Helvetica Recap

Remember when I told you about the font film Helvetica a while back? I got to see it over a week ago but I'm just now getting around to tell you about it.

First off, there was a great turnout! My guess is about 100 people but I could be wrong. The nerd part of me expected to be practically alone in the theater except for a few of these guys ...

But I was wrong, thankfully. There was quite a diverse group in attendance, including quite a few graphic designers.

Second, the film was quite interesting. I learned quite a bit that I didn't know, both about the creation of fonts and their use in marketing. Seriously, I will never look at a street sign the same way again.

And finally, I really enjoyed the panel discussion that followed the film. Jed Dietz (Director of the Maryland Film Festival and President of the Producer’s Club of Maryland) gave a fascinating talk on the development of documentary films in recent years and the future trends he expects to see.

I'd love to tell more about what Jed and the other panelists said (and more about Helvetica itself) but I didn't take any notes. The film was just days after my emergency trip to see my uncle and was only one day before an important 2-day conference at work. I was physically and emotionally exhausted and frankly I'm lucky I made it there at all. That said, it was a very interesting film and I hope you'll take the time to watch it - I hear it's available through Netflix now.

I'll leave you with a photo from the panel. It's not great, but there's only so much you can do when taking pictures from near the back of a dimly lit theater ...