Helvetica – Perfect Neutrality or Lackluster Default

I’m watching a documentary on an interesting topic: Helvetica (yes, the font). The documentary is simply title “Helvetica” (IMDB info).

It is actually a very interesting documentary that has a ton of information about the font, and typography in general. Since I’m watching it, it’d be a nice time to take a look at this typeface. I’ll also talk about some very interesting opinions expressed by the very designers interviewed.

A Super Brief History of Fonts

Typefaces essentially began back in the mid-15th century. With the introduction of the printing press, they needed something to print with. Typefaces emerged from handwriting, which had been evolving for 3000 years. The typefaces were engraved into blocks of wood or metal, by hand.

The first typefaces were highly Gothic style and generally what we would consider bold. The typefaces were also still very script-like in the beginning. The typefaces continued to evolve and become more like what we are used to seeing today (though always still serif). Some of these we still use today (such as Garamond (around 1540-1590) and Baskerville (ca. 1772).)

The first typeface use of sans-serif appeared in 1786, in a book called “Essai sur l’éducation des aveugles” (An Essay on the Education of the Blind). The first printing type appeared in 1816.

Helvetica was developed in 1957 by a Swiss typeface designer, Max Miedinger, and Eduard Hoffmann. It was considered a very modern font and followed design trends that were common in the post World War II era.

Why People Love/Hate Helvetica

One of the things that was very interesting in the documentary was that the reason some people loved Helvetica and some people hated was the same exact reason: Helvetica was very neutral and non-expressive.

This is something I had ever explicitly though of, but it was instantly obvious once I heard it. Stop and think about it, and Helvetica is like one of three (or four, thanks to the latest Microsoft Office) default fonts that 99% of people using a computer see. It has no real personality of it’s own. It’s basically neutral in every way.

Now, finally, the most interesting part of this documentary was that the idea of what was good and what wasn’t when it came to typography (and typography-related design) was so vastly difference. Some designers thought that typeface should be completely neutral and that it was the context in which it was placed that made it beautiful or efficient. A few designers also discussed that it wasn’t the typeface itself that made it good, but it was the space between the letters that was the real art. These designers loved Helvetica because of it’s neutrality and it’s perfect spacing. On of the designers was even famous for always using a grid when he did typography work.

On the other end of the spectrum there were those that despised Helvetica because it was neutral. These designers believed that the typeface itself should be expressive and art in itself. A scene that stands out in my mind is when one designer was looking at a number of words he had taped to a wall, all in Helvetica. He went through each word saying things like “Where is the ‘explosion’?”, “There is nothing ‘caffeinated’ about this”, and so on because Helvetica didn’t express the word.

Another designer talked about how she would try and use Helvetica stamps (this was pre-computer era). She said she would get frustrated because it wouldn’t work quite right (because of the technical difficulties of using the stamps). An art teacher of hers said that she should forget typefaces and just illustrate them. So, all of the pieces they showed of hers were illustrated and looked quite well; pictures made of words.

The anti-Helvetica camp also discussed how Helvetica has become the “default”. It’s so overused and neutral looking that it has almost no meaning.

You might guess that all of the pro-Helvetica designers were older and all of the anti-Helvetica designers were younger. This was partially true, but not always the case. It began to look like this was the case because the documentary shows tem in this way in the beginning, but then they begin mixing it up and we see that there are people of every creed and age in each camp.

So, what really is best?

Well, I guess as with everything else the saying “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” still holds true. For web developers, we are still limited in what fonts we can make practical use of (though this is rapidly changing), so we are often limited to these simple and elegant typefaces, thus, we use them.

However, if you look at websites such as DaFonts.com, many designers use font as a means of expression, just as much as color and shape.

I think the real lesson, despite what the documentary director may or may not have meant is that you should do what you think looks great and appreciate what you think should be appreciated.

If you have a chance to check out this documentary, do so. It isn’t a documentary just about Helvetica, but about typography and design as well.

Get it on Amazon

You can pick up the Helvetica DVD from Amazon for just $20. If you are a designer (or an aspiring designer) this is definitely one to add to your library. It looks like they also have a rental service where you can watch it for just $3.