7/27/2019 Helvetica Note

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Name of documentary, author/producer, and year.

Helvetica, directed by Gary Hustwit in 2007, a Swiss dots production in association with Veer.

Is it "informational" or "promotional"? support your argument.

I think the documentary is promotional because only the advantages of the typeface are talkedabout in it. The movie talks about the history of Helvetica, why it is popular in the modern world,

how its popularity evolved, and why designers love it. It seems that the producer has paid limited

effort on describing any disadvantages of Helvetica. Thats why I think the documentary in its

tone is not neutral but promotional.

Who is the primary audience it aimed at?

Designers, typographers, students with a design-related major, or just anyone who is interested

in design or typography.

What is the relevance of it to specific areas/topics of our course?

First of all, the documentary is about a poplar typeface, so its definitely closely related to the

lecture on typefaces we have had. It shows us that type is everywhere. And also the popularity of

Helvetica demonstrates the importance ofmessagedelivered in typefaces. Helvetica is popular

because the typeface by itself is neutral: it doesnt have a meaning in itself, the meaning of the

design is in the content rather than in the typeface. That is to say, Helvetica actually gives

designers and marketers the freedom to escape from the constraints of typefaces (a bad example

is Comic Sans maybe?) and focus on the words and meanings they want to convey to the

audience.

According to the film, how does type affects our lives?

Type is everywhere. The choice of typeface may affect our perceptions of things. For example, it

is mentioned in the documentary that the government is using Helvetica to make people believe

that it is neutral, efficient, accessible, transparent and comfortable.

Will you use Helvetica for your future graphic projects? (optional)

Sure, since Helvetica is almost a symbol of modernismIts air, it's just there, you have no

choice. Anyway I think its good to use Helvetica when I want to deliver a message related to

modern life.