Helvetica (2007)

A documentary about typography, graphic design, and global visual culture.

Director:

Gary Hustwit

Stars:

Manfred Schulz, Massimo Vignelli, Rick Poynor

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Manfred Schulz	...	Self
Massimo Vignelli	...	Self
Rick Poynor	...	Self
Wim Crouwel	...	Self
Matthew Carter	...	Self
Alfred Hoffmann	...	Self
Mike Parker	...	Self
Otmar Hoefer	...	Self
Bruno Steinert	...	Self
Hermann Zapf	...	Self
Michael Bierut	...	Self
Leslie Savan	...	Self
Tobias Frere-Jones	...	Self
Jonathan Hoefler	...	Self
Erik Spiekermann	...	Self

Storyline

A documentary about typography, graphic design, and global visual culture.

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Plot Keywords:

text based poster | typography | graphic design | design | typeface | 

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Taglines:

Meet the cast: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ. Now see the movie.

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Genres:

Documentary

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

[All trivia items for this title are spoilers.]

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Quotes

[first lines]
Rick Poynor: Type is saying things to us all the time. Typefaces express a mood, an atmosphere. They give words a certain coloring.
Michael Bierut: Everywhere you look you see typefaces. But there's one you probably see more than any other one, and that's Helvetica. You know, there it is, and it seems to come from no where. You know, it seems like air? It seems like gravity?
Jonathan Hoefler: And it's hard to evaluate it. It's like being asked what you think about off-white paint. It's just... it's just there. And it's hard to ...
[...]

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Connections

Followed by Objectified (2009)

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Soundtracks

Every Direction is North
Written and Performed by El Ten Eleven
Vopar Music/Go Champale Music

User Reviews

Type is saying things to us all the time. Typefaces express a mood, an atmosphere. They give words a certain coloring.

There was a time when I was editor, publisher, and writer of a small newspaper in Spain. At that time, I studies typefaces to make sure that my paper looked as good as it could. In light of that I was interested in this documentary about the most popular typeface designed.

Helvetica has been around 50 years, and is the "default" type according to Erik Spiekermann, who really gives an exciting discussion of the type.

Many others chime in on the pros and cons of Helvetica. It is a fascinating journey into design. Exploring where we have been and where we are going in even the simple areas of life helps us understand who we are.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [Japan]

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 September 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

Helvetica

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$21,680

Company Credits

Production Co:

Veer, Swiss Dots

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1