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Helvetica

David Carson (Actor), Erik Spiekermann (Actor), Gary Hustwit (Director) Rated:

Unrated

Format: DVD

418 ratings

IMDb7.2/10.0

Amazon's Choice for "helvetica"

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November 20, 2007

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Product Description

Changing the world, one letter at a time…
Helvetica is a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which will celebrate its 50th birthday in 2007) as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives. The film is an exploration of urban spaces in major cities and the type that inhabits them, and a fluid discussion with renowned designers about their work, the creative process, and the choices and aesthetics behind their use of type.

Helvetica encompasses the worlds of design, advertising, psychology, and communication, and invites us to take a second look at the thousands of words we see every day.

Interviewees in Helvetica include some of the most illustrious and innovative names in the design world, including Erik Spiekermann, Matthew Carter, Massimo Vignelli, Wim Crouwel, Hermann Zapf, Neville Brody, Stefan Sagmeister, Michael Bierut, David Carson, Paula Scher, Jonathan Hoefler, Tobias Frere-Jones, Experimental Jetset, Michael C. Place, Norm, Alfred Hoffmann, Mike Parker, Bruno Steinert, Otmar Hoefer, Leslie Savan, Rick Poynor, Lars Muller, and many more

Special Features:

95 minutes of bonus interviews English and German subtitles

Review

Blissful..it sharpens your eye...and makes connections between art and life. -- Chicago Tribune

Helvetica is truly a work of art. -- Austin Chronicle

One of the wittiest, most diligently researched, slyly untelligent and quietly captivating documentaries of the year. -- Time Out London

Provocative. -- NY Times

Viewers are in for an exclamation point of joy from such a well designed doc. "A -" --Entertainment Weekly

Product details

Aspect Ratio ‏ : ‎ 1.78:1
Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ Unrated (Not Rated)
Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.5 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches; 3.64 Ounces
Item model number ‏ : ‎ 082354004224
Director ‏ : ‎ Gary Hustwit
Media Format ‏ : ‎ Multiple Formats, Dolby, NTSC, Widescreen
Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 20 minutes
Release date ‏ : ‎ November 20, 2007
Actors ‏ : ‎ David Carson, Erik Spiekermann, Matthew Carter, Massimo Vignelli, Wim Crouwel
Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ German, English
Language ‏ : ‎ Unqualified, English (DD)
Studio ‏ : ‎ Plexifilm
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B000VWEFP8
Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1

Best Sellers Rank: #102,470 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #4,402 in Documentary (Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews:
418 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		78%
4 star		12%
3 star		5%
2 star		2%
1 star		3%

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Top reviews from the United States

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If you are interested in design of ANY kind, or even just watching passionate people discussing their love, this is good stuff.

Reviewed in the United States on December 5, 2016

Verified Purchase

Really interesting awareness of a world of "fonts" I've never given thought to. I enjoyed the editing of the movie, the shots alone opened my eyes to something that usually lacks any distinction for me - lettering. Great capturing of the passionate feelings for/against one single type of lettering - Helvetica. I'll never look at signage and fonts quite the same. If you are the slightest bit interested in design and form of any type (doesn't have to be lettering), you will appreciate this discussion of why - or why not - Helvetica might be "the perfect design." The interviews are wonderfully varied, all with people passionate about their point of view about ... a "font."

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

Amazon Customer

Very interesting information

Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2020

Verified Purchase

Very informative. I watched it for a Graphic Design class, and Aced the class, thanks to the information in this film. Who knew the incredible type face that will probably never die. Great information if you're looking for the history on Helvetica.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Amy D

An intelligent study of a typeface

Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2016

Verified Purchase

An intelligent documentary taking something that we take for granted, a typeface, and showing its cultural significance. It also provides interesting commentary on modern and postmodern design conventions and how they have changed over the past few decades. This documentary shows Helvetica from multiple view points. To some, it's the peak of perfection in typefaces. To others, it's boring and sterile. Yet others find that despite its association with corporations and standardization, it can be co-opted to new uses.

Helvetica shows us that we should take nothing we see from day to day for granted. Even the words that may cross our field of vision for only a few seconds.

