Response: Helvetica/Just My Type

I am writing this blog post in Helvetica... in honor of watching the documentary Helvetica yesterday! I've always heard it was a great documentary, even from my non-designer friends! I knew that Helvetica was everywhere, but I didn't realize it is literally everywhere. The documentary showed us a bazillion examples of where we see it every day, and it truly is on everything! Even right now, I'm sitting on my back porch writing this blog post and it is on my trashcan, grill, warning label on the grill and my roommates jeep. I can't escape!

Something that stood out to me while reading Just My Type was when it talked about how when people say they like fonts and think they are the most legible, such as Times New Roman, they only think that because they are so familiar with it. "We like to think of our cultural tastes improving and maturing with age, but in the case of type design something else also happens: we are simply worn down by over-exposure... Preferences for typefaces such as Times Roman exist by habit, because those typefaces have been around longest. When those typefaces first came out, they were not what people were used to either. But because they got used, they have become extremely legible." (53-54, Just My Type). Comparing that to Helvetica, it has been around for such a long time and people see it everywhere that they are so familiar with it.

Another part of the book I found kinda fun was in chapter 2, talking about how types have genders. 

"The understanding is that heavy bold jagged fonts are mostly male (try Colossalis), and whimsical, lighter curly fonts are mostly female" (25, Just My Type). I think our minds subconsciously realize this when we design. When we design for magazines, we think of a type that fits the overall theme/idea of the story. Just like colors -- girls are associated with pink and boys are associated with blue!

Something that stood out to me when reading chapter 4 was the Futura vs. Verdana debate. "In August of 2009, an usual thing happened in the world: IKEA changed its typeface. This wasn't so strange in itself - big companies like to stay looking fresh, and this is often the easiest way to do it - but the odd thing was that people noticed." (73, Just My Type). After reading that, it surprised me that people noticed the change. I always notice those types of things but I just think it's because I'm a designer and have a weird thing for typefaces. But when people other than designers notice those things it makes me realize how important typefaces really are! This world would not exist without them! They have the power of creating moods and can trigger emotions, just with a type!