Helvetica
I just finished watching the Helvetica documentary we talked about in class, and it was pretty fascinating. Here are a couple of things I found interesting:
1. Helvetica comes from the Latin word for Switzerland (the neutrality reflected in the font), and it came out in response to the poor designs of the 1950s, i.e. the same time as the Xerox.
2. The second type designer interviewed says he became a typographer because his father was one.
3. One of the type designers (the only female one) talked about how, during the ’70s, Helvetica became the font of the establishment, so to the counterculture, it was the font of the Vietnam War. The documentarian asked what the font of the Iraq War is, and she immediately responded, “Helvetica.” She even goes so far as to say Helvetica is why we’re fighting again.
4. Lastly, after recapping the modern era’s transition from overly stylized to Helvetica to grunge and back to Helvetica, the designers say, in a way, we’ve reached the end of history. That reminded me of how our class studied history backward, to get to the end/beginning.
Semi-relatedly, young Irish folk singer Fionn Regan released an album last year called The End of History, and it is pretty full of references from class. The second song is even called “The Underwood Typewriter.”
–Brandon