HELVETICA NOTES

HELVETICA

 

Helvetica is used in brand names, street signs, and logos.

Helvetica is simple, neutral, and easy on the eyes, sans serif; letters have uniformity to them.

Helvetica has perfect spacing. It’s a modernist font, which represents modern, space, easy, relaxed, but it is ubiquitous, it has come to the point where it’s like white space. It’s everywhere, so we get bored of it and it’s not cool, too simple, and too perfect. Its supposed to make you feel safe and “in”…but its bad for the designers, because its boring. It’s too vanilla, too corporate, and too institutional.

Its modern, cool, but modern is becoming retro.

 

CREATING A FONT:

 

Make an h first then an o and then a p then do letters like those just flipped around, like m,q,d, b.  

Horizontal slicing off of terminals.

Ex. Sears, Jeep, Toyota, Aprilia, Kawasaki, Target, Tupperware, Nestle, Verizon, conEdison, Lufthansa, Saab, Oral B, JcPenny, Fendi, Fifa, Adidas, street signs like Stop... Coca cola…old way…new coke in Helvetica.

 

Helvetica, rather than being authoritarian, beurocratic and oppressive, excess able, transparent and accountable.

 

Anti Helvetica Guy: Real Typeface needs rhythm and contrast….Helvetica ha neither. Needs lots of white space around it. All the letters look the same.

Typeface is part of branding. Branding is the projecting of qualities of the company.  

HELVETICA NOTES PART 2

Counter culture of the sixties overwhelms the modern movement before rise of flower power movement. No more straight and clean lines in fonts. 

In the 70's everyhing out of control, in 80's the "disease"

david carson...............

Maximo Vienelli- high priest of modernism (objective)

David Carson- high priest of post-modernism (subjective)

Grunge...and design!

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MODERNISM

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-Functionalism

-Utilitarianism

-Objectivist

-Simple

-Clean

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POST MODERNISM

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-Subjectivist

-Free form

-Chaotic

- Complicated

HELVETICA NOTES

-Wim Crowell a modernist. Designed city logos and school books.

-Michael C. Place, post modernist...says you can make helvetica speak to you in the way what its representing