Helvetica

Helvetica | |
| Director: | Gary Hustwit |
| Cast: | Michael Bierut, Neville Brody, Dimitri Bruni, David Carson, Matthew Carter |
| Release Date: | 2007 |
| Genre: | Documentary |
An irritating, intelligent, and slightly circular documentary examination of the superabundant Roman-alphabet (not used in most of Asia, the Middle East, and a good chunk of Africa) typeface Helvetica. For those involved in the art and aesthetics of the graphic-design industry, Helvetica (the Swiss-designed sans serif type family) is like abortion--you're either for it or against it--and that's the way the mostly interesting interviews break down here, with a few overly philosophical or perhaps career-ass-covering designers in the middle contributing to the not inconsiderable snooze factor of this topic. Notably, world-class typographer Erik Spiekermann likens the typeface to the McDonald's food franchise, the logo of which is set in a typeface you will spot everywhere after you see this documentary.