Helvetica

I love how he compares type face to musical notes - it isn't the actual type face or the note but it is the space in between that helps to create the impact.

Helvetica developed because they were looking for a legible modern type face. It is clear and good for everything. Love the example of "I love you" and he is exactly right about the variations of a font.

For anything that had to spell out lound and clear "modern". 1950's post war real feeling of idealism for designers. Design is part of the need to rebuild and reconstruct - to be more open, run smoothly and be more democratic.

Early experiments of high modernest period. International typographic style. Swiss designers drove. 1957 is when Helvetica was developed.

Clarity - clear readable and straightforward. The Grid - but always along the line of the Grid. I agree with this completely. There is a specific way that the eye sees things and reads things. The rule of 3rds in design, but to design type face on a line and symmetrical.

The use of a neutral type face to allow the design you are working on the remain in the center stage, opposed to taking away from a design with a font with "too much".

Matthew Carter: Worked with MS on Verandia and Georgia. Made type in all the means that there are to make type. Really cool to see how a type face designer starts when designing a type face. Start with the "H", then to the "O" then to a "P".

Said of Helvetica Edward Hoffman wanted / Max Meetinger who did the drawings and designed the type face. Haas type foundry. Haasnoya Grotesque - the figure ground relationship. Swiss pay more attention to the background. The space between the characters is what grounds it. Meetinger wasn't working as designer but a salesman. Was selling foundry type.

Linotype owned Stemple and Haas and they currently own Helvetica. "The Swiss Typeface". Figure ground relationship executed properly.

Aprilia, Target, BMW, Nestle, AA, Muji, Energizer, The North Face, JCPenny, Staples.

Neutral and efficient - using helvetica more accessible transparent and accountable. EPA and IRS use Helvetica. Open interpretation to where it is used and what it is associated with it. Describe the qualitative parts of type face that are totally outside of what type face is.

Gotham type face. Casting director.

Everyone is saying the same thing - it is air and it is there and you need it. Interesting to hear who likes it and who really dislike it and why.

I do this with my clients and I didn't really realize what I was doing. I'll design a piece and then I will put the actual text message in a couple different fonts and allow the client to choose which they like better.

Helvetica - typeface of capitalism or socialism?

Corporate culture of design and ...

OK. I'm 58 minutes into this video and I think I am done. As a designer I use fonts that I think are appropriate based on what I am trying to communicate and what the piece I am working on is. I like fonts like Hawaii Lover and Hawaii Killer, Whitney, Century Gothic. I also use Futura and the variations of it and there is another "F" font that I like. I also like bleeding cowboys for certain things and paintball for other things. It just depends on what I'm designing and what I'm working on. So there it is - it was kind of an interesting video and I liked hearing what people like and dislike about Helvetica. I'm kind of over listening to it though... :(