x height & ampersands

Typography! Can be the sort of subject to kill off a dinner party or ignite passions in certain people, fortunately I belong to the latter group. I can't explain why I like type or why I find it interesting but through this course and some self study I am hoping to learn more about it.

This week we got started on some typographic components and explored Helvetica. Through learning the component names of characters it helped me understand a lot more about type and how to talk about it. I already knew about serif and sans-serif but this week has gone a little deeper and together with reading "Type & Typography" (P Baines and A Haslam) I now have a slightly broader understanding.

The importance of type in graphic design is fundemental. A certain style of type can hold someone's interest or alienate them immediately. There is a feel to a typeface that is hard to express in words...you can feel when type works and when it doesn't, it's obvious, but to explain it...well hopefully that will come :-)

Helvetica is generally thought to be the most beautiful of typefaces. It was developed in 1957 by Max Miedinger in Switzerland. It was so popular after its release that it appeared everywhere in graphic art and advertising. Sans serif, it had a bold new look from anything seen before. So high was it's popularity that it was used heavily until the early 70's when designers craved something newer, Helvetica had been over used and over done.

I find this similar in ways to some modern designer brand clothing. Loius Vuitton handbags are well designed, constructed from the finest leather with a distinctive type of its own printed onto the surface, which all together gives the assurance of a quality product. However, these bags are so over used and immitated, a problem suffered also by Helvetica in the form of Arial, that it looses it's appeal. When everyone owns the same handbag (or a copy) it loses it's identification and originality. You can't doubt the quality or style of Helvetica and Louis Vuitton, but would you want to use a typeface that has been so over used in graphic design just for that reason or a bag that is over seen in public?

There is obviously still a place for Helvetica in the desgin world as it remains as popular today as 50 years ago and a quick walk around any city or town in the western world would confirm this. Most of the signs for bus timetables, undergrounds and shop fronts use Helvetica as it's so easy and clear to read. In fact it's hard to imagine a world without Helvetica; it is everywhere you look.

Enough of type for now, wouldn't want to kill off the dinner party!