Tuesday, November 11, 2008

A Universal Font: Helvetica

After watching the movie Helvetica, I'm amazed at how frequent it's used around the world. I never really noticed it before. The movie was interesting although I think it was a bit too long. =P But throughout the film, I grabbed some interesting quotes and statements that I enjoyed. Here are a few I remember/jotted down:
"Life of a designer is a fight" ~ Designers are constantly fighting to find a cure to problems
"A tool for creating order is a grid. Creating order is typography." ~ Hmm...sounds familiar, project one anyone?
"You can't make better design with a computer, but you can speed it up." ~ So true, sometimes I find myself wanting to make things by hand instead of on the computer. I feel like I have more control.

Other things I grabbed from the video:
Use no more than 3 typefaces, having too many becomes confusing.
Helvetica is modern, clear, and can be used in every way.
Helvetica emerged in 1957 by Eduoard Hofffman, when there was a need for rational typefaces.
There is a specific sequence (usually) when designing type:
Start with the letter h and see if you want to make it serif or sans serif, the thickness, ascender
& x-height.
Continue by designing the "o" which is different from the "h"
Then a "p"
(This way you have a variety of forms that will help you design all the other letters because once you have an "h" you have an "n" and with a "p" you have
a "d" and a "q"