Blog 5 Helvetica

What did you learn that you didn’t know before?

Helvetica was born in Switzerland around 1957; it was created by Edward Hoffman through the design company he worked for. He spent a lot of time trying to create a perfect legible font that was clean.  This was not quick work, he spent a huge amount of time looking at the problems with the font and fixing them, and many designers feel he succeeded in creating the perfect font. I dint realise the vast use of Helvetica across the planet – it’s used in everything from car manufacturers to toilet information. It first took the name “Die Neue Haas Grotesque”, this name did not reflect the clean ideas that Helvetica had been designed for, so they set about finding a new name. First off it was to be “Helveticia” - because the parent company, which is controlled by linotype – wanted the reflect Switzerland. The Latin name for Switzerland is actually Helveticia, Hoffman felt this was not suitable for the worldwide, neutral appeal of the font, so they settled on the name “Helvetica”.

What surprised you?

I was extremely surprised by the way in which designers opinions of Helvetica differ. People such as Massimo Vignelli talk about the way that Helvetica is the perfect, clean font – he shows the work he did in 1966 for “American Airlines” that used Helvetica. It hasn’t changed its logo since then, proving Helvetica is timeless and very strong. However when you flip to the other side of the coin with Paula Cher that actually goes as far as saying that Helvetica was to blame for the Iraq war, due to the links with business that supported the Vietnam war.

What made you laugh?

I found a number of the designer’s personality’s funny, in particular Michael C place – who talked about the jobs he’s had creating wedding designs and having to talk to mothers in law – which stresses him out. David Carson interested me in the way he didn’t have any training and almost blustered in to the graphic design scene and annoyed many skilled veteran designers with his playful experimental ways. I found it funny that he didn’t have much knowledge or care for the typographical rules, and more taught himself. Helvetica is so widely used that even the motley crew of “Jackass” performers use Helvetica in the name – I find this amusing and quite ironic that such a proud font would/could be used in such a way.

Did you discover any new designers you’d like to learn more about? Who were they and what intrigued you about them?

There were three designers I would love to learn more about. Firstly, Eric Spiekermann because he came across as a really funny and interesting guy – his techniques in creating type that helps give a message intrigues me. He is not a fan of Helvetica, or I should say he’s not a fan of how it is used, i.e. he calls it like “air” as it is so common.  Secondly is Stephan Sagmeister- who’s talk on happy design was one reason I wanted to be a graphic designer – his crazy ways of carving the text into his own body and using wacky and eccentric techniques almost show his personality in his designs. Thirdly is David Carson, simply due to his work and background. The way he doesn’t have any training in digital art gives a fresh approach to design and is different to anything else I’ve seen.

Did you find the designers from your last project in the film?

Neither of my designers featured in person; however Hoffmanns “Giselle” poster did, the background into which he worked was explained more. The Swiss style was the movement in which he was working, it was a time of experimenting, and Helvetica was a predominant font then.

How did the designers in the film speak about the typeface? How much of the discussion was technical and how much was emotional/meaningful?

There was a fair chunk at the beginning that was going into the technical aspects of the font.  Matthew Carter talks about the way in which font designer approach fonts design, for example the do it methodically, starting with the letters “h”, ”o,”  and ”p” because that gives them many other letter bases. The Space around the letters is explained, the counters and the space around each letter are powerful because it makes the letters look like there being stuck/sucked to the page by a matrix of surrounding space. The Horizontal Terminals in the font are there to create interest also.

The emotional side of the font is what the film is more based on, and is more interesting if I’m honest. Helvetica is said to be a neutral font that is accessible to any person trained or not. But because it is so crisp and readily used across the world, there seems to be no link to emotion, say some designers. However others say that because it is so neutral there is an element of interpretation to it, the reader receives the message of the text through the type. The font is said to be almost human in features so therefore makes a greater emotional attachment to any readers.

How can this approach help you talk about type in the future?

I will talk about type in the way it looks and the way it makes readers feel. The explanation of fonts technically is interesting, but the explanation of type emotionally is where the beauty of it appears. I would most likely focus any talks on type on the emotional attachments and how there are/can be used in everyday life.

Are you pro or anti Helvetica? Did the film change your opinion or make you feel differently?

I very much pro Helvetica for the font itself, it is a perfect font – it is crisp clean and concise. However, due to the film educating me, I do agree that it is largely overused; there are fonts that visually communicate the topic better in certain aspects.  Visual communication is not about the legibility sometimes there are stronger meanings in the type use. Although I do agree Helvetica is the appropriate type to use in most examples, there can sometimes be more thought in choosing font, rather than going for the easy option, the default, Helvetica.

What is your Relationship with Helvetica? Did you grow up with it like the Dutch or is it something your only recently aware of?

I feel I probably have grown up with Helvetica, as it all around me, from car names to billboards to even on ambulances. Because my eye was untrained, I didn’t notice that all these were in Helvetica – I thought it was just some old font. Now my eyes are opened to where it is used, I am much more aware it is there; in fact I would miss it if it was gone.

How will you use it now you have learned more about it?

Learning the meanings of fonts such as Helvetica I will definitely think more carefully when choosing a font.  Sometimes it is the prefect font for ta subject, sometimes it’s not – from now on I will make sure to choose the appropriate font, through similar research into other type.

Final Comments

“Graphic design is an expression of who you are” that is something I strongly believe in. Although I wasn't enthusiastic at the thought of watching a film on Helvetica – it turned out to eye opening and I really enjoyed it – which in itself made me feel better.

