Did you know that the most widely used font in the western world, one used by most of the top global brands, is a type face created more than fifty years ago in Switzerland? It’s “Helvetica” and now it’s a movie. In this eponymous documentary some of the greatest graphic designers of the 20th and 21st centuries gather to explore how a simple font could revolutionize design, branding and corporate signage. I’m a graphics geek so naturally I rented it. But what struck me as most interesting was a simple quote by designer Michael Bierut:
“The final trend may simply be the completely democratic distribution of the means of production to anyone who wants it or anyone who can afford it.”
This is true. Look at video production. When I popped out of the NYU Film School system, video editing suites cost $1 million and up to build, and rented out for $350-$900 per hour. Now you can get more done on a $1,495 copy of “Final Cut Pro” then you ever could in those over-priced and over-staffed edit rooms. The same has held true for sound recording, graphic design, and now website production. Media production has in fact become democratized. Anyone can do it. Unfortunately many do.
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