Helvetica
During class, we watched a movie about the origin of Helvetica, a famous typeface. Helvetica originated in Switzerland in 1957. At first, Helvetica was known from a Latin word in Switzerland, pronounced “Helveticia.” Now, Helvetica is the common name of this typeface and means the Swiss. During the film, many different typeface designers talked about their work and the different fonts they had created. Helvetica brought the design style, Swiss design to popularity. Throughout the film, three different design styles are discussed; rational design, style movement and post modernism. Many of the designers created these styles and have become famous for them. One of the most famous was Mossimo Vignelli. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massimo_Vignelli) He was born in Milan in 1931 and here he became a graphic designer and excelled in the creation of different typefaces.
Another designer that appeared in the film was Wim Crouwel. In 1963 he was one of the founders of the design studio, Total Design. In 1967 he designed the typeface New Alphabet.
Matthew Carter as well was a type designer. His career transformed from physical metal type to digital type design. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Carter
Lastly, Rick Poynor is a British writer on typography and visual culture.