Helvetica, a documentary • Hacker News Board

Re: Helvetica, a documentary

#41

Post by dehrmann » Sun, Jun 07, 2020, 6:39 PM UTC

082349872349872 wrote: post #19

fimdomeio wrote: post #12

And if I may suggest: Articles of interest – suits[1]. Suits are in a lot of ways the helvetica of garments. [1] https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/suits-articles-of-int...

From the textile viewpoint, suits are the copperplate of garments. In many cultures, traditional wear can be made out of rectangles of fabric with minimal cutting and sewing. (consider the togas from "Animal House") A suit used to say "I have so many rectangles of fabric, I can afford to waste most of them by cutting out irregular shapes and then sewing some fraction of the resulting pieces back together". (Now all i…

Considering how much fabric is somewhat redundant in those traditional garments, the measuring, cutting, and sewing are more interesting than the wasted fabric.

Re: Helvetica, a documentary

#42

Post by dehrmann » Sun, Jun 07, 2020, 6:49 PM UTC

bcks wrote: post #24

I really enjoyed this film, but in telling the story of the cultural power and ubiquity of Helvetica, I think it dramatically underplays the fact that variations on Helvetica have been pre-installed on most modern personal computers by default.

> variations on Helvetica have been pre-installed on most modern personal computers by default

Windows doesn't have one.

Re: Helvetica, a documentary

#43

Post by FlorianRappl » Sun, Jun 07, 2020, 7:18 PM UTC

glenngillen wrote: post #9

disposedtrolley wrote: post #3

I haven't watched Helvetica, but the same director also made Objectified which is fascinating look into the industrial design of everyday products. https://www.hustwit.com/objectified

Add Urbanized to that list too, it’s a really great look at how cities and their spaces are designed. He also recently produced Rams which I’ve not yet had a chance to see but I hope is on par with his previous work. And if you enjoy these films you’ll also likely appreciate the Abstract series which originally aired on Netflix.

Thanks for sharing. Did not know about Urbanized - but looks fantastic!

Re: Helvetica, a documentary

#44

Post by Wistar » Sun, Jun 07, 2020, 7:50 PM UTC

archsurface wrote: post #40

There's a game called typerider for people interested in typography.

Also, although somewhat tedious, there is a "what font is this?" game called Typewar.

http://typewar.com/

Re: Helvetica, a documentary

#45

Post by Wistar » Sun, Jun 07, 2020, 7:53 PM UTC

Jaruzel wrote: post #33

I'm hoping the sequel will be about 'Why everyone should love MS Comic Sans'.

The Guardian: Interview: "How we made the typeface Comic Sans"

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/mar/28/how-we-...

Re: Helvetica, a documentary

#46

Post by dehrmann » Sun, Jun 07, 2020, 8:40 PM UTC

Wistar wrote: post #39

See also: "Behind the Typeface: Cooper Black" https://vimeo.com/31237546

I liked the information, but I didn't enjoy the "Behind the Music" parody format.

Re: Helvetica, a documentary

#47

Post by WalterBright » Sun, Jun 07, 2020, 9:15 PM UTC

I'm probably a cretin, but I just don't understand all the fuss about a font.

Re: Helvetica, a documentary

#48

Post by thomk » Sun, Jun 07, 2020, 9:21 PM UTC

WalterBright wrote: post #47

I'm probably a cretin, but I just don't understand all the fuss about a font.

Actually a font is a file on a computer, Helvetica is a typeface. Does that help? :D Probably not.

Re: Helvetica, a documentary

#49

Post by hatmatrix » Sun, Jun 07, 2020, 9:26 PM UTC

thomk wrote: post #48

WalterBright wrote: post #47

I'm probably a cretin, but I just don't understand all the fuss about a font.

Actually a font is a file on a computer, Helvetica is a typeface. Does that help? :D Probably not.

> The distinction between font and typeface is that a font designates a specific member of a type family such as roman, boldface, or italic type, while typeface designates a consistent visual appearance or style which can be a "family" or related set of fonts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typeface

Re: Helvetica, a documentary

#50

Post by hatmatrix » Sun, Jun 07, 2020, 9:28 PM UTC

vijucat wrote: post #29

Aside: I noticed that Google has some great fonts as part of Google Slides and other products while helping my daughter with her distance learning homework during the recent COVID 19 scare. In particular, I liked Comfortaa [1], Pacifico [2] (as a Comic Sans alternative), and Merriweather [3] (as a formal alternative for Times New Roman). You can download them here: https://fonts.google.com/?sort=popularity [1] https:…

ROboto ftw

https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Roboto

Though maybe people are going to say it's overdone.