出于人们对Helvetica的过度关注以及自己本身对它的兴趣,Gary Hustwit就拍了这么一部影片(Hustwit之前在02年拍摄过一部纪录片《I Am Trying to Break Your Heart》,中文译名:《我在试图让你伤心》,将镜头对准了美国民谣乐队Wilco和其背后的音乐行业,记录了Wilco的专辑Yankee Hotel Foxtrot'诞生的艰难历程,影片公映后大获好评),而借助这部影片,Hustwit把话语权交给了片中的那些大牌设计师们 (Erik Spiekermann, Matthew Carter, Massimo Vignelli, Michael Bierut, Wim Crouwel, Hermann Zapf, Stefan Sagmeister, Jonathan Hoefler, Tobias Frere-Jones等人悉数登场)。
Gary Hustwit把《Helvetica》拍的如同Helvetica本身的气质一样,有着那种中性,有时是一种宁静,虽然激烈的争辩使得影片火药味十足,但精心选配的背景音乐和画面完美结合,相应冲淡了这种味道,让影片始终处于一个平和舒缓的节奏,如果单看画面和聆听音乐,犹如跟着一个字体导游游历各个国家。不失为一种惬意的享受。
PS: 现在字体传记电影已经过气了,那现在流行什么?现在流行的是玩转凸版印刷音乐视频(letterpress music video)。
Helvetica,这个我从来也没听过的名词,前段时间友邻推荐见到了下面这篇帖子“为什么不要使用 Comic sans 字体”(http://www.douban.com/note/259659900/),读完了,百度了评价很高的Helvetica,继而找到了关于这个名词竟然还有一个纪录片,看完后我自己按照片子里介绍的几种字体在Word里做了个试验。(Win7 系统,好多片中介绍的字体没有,只能粗略做个试验。)
http://www.douban.com/photos/photo/1988177696/ 图一:Win7 Word文档,没有更改字体大小,默认五号字体,5种版本的字的样子,可以看出Arial是最清晰的,Verdana把清晰建立在增加字间距上了。 等等,Times New Roman这个字体不是高中时每周一会晤的《英语周报》上的字体么!!!怎么那么熟悉,擦暴漏年龄了。
片中有一段我觉得好贴切,cut下来 So if you says “Buy these jeans” in a Grunge form, you would expected to be some kind of rag jean or, you know to be sold in some kind of underground clothing store. If you see the same message in Helvetica, you know, it probably unsold GAP, its gonna be clean you are gonna fit in and you are not gonna stand up. Helvetica这个字体给我的感觉就是干净、正式,但是确实如spiekermann所说,当它变成了大家都用的一种默认字体(iPhone的默认界面字体是Helvetica,文本编辑器/邮件的默认字体是Helvetica,微软常用的 Arial 字体也来自于它),审美疲劳的大家也就觉得这个东西像空气,没什么特点了,放之中国就是宋体2333。后面又出现了一批后现代主义设计师,然后两个主义在互喷,哈哈哈哈哈我不写了你们自己看吧,笑死了。
“You are always the child of your time, and you cannot step out of that."
My Favorite Quotes from Helvetica: ===========================
On Typeface Selection: ------------------------------- Typefaces express a mood, an atmosphere. They give words a certain coloring. The sort of classical modernist line on how aware a reader should be of a typeface is that they shouldn't be aware of it at all. It should be this crystal goblet there to just hold and display and organize the information. But I don't think it's really quite as simple as that. I think even if they're not consciously aware of the typeface they're reading, they'll certainly be affected by it, the same way that an actor that's miscast in a role will affect someone's experience of a movie or play that they're watching. They'll still follow the plot, but, you know, be convinced or affected. I think typography is similar to that, where a designer choosing typefaces is essentially a casting director.
On Helvetica: ------------------ A neutral typeface which invites open interpretation and indicates Inherent rightness.
