Helvetica's Hefty Impact on Modern Society

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.

The words "clean," "professional," "efficient" and "industrious" were mentioned. This is undoubtedly true in terms of its appeal to the shopper, the student, the designer. And yet it can mean many things to others (and even to myself in different contexts) - cold, imperious, friendly, reliable, effective, smooth, etc. In a sense, Helvetica is relative, and the genius in its design is that whoever employs it allows no one interpretation of its meaning and effect. This creates a sort of mystery, an appeal that is found in curiosity. What is the object/person/location/idea that lies behind this plain text? Relativism - yet another example of Helvetica's modernism.

One thing is certain, however, is its order, and it is this very truth that drives postmodern artists (such as the one we saw towards the end of the film) absolutely insane. While they are effective in communication (that is, of the actual symbol), they are, in a sense, unable to communicate the ethos of a word - its passion, its sense of life. In his mind, typography is not at all about making order, because it is order that confines typography by default. The true art of typography, in his mind, is disorder, causing the viewer more than a little mental and even emotional effort to be able to intelligently interpret the text.

Enough of my ramblings. I personally began to realize how much Helvetica I really see and do not even notice. In turn, as I became more conscious of it, I enjoyed the film's careful study of its origin and impact.