That font is Saaaaauuuuucccyyyy

Being topical, i have chosen a headline about the death of Gaddafi, however this is a gory topic. It conjures up many images of the many photos floating about of his dead body. The word "Leeches" also latches onto this idea. I have chosen to use the "AdineKirnberg-Script" Script font which on its own starts to give the idea of beauty and flowing neatly. I have used a gradient on both the text and the background to add a bit of interest, coupled with this i have varied the font size, with an extra big "T" and important words such as "leeches" and "Gaddafi" have been subtly sized larger. The Leading is tighter than regular to give the idea of the letters having a close relationship and physically almost hugging. I have created this will a diagonal justification line which makes it look more dynamic and saucy.

For this one i have chosen a funny headline from a paper, i have tried to change the mood of it completely through my use of font, shape, size and colour. I have used various font sizes in this example which puts emphasis on certain words. I used a red colour for the "accidentally" part of the headline, which gives connotations of a horrible accident. The font is in all-caps which gives the idea that its been shouted or shrieked to the audience, to add to this madness i have tried putting the text at an angle.

Getting around (Train Ticket)

My Original Train Ticket

Font Choice:

Through research I have found that the font is called “Rail alphabet” to stop forging it is hard to get onto a computer for home use. However it similar to an “arial” based font but has small tweaks to it to make it very hard if not impossible to forge. I would imagine due to the way its printer, they have special matrix printers to burn the type on, that it would have been used in the rail industry for a number of years. The history behind it then would be great as it would have been used for many years with people from all walks of life and across the whole of the UK. It is clear and easily readable so does its job well, it would have been designed to functional not decorative. It was chosen for the way in which it has been made to look unforgeable (not quite) and the job of being easily read by the public.

Information Hierarchy:

                I would say the hierarchy used is appropriate, the overall look of the ticket, at first glance, it looks method less and that the text was thrown onto it, it looks messy and unpredictable (much like public transport). However on further inspection there is a use of headlines and subheadings, looking at the information there is four pieces of information that are important to be seen. These are:

·         1. Where the trains from

·         2.Where the trains to

·         3.What class is the ticket

·         4.Is it a single, return or all day ticket

When you realise these are the pieces of information that need to be shown, you can see the ticket has been designed reasonably well.  The four pieces of information are shown in a heavier weight with a heavy bold weight instead of the base text being in medium, this is a good technique.  The placement of the text seems to have been designed to be regimented and in rows and columns – however I feel that this has been lost along the way somehow, with a more sloppy layout.

Usability:

                Due to the masses of people from all walks of life, are going to be using these tickets every day, the usability is very important. The man group of people that are going compelled to use it are the ticket masters on the train itself. This is due to the way the system works, you only need your ticket when its asked for by theses officials. These men/women will be trained at reading tickets and will have been through rigorous eye tests to make sure they are able to read small print. However elderly people or people with poor vision could struggle with reading the small font, but this is an issue that can’t really be resolved. Since there is only a certain amount of paper to print the information on, the cant really get rid of anything else to make the font bigger.

I feel this is the main problem - managing the information in a way that is functional but also is aesthetically pleasing. I feel the information could be giving in a much more friendly, and this is what i'm going to show in the small example of how simply it could be changed -  

 

I have changed this, keeping the same information but simply changing the information to make it look more friendly and complete its primary function in the same way. I have used an "Helvetica" based font and varied the weight of the headings to increase readability. I have kept all the same information but have changed the layout to seem less cluttered and more organized.  

Ampersand

This ampersand was designed for the ‘Coming Together’ part of Font Aid IV with all benefits going to Doctors without Borders and the Haiti Earthquake Appeal. Does it have unifying properties? I say yes, since the normal “&” has been changed to incorporate a sign which is well known for the unification of two people… love, of course.

                Typographically speaking it is a sans serif font and is reasonably simple in shape. It is hard to see where the joins in the “E” and the “T” are joined but they are, shown in the “just my type” book. The modern style of this particular ampersand is pleasing as it isn’t a million miles away from general san serif ampersands. The fact that it looks like it is based on a font much like “gill sans” – the creator of which didn’t approve of the use of ampersands – is quite cheeky.  The ampersand does not go below the baseline and the curves of the bowl and the ligature flow very well into each other. The spine stands straight and true along its diagonal ascent giving strength to the font. The top is where the comparison to other fonts stops. The double bulge acts together with the ascender and descender in the middle to create a love heart shape.

I think if this font were a person it would be a strong and loving person, with a bouncy bubbly sense of humour. The straight edges of the ends of the font make me feel it could have another side to it as well (much like love), a side where it can be very sharp witted and hurtful.  Ampersands are used to join things, like “and” and “und” etc., however the biggest use of them is joining up people’s names like “Mr & Mrs Thomson”. I think this is where this would be used in the modern world, because of the romantic styled unification of this particular ampersand – I feel it would be perfect for joining together names like love itself does.

Grid Exercise (4 of them)

1 size of type & flush left alignment only

1 size of type, flush left and variable weights

 Varying the size of type but keeping it flush left and one weight

Anything goes!!

 

Alligment exercise (The three of them)

The first one is to create emphasis on certain words that have meaning to the extract of text as a whole.

The second is to show the use of having flush right text and flush left text together, they will hinge on the

  central axis.

 

The third is to show the effects of having the text aligned in a window style.