Helvetica

After watching the film Helvetica I learned a few new things. Firstly Helvetica was designed in 1957 and was originally called Neue Haas Grotesk which was an improved version of Akzidenz Grotesk. I also learned that Haas and Stemple Type Foundries are where Helvetica was produced and they were owned by Linotype who now owns Helvetica. When designing a type I also learned it is best to begin with a lowercase ‘h’ as it deals with curves, verticals and ascenders. Next move on to the lowercase letter ’o’ as this will deal with curves and counters and will allow you to see how it sits next to a vertical on the letter ‘h’. After this add a ‘p’ to assess descenders, curves and verticals again. Finally begin to make words to see how it will look in context when people read it.

A couple of things surprised me when I watched the film, for example how designers used to work before computers were incorporated into the design world and the amount of extra work they had to put in just to create a couple of layers within a design.  It allowed me to see how helpful the computer is when designing anything, but the main thing I was surprised about is that it was stated that “nothing bigger than Helvetica has came out in the last 50 years”.

Throughout the film one person who made me laugh was Eric Spiekermann. I generally found his personality humorous and enthusiastic. His actions and views made me laugh and in particular I found it funny how he prefers to “look at type than at a girl’s bottom”. 

The film itself had various designers I would like to learn more about. One person I would definitely like to learn more about is Eric Spiekerman, not only because he had a fun personality but because of his love for type. I enjoy working with type and I think his views and designs of type would be interesting to know more about as he described his work as “not perfect, but edgy” which I think sounds interesting.  Michael C Place is another designer I would like to know more about. He described how he likes to get an emotional response from his designs and this is something I hope my designs receive as well. The design company Norm also intrigued me as they like to work within tight design constraints to create simple but beautiful work which again is something I would enjoy doing and would like to do in the future. Wim Crouwel is someone I would like to learn more about. His desire for clarity and legibility within his work and also his clever use of grids and modernist ideas is something which I found extremely interesting and therefore I would like to learn more about his work. Another person who interested me, even though his work isn’t something I would typically do, is Stefan Sagmeister. I like the effort and enthusiasm he puts into his designs and they are interesting due to the hand drawn nature so even though I don’t usually design like this I would like to learn more about him.

The designers in the movie talk about the typeface in different ways depending on their view on it. Type is used to give words a certain mood, colouring and meaning. Type is also described as not the black marks on the page but the white space between the black letters, which make the typeface what it is and in some people’s views Helvetica is a perfect example of this. Massimo Vignelli states that type shouldn’t be expressive and Helvetica is a perfect modern example of this. He also states it’s more about the background and the spaces between the letters than the actual type itself. It is also stated within the film that feeling and emotion can be added to Helvetica simply by changing the spacing between the letters and Erik Spiekermann states that Helvetica is like air, we need it to breath.

I think the film itself will help me when talking about type in the future as I know that it is not just about the letters but the space and shapes they create. I will also be able to explain the emotions the type creates and the feelings I hope my work portrays. I would also like to be as enthusiastic and as funny as Spiekermann as he was excellent to watch and listen to.  

I personal still like Helvetica and would definitely use it within some of my designs. I love the shape of the geometric ends to the letters and also the counter white space within the letter ‘a’. The film has pointed out to me that the type is literally everywhere so I would definitely think about the white space when using it, to correctly create the feeling I was trying to portray within my designs. 

That font sure is saucy

The first headline I have chosen to use was said by the cocky x-factor finalist Frankie Cocozza where he slates his song choice for the live show by saying, “It’s a shit song” when, to be honest, in my opinion, its not the song that is shit, it’s him!

I have taking this offensive headline and changed its connotations by making it look elegant. I used Bodoni and a Script font and added in some extra bits to connect the words and link the piece together.

The second headline I chose was “BRANSON LIFT-OFF” which is a story about Richard Branson and how he has opened the world’s first commercial spaceport. His spaceport is designed to allow people to travel to space as a holiday or trip.

