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.

Logo Fiasco

I heard about the up roar over the official logo for the London 2012 Olympic Games a number of days before I saw the design itself. By choice I decided to read, listen and observe the reactions to this unveiling and attempt not to see for myself until some dust had settled. Five days later I was ready for what some members of the British public were calling "nothing better than graffitti!" I was therefore more than surprised when I laid my eyes upon said logo. Edgey, youthful and urban may be, but graffitti, I think not. Tame and even uninspiring came to my mind. This design lacked energy, a reflection of the host city and more importantly the 5 Olympic rings or at least their colours. I'm sure the whole process was a very long and hard one for the London committee...with a little politics thrown in to boot. Another design however was very clever and striking incorporating the Union Jack and Big Ben's Tower with the Olympic rings included below. May be a little pretentious considering the games are a time for different nations to come together, but you knew exactly what the image was communicating. My personal favorite was the candidate city logo. A more simple and classic design which directly named the city, year and Olympic rings, but then illustrated the host city by using the colors of the 5 rings and drawing the River Thames weaving in and out of the letters. Sometimes the best idea is the most obvious.

Good Idea!

Have you seen an advertisement for some goofy product or item and thought to yourself "I could have made that" or "Mine had wings and a rotating bowtie". Well Ironic Sans is a fun blog that's focus is design. In this entry we find a list with beautiful line drawings of "Things" famous people have invented or at least are linked to the design and patent. Can you guess the owner and purpose of fig.6?