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I missed the '26 letters a second' event held in Melbourne last July, so it with some anticipation that I received my copy of Helvetica on DVD in the mail last week. As the title suggests, this is a movie about one of the world's most used typefaces. Directed by Gary Hustwit this 80 minute documentary follows the rise and rise of Helvetica from 1957 to current day through a series of interviews with some of the design industry's biggest names.

The film starts with the birth of the face in Münchenstein, Switzerland. For the trivia buffs, Helvetica was created by Max Miedinger with Eduard Hoffmann and was originally called Neue Haas Grotesk. The movie paints a brief picture of the design industry during the 1950s and highlights the modernism market the Haas type foundry was hoping to capture. With Massimo Vignelli's interview, akin to paying homage at some sort of Helvetica altar, it is fair to say that Haas found their market and with spectacular success. Matthew Carter goes into further detail about Helvetica's letter forms and opines their beauty.

At this point it appears as though the film will meander along like a happy family holiday where everybody says and does the right thing in order to keep the peace. This is not to detract from what the viewer has seen to this point, just that, until now, Hustwit has presented his audience a likeminded view. However, with the likes of Michael Bierut, Stefan Sagmeister, Erik Spiekermann and, especially, David Carson and Paula Scher the film takes on a more critical view.

With this change the film really gathers momentum. Discussion of a movement against modernism becomes all encompassing and the viewer is given a broader critique of the design profession. Subsequent interviews with Experimental Jetset and Michael C Place, among others, almost bring us full circle, but with a 21st century twist.

Using beautifully succinct visual essays throughout and a perfectly matched soundtrack this is one movie about a typeface that is anything but two dimensional. Whether your non-designer friends will get as much out of it as you is open to discussion, for the design audience though, this film is highly recommended viewing.

Available now on DVD, more info can be found at http://www.helveticafilm.com

"That's a fair point. Some vox pop interviews while filming the visual essays on the street could have added an extra dimension. That said, there's not too much wrong with having a "bunch of designers" talking about their industry as a film. When was the last time you saw a film like that?"

"I was disappointed with the film because I felt it didn't have the point of view from a normal person: e.g. a non-designer, the customer, the end-user. The everyday person who actually is reading the advertisement! What do they think of Helvetica? The film was just a bunch of designers talking highly of Helvetica and acting like they are graphic-design and typography-savy. Sad."