What has type got to do with motion? Plenty, if you listen to Erik Spiekermann. Type is rhythm, and rhythm is how you read meaning. As you first start to watch clips from the documentary Helvetica, you’re initially unaware that its ubiquitous star is staring you in the face. Then, it’s everywhere, generic yet insistent, “neutral” yet almost embarrassingly modern.
Sponsor Veer.com may regret bringing you Helvetica, because in a way the dominance of Helvetica created the modern disease that makes designers jump from face to face in search of independence. (Veer, for their part, sends regular newsletters with fonts screaming “Buy me, buy me!”) Something to ponder, as visualists making constant design choices in the moment.
Deeper meaning aside, of course, what better brain (and eye) candy for lovers of type and design than a movie about fonts? As Spiekermann says, some people like to look at bottoms. Some like to looks at type. Visualist word lovers, rejoice!