Thursday, May 31, 2007

"i'm 50! and i can kick... and stretch! and kick!"

is anyone else tired of hearing about helvetica? i sort of am. it was entertaining for awhile, but now it just won't stop. i guess that's what happens when things turn fifty.

regardless, victrola nachtmuzik has pointed me in the direction of slate.com's slideshow/article tribute to the modernist's quintessential typeface. despite everything i just said about being tired of hearing about it, it was a nice little ode to helvetica, due in large part to the pictures. because i'm not tired of looking at helvetica. just hearing about it.



"It's the tofu of typefaces: bland in itself but ready to absorb whatever flavors you add to it. It's clean, legible, and well-designed, but its real power lies in its uncanny mutability."

9 comments:

Captian Marzipan said...

That's a fabulous little slideshow... although I know for a fact that the NYC Subway signage uses Aksidenz Grotesk, and NOT Helvetica. But that's just me being nitpicky.

Captian Marzipan said...

And I completely screwed that up because everyone knows that Akzidenz has two Z's.

Of course.

gray said...

is you on crack? transit is totally veti'.

gray said...

but really why did they pick all of the blandest uses of veti' for that slide show? give me some kick ass swiss posters any day. zzzzzzzzzzz.

powkang said...

this is true, they were pretty dull. i still enjoyed the distraction from my MOST BORING WEEK EVER! plus, it was slate dropping science of good design to the masses, so they needed to give examples that most people are familiar with. that's what i think, anyways. i like slate, though. because they have taken a stand against the enemy which is zach braff:

http://www.slate.com/id/2150245/

gray said...

if you can't get enough of veti' there is also the show at the moma. morbid curiosity encourages me to take a visit there.

powkang said...

have you gone to this yet? i've been meaning to go for awhile. well, to moma in general. isn't there a richard serra deal there right now, too? anyways, i don't know what's stopping me from going. i'm at rock center everyday for work, i can spit on the moma from my office. maybe next friday, i'll hit-em-up after work, or i'll take an unwarranted afternoon off at some point.

gray said...

here's a little secret i shouldn't share- i'm not a big museum fan. i would rather watch hours of flavor of love than go to one. maybe not that extreme but it's not at the top of my things to do. i might try to go to the moma soon though so i can feel culturally superior. plus i'm kind of interested in seeing what they have in the exhibit.

powkang said...

flavor of love already makes you culturally superior. superior to me, anyways. i've only seen one ep of it. it was first season and he made all the ladies cook him chicken.

and to share in your secret, i hate going to the museum. BUT while i'm there and after i've gone, i'm always really glad i went. i have a friend coming to visit, and we are going to see this and i'm REALLY excited. what better way to spend an afternoon than with unicorns and bigfoot?

anyhoo, let me know if you do go and what you think of it. report back to me, maybe make a poster about helvetica (at least 11x17, front and back).