Kate said come to NYC to see a movie with her...I said yes.
I arrived on Friday afternoon, dropped my things at Kate's Greenpoint (Brooklyn) apt and we found our way to tacos and cupcakes then to see a fabulous doc about Helvetica--yes, the font, celebrating its 50th birthday this year.
Designed by Zurich type designer Max Miedinger, the font is seen just about everywhere. The doc, titled simply Helvetica, is directed by Gary Hustwit and is all about how graphic designers see fonts, specifically this one.
Hustwit spoke after the showing along with Tobias Frere-Jones, one of the type designers featured in the flick... for you other type-addicts, he designed Interstate & Gotham among other well-known faces.
Here's what Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune had to say:
By rounding up a great group of eloquent obsessives eager to explain their feelings about a font, Hustwit has come up with 80 unexpectedly blissful minutes.
I recommend this kind of bliss to you... and it wouldn't hurt to go to NYC just for a movie, sometime.
P.S. You'll see this month's postcard sports a change to Helvetica in honour of the year AND it shows Kate standing below a sign at her subway station... set in Helvetica, of course.
