Submitted by mic on Fri, 02/08/2008 - 08:56.
The one quote that I remember from Helvetica comes from one of the scholars early on in the film:
"Typography is about making order."
This seems to fit in both the context of modernism and the aesthetic appeal of Helvetica to the viewer. While the actual font's size and thickness may vary from text to text and place to place, it is linearly (and often symmetrically) structured, as we learned from some of its creators, who mapped out individual letters on graphing sheets. It's simplicity and ubiquitousness in a technologically evolving culture has altered life subtly, yet much more so than we might originally think...
Mainly, the lack of seraphs has made each letter and therefore each word more easily recognizable; it resembles more of a handwritten text. This increases the speed at which one can read the text, and saves time. It also makes the task of foreigners approaching it simpler. Simplicity indeed is the goal in modern photography, art, architecture, etc. read more »