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? 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 get your head around, it's that big. Helvetica has almost like a perfect balance of push and pull in its letters. And that perfect balance sort of is saying to us - well it's not sort of, it *is* saying to us - "don't worry, any of the problems that you're having, or the problems in the world, or problems getting through the subway, or finding a bathroom... all those problem aren't going to spill over, they'll be contained. And in fact, maybe they don't exist."
On Simplicity: ------------------- Don't confuse legibility with communication. Just because something is legible doesn't mean it communicates and, more importantly, doesn't mean it communicates the right thing. There is a very thin line between simple and clean and powerful and simple and clean and boring.
Miscellaneous: --------------------- Life of a designer is a life of fight, fight against the ugliness. You're always a child of your time, and you cannot step out of that.
My Favorite Moment in the Documentary: =============================== Michael Bierut making his passionate statement: “In Helvetica, period!!!”
在科普之后非常辩证地分析了Helvetica背后的意义,本质上非常像(Helvetica代表的)现代主义与后现代主义之间的碰撞。H的中立、简洁、秩序感代表着一种风格,受到一部分设计师的推崇,也就不可避免地被另一群人认为是乏味的、缺乏个性的。潮流即是不断在变化的,经典虽是经典,只是不要盲目崇拜便好。
不错,远不只是关于Helvetica。OL:http://www.jlpfans.com/player/a99880d39e5daec3-1-0.html
很直观、丰富、中性、有教益的纪录片。Helvetia=瑞士/Helvetica=瑞士的
detail matters
Helvetica 对于我来说,就是冷静、清晰、精准的代言词。能简单,绝对不要复杂。不要有任何情感,每一个细节无可挑剔。
为一个字体拍一部纪录片,真是难得。每天都在用这个字体,知道它名字的又有多少。实用主义的理性和美学的结合,它真的很耐看。
平等理性的看待海尔外提卡 睡前我想了一下 这是哲性问题 先是人们需要一种新的事物打破现在的混沌 然后新的来了 一窝蜂的赞美和普及 然后又权威混沌垄断了 有人维护经典 有人开始质疑权威 有人认为已经到达顶端 有人固步自封 有人认为这是另一个混沌 有人还不知道这一切
用了有几年,从来没用心看过它的名字到底怎么念
70年代时,年轻一代都追捧迷幻剂一样的字体,到了80年代,他们的思想完全乱成一团,他们不知道在乎什么,但他们知道要反对什么,那就是 Helvetica。当字体排印设计终于陷入了不可挽救的混乱中,设计师们在90年代末能做的就是回归了,回归到早期的设计方式,并用一套新的理论来支持它。
字体也有大学问。
現代主義與後現代主義!
Helvetica,拉丁语“瑞士的”,完美的现代主义字体设计,读起来看起来都好舒服。原来身边存在那么多Helvetica设计,惊讶于设计师可以用如此充沛的词汇来描述形容一款字体。字体和空间的关系,字体本身的正负关系和结识的矩阵体系,神奇的美学。大师说,真正算得上好的字体大概有一打,他常用的只有两三
非常骄傲呀~西文字体盛大YY~
so cool
http://www.helveticafilm.com/ | Download Helveticafilm here: http://www.mininova.org/tor/1018081. + Chinese subtitles here: http://tinyurl.com/4xkv72 | 这篇讲Arial和Helvetica的文章很有学术味道,写作方式也很学术。什么是我们真正需要的英文字体——由Arial和Helvetica 的比较引发的思考。 http://snurl.com/25f
里面那些字体设计师一个个都是大毒舌,听他们骂人可真是丰富了表达词汇呢。
journalism课上放的。还算有趣。
Helvetica用了这么多年的字体 哎 很好的片子 很直观的表达
想到关山最爱的大标宋
认识和了解这一伟大的无衬线字体。后现代主义典范,纯粹,理性,权威。中文字体感觉唯有微软雅黑有此份量但也望尘莫及。片末的主题升华很不错,从字体到设计,学问很多。