Sunday 6 February 2011

AD104 Task 3: 50 Years of Helvetica

50 Years of Helvetica is an exhibition formed to reflect on how Helvetica has influenced Art/Typographic Designs and culture over the last 50 years.
Designers from all over the world joined together to work with online archives and galleries, Blanka and Candy to create a 'visual diary' of 50 events from the last half century. Using Helvetica itself to show the inspirational movements which have occurred.



Vince Frost - A Popular Face

The First Image which stood out to me from the exhibition was this photograph based on the birth of Michael Jackson, I like the simplicity of this photo and how the board has been used as the main focus.
I like that they didn't create a design based around the moonwalk, or a portrait of his face or something along those lines. This design, is much plainer, and a lot less obvious, which is possibly why I like this design so much, it's clever... in the simplest way.



Ros Shiers - Butterfield 8

This next image is based around the movie Butterfielf 8 which stars Elizabeth Taylor.
I love the style of this Image, I like that the helvetica 60 has been used as a base and the illustrations of Elizabeth Taylor have been drawn inside to create the shape of the numbers with some parts outside the lines so that it's not too much like a clipping mask.
I love the illustration style, it makes it look like a fashion design, which ties in with the storyline of the movie, as her character was "A Fashionable Manhattan Beauty" - Imdb.
Overall, a good reflection on 1960 and Elizabeth Taylor being so famous is a strong image in herself and communicates the message well.


Farrow - 1962

This image is based on the 1962 Eclipse and also the movie Eclipse also created in 1962.
I like the simplicity of this image, and how the Typography has been used to create the circle. The colours are also perfect, and the typography is just the right size, making the image look  as realistic as possible. I think this is a good event to represent 1962 and the meaning behind it is very notable.

Antoine+Manuel - I Have A Dream

This Image is based around the speech 'I Have A Dream' done by Martin Luther King Jr to win black rights in the USA. This event is possibly one of the most memorable moments of black culture in america, and is a perfect representation of the year 1963.
I like the modern style of the image, I like that it's not a typical image of Martin Luther King Jr himself, and focuses more on the Typography and the title of the speech.
I also like that the main Typography is in black, reflecting on how this speech was to win Black rights.


Fabio Ongarato - Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

This last image represents 1965 the year Mary Poppins was released on VHS not the year it was created which was 1964. This image is a perfect example of a Typographic design, which is in the style of Neville Brody. Where the typography is sliced and distorted until it's hardly legible.
I think that this is an interesting approach to Mary Poppins and the phrase is well known from the movie and is immediately associated with it, so this was a perfect representation of the movie and the year 1965.
I also like the illustration style and the colour palette used, it's very colourful which makes it look fun and lively like the movie is, again a great reflection on the movie.

The whole exhibition is full of great designs, which represent some important events, like the creation of the apple mac, the first landing on the moon, etc. But these designs showed better examples of how the font Helvetica had been taken and used to create a great design. Which is why they're my top 5. I also thought that they had more of a clever idea behind them of representing their year.
I also thought that these designs showed a wider variety of styles which have been applied to the font, and show how each designer has used it to inspire their design and mixed it with their own personal style.

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