Typography Pt. I: Helvetica

I do not for one second doubt my decision to go to DePaul University. I love my alma mater and I strongly believe that my college experience offered me some great opportunities that I would not have gotten anywhere else. With that being said, there are a few more courses that I wish the school had offered. In hindsight, I may not have sought out these said classes as well as I should have, but there are some fundamentals that I think the school misses out on. One such fundamental, especially for advertisers and graphic designers, is the use of typography.

I happened to have taken Animation 105: Introduction to Visual Design as one of my electives this past Spring as a means to familiarize myself better with Photoshop and Flash. In one class period we watched the documentary Helvetica by Gary Hustwit. This documentary examined the aesthetic and psychological appeal of specific typographies, particularly, Helvetica. It was an interesting documentary that I would certainly recommend to any advertiser, marketer or graphic designer. Watching that film made me realize what a strong, yet understated impact type-face can have on a particular product, signage, advertisement, etc.

She what designer Massimo vignelli has to say about typography and Helvetica:

Of course, you may be one of those people that completely disagrees with this documentary. If that is the case, this might be more your speed -- I Hate Helvetica. Apparently there are quite a following of Helvetica-haters!