Font-tastic Fashion: Helvetica and Kern

Before I get to the main point of this post I should talk about the documentary, Helvetica, that we watched in class today. I've seen parts of it, my design friends have discussed it around me, and it's been sitting in my Netflix queue for months. So other than being educational I can finally take something off of my never ending queue. Leave it to the guys who brought us delicious chocolate and cheese to give us this infamous font.

I never knew how passionate people could get towards a font. But I can see why they can be. We need fonts to do the obvious like spell out words with letters so we can read things and convey messages. But fonts can also represent an attitude, something that letters and words alone can't convey. And apparently tons of people have an attitude towards Helvetica. Like I thought that one guy who kept referring to it as air was going to bawl his eyes out over it.

I'm not going to sit here and say it's the best thing in the universe and that we're all going to die without it. I'm also not going sit here and be that guy (uh, well girl in my case.) who's going to hate on it. Helvetica is simply doing it's thing and it's going to continue to do it's thing until the next Helvetica comes along.

Which finally brings me to the main point of this post. I was checking out my favorite online store, ModCloth and crying because I'm so broke and all I want in life is to own pretty things and found some interesting accessories.

   

Helvetica is all around us. And you can even wear it around your neck for a mere $21 at modcloth.com. (by plastique) I chuckled a little bit when I first saw this. Helvetica is such an iconic font that it can be worn ironically and comically.(or passionately if you're into that kind of thing. I won't judge I promise.) 

But then ModCloth was all, "if you like this, then you might like this too" because that's how they get me every single time. 

 

For $14 at modcloth.com (by plastique) your fingers can kern as far apart or as close as they want. Lovers of quirky jewelry (aka me) and stylish graphic designers with a good sense of humor need these pieces of jewelry as fast as you can see Helvetica being used within 10 feet of wherever you're sitting.

"Oh my god! It even has a watermark."

I figured I'd dedicate my first blog post with something that we saw in class recently, which was the infamous business card scene from American Psycho. I should also mention that this is one of my favorite movies of all time and that I'm a huge Bret Easton Ellis fan in general.

The whole scene is hysterical. Each guy is trying to one up each other thinking their business card is the absolute essence of professionalism and high class. Yes there are subtle differences between each card, but in the end they're all white cards with plain black text. Patrick Bateman was sweating his brains out over a lousy business card!

I guess if you really think about it, business cards are kind of a big deal. You can be as charming as can be when you're out getting your networking skills on, but the person you're schmoozing it up with probably shook more hands than they can count. At the end of the night they've got a pile of business cards left and they need to piece together the faces and experiences with them.

This has all been resonating with me recently because I'm in the process of making a batch of these guys myself. It's a challenge to sum yourself up perfectly on an itty bitty piece of paper. Your typeface and design need to summarize yourself in the best way while maintaining a sense of simplicity. That itty bitty piece of paper is part of the reason whether or not that important big shot decides to get a hold of you.

Should I go with an extra girly design or classic chic? Rounded or pointed corners? What should I hold these things in? Watermark? Or maybe I should steer clear of anything Patrick Bateman-esque to avoid seeming like a delusional yet handsome serial killer. Decisions, decisions, decisions.