Neue Haas Grotesk

You may or not be aware that the typeface Helvetica is celebrating it's 50th birthday and Gary Hustwit made a little documentary film for the occasion. I got the opportunity to see it last night in a full house at the Gene Siskel film center. This film isn't simply about typography, however it is about simply the most overtly used typeface in the western world. Hustwit undoubtly includes all the great graphic designers who were there at the birth and have contributed to the world of type communication to this day. He leads us gentley on this excursion through the history of the infamous typeface which is referred to here as being neutral and air, modern in a off-white middle gray manner and responsible for the Vietnam War. Impressive! In today's world of accessible design technology coupled with an incredible majority of the population consciously deciding how they wish to be portaited in a completely visual forum through networking websites, whether social or otherwise, the right font can say everything. In this film it is argued that typeface can depict an emotion and insight a reaction and that it should be invisible and only the content aloud to speak to the reader. Whatever your standing going in, you will leave this film with one opinion, just to change your mind a thousand times before the day is over. The individuals interviewed are all passionate in a way that seems obscene when you know they're talking about the asethetic design of text. They are some unbeliveble analogies that will have you laughing out loud...pay attention to David Carson's story about a Bryan Ferry article he worked on. One thing's for sure, you will walk the streets averting your eyes from the blinding light that is Neue Haas Grotesk for some time.