Helvetica

I never realized how Helvetica is widely used through out the world. Many well known business, iconic signs and names all use Helvetica! Is that a good or bad thing?

If you think about it, Helvetica is considered by most the easiest type face to read. It is simple, straight to the point and you do not have to strain your eyes to see it. I guess in some ways you can say it is perfect?

Since Helvetica is widely used and been in use since 1957, why is everyone so obsessed with making one that is better. From what I heard from other typographers, helvetica is perfect? So how do you make something perfect, more perfect? I believe that is impossible! Any way you want to take the word "perfect",whether it be a noun, verb or adjective there is no way to make PERFECT more PERFECT!!

I also do not understand how typographers are saying that some type face are used incorrectly? Is that possible? I understand the Creator of the type face specifically made the font for certain things but isn't type face an expression of art. And isn't art in the eye of the beholder? If you ask me I could care less how a type face is used or widely used as long as it is appealing to the eyes!

 

So what if Helvetica is around for a few more years or decades? You can have the endless complaints of how its been overly used, improper way of using the type face and we as society need to come up with a new type face that is more perfect then perfect. Till then, enjoy Helvetica and the other widely or improper used fonts that we have now. One day someone along the line will create a type face that is considered to be the NEW Helvetica then after a decade or two we can start this chatter of how its widely used and used improperly!!


Puka out!

PS I think someone should make a grafitti font. Typographers should walke the train yard once a week and get ideas by the fonts they see on trains! I think it would be a fun font to use! Now all I have to do is set back and wait for it. :-)

COM 322 first blog

It is important for communication majors to study design because you have another way to pull in readers. Pictures, designs and colors are more visual stimulating to the eye than a fancy font. Therefore it will attract more readers at first glance and entice the reader to pick it up and see what the design image is all about. I also think its important for communication majors to study design because design is constantly changing.

Design really matters. I can see why company spend millions upon millions of dollars to have a great logo that will appeal to the consumers. You want designs that will be stuck in consumers minds. I think a good design will autmatically make a person think of that particular logo or company by a jingle (Celeino and Barnes) or by certain words!
A good design matters because everything has to flow, everything has a place and a meaning. Things can not be random or confused... sometimes! Design comes in all different types, forms and meanings. It depends on who your target audience is to be determined if a design is good or not. I think design also depends on the designer and the era that the designer is in. As you can tell year by year design is evolving and changing constantly. So you might have an old school designer who mainly sticks to what he is used to and then you have designers that are constantly changing with the time.





My favorite piece of design is FedEx. I think it is clever and neat that FedEx a courier service is able to sneak a arrow which is a subliminal message to its customers. Pretty clever if you ask me. Arrow represents how FedEx gets your packages to point A to point B. Of course we all have a different perspective and the arrow can mean differently to one person to another. I've actually asked several of my friends about FedEx logo and many of them never knew that there is a arrow in the word. When I usually tell them I always make a bet because I know I will always win!