimen. We thought it would be interesting to show the typeface, without actually showing it. As you see, the forms shown on the sleeve are not recognizable as letters, but you can still notice the shapes that are characteristic for Helvetica.” helveticafilm.com/blu.html

Yeah, ok pal. Not to mention the design is nothing more than just a spin - like the typeface itself?

...sigh

don’t miss the dvd extras,

Ricardo Cordoba — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 21:00:26 -0700

don’t miss the dvd extras, vic one. :-)

I’m going to watch it

vic one — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 16:08:27 -0700

I’m going to watch it tonight, looking forward to it.
We can argue all the pros and cons of helvetica forever, however it is an important typeface that undoubtedly had a great impact on the design history, and for that reason I want to watch it. Well that and interviews with Erik Spiekermann :)

Helvetica Documentary

72p — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 09:04:49 -0700

I have just seen the Gary Hustwit’s Helvetica Documentary.
Quite late, but I guess it is better late than never.

I felt very disappointed and did not enjoy it as much as I was told I would.
Same faces, same stories, same work...

What did you guys feel about it?