Helvetica

Is the ubiquitous Helvetica typeface a modernist masterpiece, or the monolithic McDonalds of graphic design? Gary Hustwit’s documentary finds plenty of witnesses for the prosecution and for the defence.

Helvetica treats its titular typeface like any other documentary subject: we visit its birthplace, look at its baby photos, discover how it came to acquire that elegant stage name, talk to its parents and the folk who have worked with it for years. We get glowing tributes and back-stabbing gossip: designers either love Helvetica or hate it. Gradually, the contested views build up into a detailed picture of the philosophy, politics and recent history of design. Hustwit is deft at swiftly extrapolating larger issues like these from his modest topic and just as swiftly scaling back, changing direction, and tackling a different angle. It builds Helvetica the movie into a dense, tidy compendium, swarming with ideas. 

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