Helvetica - The Movie

Helvetica was created at the Haas Type Foundry in Switzerland in 1957. Originally, the font was called Neue Haas Grotesk, meaning the New Haas Typeface. This was changed to Helvetica, the Latin translation of “The Swiss Typeface.” Helvetica brought the Swiss design style, consisting of angular and simple shapes, to the world.

Some design styles discussed in the film include illustrated type, grunge typography, modernism, and the use of restrictions.

I found the film’s focus on the evolution of typefaces relevant in contextualizing the fonts that are popularly used in design today (the switch to digital design in particular). The analysis of negative space and letter spacing in typeface design was also something I hadn’t considered much before. I’ll be keeping this in mind when choosing and using fonts in my designs. Lastly, the widespread use of Helvetica in itself is something I hadn’t noticed before. As one designer said in the film, Helvetica is like off-white paint in that nobody notices that it’s there even though it’s almost everywhere we look.

Wim Crouwel was born in the Netherlands in 1928. He began his career as a expressionist painter and quickly transitioned to designing posters. He was one of the original founders of the design studio Total Design and worked there for much of his career. In addition to posters, Crouwel also worked designing catalogues, magazines, and typefaces. 

Biography and examples of his work on posters and typefaces throughout his career:
http://www.iconofgraphics.com/Wim-Crouwel/

  

Erik Spiekermann, born in 1947, is a type and graphic designer from Germany. He started his career working as a freelance designer in London and later founded his design company, MetaDesign. Spiekermann later founded FontShop, the first company to distribute mail-order digital fonts.

Biography and examples of his typeface design and works:

http://courses.washington.edu/des209/downloads/Pecha%20Kucha%20presentations/PK_Spiekermann_E.pdf

Neville Brody, born in 1957, is an English graphic designer and typographer. He first became well known by designing record covers. By 1988, a book chronicling his work was published; it became the best selling graphic design book. Today, he continues to work in graphic design with his design company, Research Studios. 

Short biography and examples of his work on his design company’s site:

http://www.researchstudios.com/neville-brody/

Massimo Vignelli was born in 1931 in Milan, Italy. He works as not only a graphic designer, but also in furniture, house ware, and showroom design. His work is mainly modernist and utilizes a combination of geometric shapes. He opened the Vignelli Center For Design Studies in New York. It functions as an art exhibition space, classrooms, and offices. 

Biography and examples of his work, both graphical and other categories:

http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=6155