Font nerdery.

Please insert the requisite "OMG, so long since my last post" comment here. Moving on.

I went to go see a movie about Helvetica yesterday. Yes, the font. It was good.



After a brief history of the genesis of the Helvetica font, the movie was more of an exploration of typeface design (and design in general) over the last 50 years, as filtered through the lens of Helvetica.

In brief: before Helvetica, things were ugly! Then there was Helvetica. It was great! Every company in the world used Helvetica! So Helvetica became the corporate typeface (and, as one designer stated, "the font of the Vietnam war")! So people started hating on Helvetica! Boo, Helvetica! Yay, weird fonts! Hooray, ugliness! Then the youngsters decided they could make Helvetica new again!

Also, there are a lot of designers with interesting eyeglass frames and gorgeous studio spaces. The soundtrack is also nifty (Sam Prekop and Battles were the two I could easily identify).

Fun times: after the movie, the woman in front of me stood up and said "So who here's a designer?". Everyone else raised their hands, and someone asked if there were any non-designers who would watch this. In a sotto voice, I said, "I thought it looked cool."

I've already prepurchased this on DVD. Helvetica party?

So yeah... if you get a chance to see the film, do so.