Face Off: The PBS Documentary Helvetica

I thought there were a few interesting comments in this article. The first thing that struck me was a sort of tyranny of the chic. I always find it ironic when those of a creative mind become highly judgmental of those things they consider "old" or "established". I love the creative drive to break new ground, but when it comes at the expense or mockery of what came before, I see hypocrisy. Paula Scher's "moral opposition" betrays an arrogance that says her view is superior to that of Miedinger and Hoffman. It also shows a degree of ignorance about the font and its design.

Helvetica is foremost, a communication tool; one which has performed with great utility for over fifty years. In its infancy, it was a pinnacle of letter form design. Look closely at the characters. Each line and curve flows seamlessly; the stroke widths are absolutely uniform, giving the reader a transmission of meaning from the page to the eye with no distraction. Of course you might not want to use it on a Papa Poach poster, but everything has its form and function. "Tyophile" Spiekerman should know this.

Creativity is at its best when it is an open-hearted effort to bring in new ideas. When contaminated by this sort of wrathful distain for older creation, it becomes tainted.

Revel about what you will create in your heart, but cherish and appreciate the think that got you to where you now stand.

(this email was originally sent to the creators of Helvetica (the film) October 6, 2008....Swiss Dots, London with no response)
HELVETICA

This email is in response to the seeing the film, Helvetica.

To The Helvetica Film Team: I recently had the pleasure of watching your movie, Helvetica, and I thought that it was very good overall. However, never once was Geigy Pharmaceutical and its top graphic design team (many now in Helvetica Heaven like Fred Troller, Theo Welti, Marcus Lowe and many others.) mentioned in the role that Helvetica played in the worldwide corporate identity (Branding) that Geigy created using Helvetica. (In the beginning Geigy originally had an exclusive contractual agreement for the use of Helvetica to my knowledge) Geigy literally wrote the book on Corporate/Brand Identity through their in-house design group both in Basel and in the U.S. which many others followed throughout the world and in many cases still follow. We all have creative license to create history as we choose and that is very acceptable here in the colonies, but to have the Swiss designers who were interviewed in your film leave Geigy out is astonishing. All the designers interviewed missed a valuable part of Graphic Design History by leaving out the incredible Graphic Design movement at Geigy, Basel. There has been nothing like it since. Maybe you were aware of this or maybe it was edited out.... but unfortunately many young and growing designers have lost a valuable piece of inspiring graphic design/type history desperately needed in today's industry. Geigy In-House Design ( design/copy standards continued through the merger of Ciba & Geigy ) played a very important role in the use of Helvetica globally in setting Swiss Design standards including the grid, flush left, copy setting and copy writing standards. Most of all, when design©= concept, the audience would actually be GRABBED by the combination of graphic+headline and would actually READ stunning copy in an era of perfection and creativity when design© ruled. In my opinion, you had the opportunity to preserve a fabulous movement in global graphic design© concept guided by Helvetica. Clean & Simple... when marketing wasn't a department and design& copy had a godfather... or today when creativity and democracy = mediocrity.

Thanks, Bob Talarczyk,

Creative Director/CEO Darkhorse Design, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

Former Design Director, Producer Ciba-Geigy Pharmaceuticals,U.S.A.