I have taken this simple headline and done the opposite to the last headline. I have highlighted certain letters to make the headline become salacious and also created humour through the letters highlighted as people literally will be f******-off into space.

Getting Around

This is the ticket that I bought to get to Uni today. It was from the Stagecoach Bus Company and, to be honest, it is pretty horrible. The typeface used is sans-serif and is pixilated. This pixilated style is called a bitmap or raster font which means it is made up, on a computer, consisting of dots or pixels which in turn creates each character. These sorts of fonts when scaled up lose quality and are usually used when a computer's processing power is smaller in size. As this ticket comes out of a fairly basic machine this explains why this font was used, as the machines do not have the ability to print in fancy font or curved typeface. As a computer produces it there isn’t a historical reference but it does, in a wa,y fulfill its purpose by showing the correct basic information, which the ticket needs to show.


The ticket does show hierarchy and this is achieved through point size and perhaps boldness. The main information which stagecoach must think is important is in a larger, bolder point size i.e the price and the date, whereas the rest of the less important information on the ticket is kept to the same, smaller size. The information on the ticket doesn’t have any order and seems to be randomly placed about the page making it hard to understand unless studied for a while. The leading on the smaller information on the ticket is very small making it even harder to read. There also seems to be a random use throughout the ticket of all caps and mixed caps and lowercase for no apparent reason. I think other information such as the route and bus number should be made more prominent as these are important factors the bus driver would need to see when checking a ticket, if someone has bought a return.


This kind of ticket will be used on a day-to-day basis by a wide variety of people ranging from young school kids right up to old age pensioners. Students, teachers, business men, disabled people, old people will all need to use these tickets therefore it should be readable by all. Therefore I think it fails in fulfilling its job as a ticket as the very small writing may be hard for older people to read, the pixilated font may be hard for younger kids, people with visual impairments and again older people to read. The important information on this ticket should be readable at a short glance, making people's day easier and therefore less hassle would be caused worrying about having the correct ticket.

My Ticket Idea:

Here is my idea for a new Stagecoach bus ticket. As the ticket will have to be printed in large amounts I tried to keep the amount of ink that would be used to a minimum. I have also followed Stagecoach’s existing brand idea using their circle logo as an influence for the design. By using the stagecoach blue colour in the type I have also emphasized their brand identity and it also makes it more attractive compared to the bland, boring black text they use just now. I have also included a coloured main logo to show the company’s branding and this again makes the ticket that little bit more interesting. The typeface is Helvetica. I chose this typeface because it has already proven to work in the transport industry and is very legible meaning it could be read easily by all the users. Hierarchy is shown through point size and is emphasized by the circle design that I have used on the ticket. The amount of information on the ticket has been kept to a minimum and only includes the important information a person would need to know, and the information that the bus driver needs to have has been placed to the bottom and kept very small to emphasize the fact that this is for admin' use only. The layout of the ticket is easily transferable to other routes and buses as the design is very clean and simple. The bus number has been incorporated into the circle design but again this can be changed for other routes such as X24 and X37.

Ampersand Blog Post

This is the ampersand I have chosen from the font Coming Together. The symbol is sans-serif and has a bold line weight. This thick line weight makes the symbol very full and gives it a solid appearance but on the other hand the smooth curves within the symbol do tend to soften the harshness of this effect. The ‘ET’ is very legible and the two letters join in a fluent smooth transaction. This makes the piece sit well as a whole and again emphasises its function as a joining word.

If this symbol was a person I think they would be a very happy person indeed. The symbol has a comic sort of look and creates a happy feeling. The smooth transition between the letters represents the person’s smooth talk and funny personality. This person would always want to be centre of attention as it is bold and stands out from the crowd. The joining of the letters and way they hug each other shows the person would have a caring sensitive side hidden behind this comical, in your face first impression.  

Modular Grid Exercise

This is an exercise where i have used a modular grid to arrange a body of text in different ways, each time with a different constriction.

1. 1 size of type & flush left alignment only

2) 1 size of type, flush left and variable weights

3) vary the size of type but keep it flush left and one weight

4) anything goes