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

Jeff

) being its wonderful, most powerful feature sound a little funny now

Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2014

Verified Purchase

I bit dated now. Mentions of Myspace's customize-ability (?) being its wonderful, most powerful feature sound a little funny now. It got people bogged down in amateur webdesign instead of communicating. Facebook did the opposite. It locked down design and forced people to focus on connecting sharing and communicating.

My other complain is how some of the musical/visual montages seem to drag on a little too long.

But after viewing this movie I definitely have more appreciation for fonts. I am looking at words and letter and design differently than I had been before. So the movie was well worth the time and I came away with some valuable inside and knowledge.

Recommended.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

KatieJK

The most interesting documentary about fonts you'll ever see. ...

Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2018

Verified Purchase

The most interesting documentary about fonts you'll ever see. I show this to my design students. It opens your eyes to how many fonts you contact on a daily basis, and how they impact your life.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Antoinette Devereaux

Great documentary if on the history of typefaces

Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2021

Verified Purchase

This is a really enjoyable documentary on the history of typefaces. It starts by explaining the difference between a typeface and a font, often used interchangeably today, and describes their psychological impact.

Helpful

Ruth

Font Fanatic Found Fascinating

Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2017

Verified Purchase

This is an awesome documentary for all you Font Fanatics. I found it very educational and entertaining. I could watch it again. Too bad there aren't more like this. I'd watch one that discussed other fonts or showed new fonts or anything font related.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Bumble Bee

Fun, insightful, entertaining

Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2013

Verified Purchase

I only learned about this movie after reading the book, "Just My Type" about fonts. Highly receommed the book. I worked in the advertising field for 22 years and loved the relationship with fonts and merchandise. Did not realize all the places Helvetica was used. Now I go around looking more at signs, labels on food products, toys...to see if I recognize Helvetica. If you enjoy learning about history and how things work...it is great to now be able to do this with words and fonts.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Mark Pack

An enjoyable treat this isn't just for typographical experts

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 23, 2010

Verified Purchase

An 80 minute film about a font may not at first sound like everyone's up of tea, but Gary Hustwit's documentary Helvetica is a great watch.

As well as being a history of the font, it is uses the font to trigger a gentle amble through the history of design in the twentieth-century, largely free of jargon but still giving a good flavour of the conflicting thoughts and schools. If you are not familiar with the terminology and way of thinking of graphic designers, this film also acts as a good introduction to their world.

In particular, the question of whether a font should be neutral, allowing the words and other design features to impart meaning, or whether the design of the font itself should impart meaning, gets a decent discussion without ever descending into obscurantist jargon.

The largely chronological structure of the film keeps the pace nicely ticking along, despite the absence of any real plot, and is interspersed with a huge range of shots of different real life scenes which illustrate just how widely used Helvetica now is and bring to life for the non-designer the points the designers talk about in the film.

The extras feature on the DVD comprises extended versions of interviews used in the main documentary, which is worth a watch if for no other reason than the one with Massimo Vignelli with its description of how a subway map for New York was designed - and why it then had to be abandoned.

2 people found this helpful

O. Shahryar

An exemplary documentary

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 21, 2017

Verified Purchase

An exemplary documentary, it completely blew my mind. So much so that I had to buy it, and I don't buy DVDs of documentaries (who does?). Very enjoyable.

One person found this helpful

Elleppi

Kind of hipster but well made

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 30, 2015

Verified Purchase

Kind of hipster but interesting, because it reveals a world behind a font, a point of view and so many consequences it had on a lot of people.
Still I think that is something that interests mostly graphic designer and creatives, but has not a real impact on the world.

One person found this helpful

Ginola14

Design that makes you forget about Design

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 30, 2011

Verified Purchase

Fascinating story. Some amazing opinions. And i would agree with another reviewer in that is just plain more enjoyable than the bulk of documentaries out there today.
Its so simple - yet so ingrossing - that you just have to recommend this DvD. got goods marks when given as a gift too!

One person found this helpful

miss a h chappell

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 7, 2016

Verified Purchase

Great to find a dvd about Type/Graphics industry, few and far between

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