When I first read that there was a documentary being made about the typeface Helvetica I nearly peed my pants. The film, directed by Gary Hustwit, features short interviews with many of my favorite designers. You can probably imagine how hard I rocked the cabbage patch doing my happy-dance when I found out I was going sit in the audience at the World Premiere during SXSW. This was probably the most exciting event for me since Ellen Lupton declared Design her religion at her lecture for the Art Directors club of Metro Washington DC.

Dressed as a typeface groupie, I sat in the enormous line to get into the screening. Upon entering I received two buttons, one reading “I love Helvetica” and the other “I hate Helvetica”. Hate Helvetica? How could you!? But indeed you can, and just as I loath the very sight of Copperplate there are a lot of designers who see Helvetica as a symbol of design conformity. Paula Sher even going as far to compare the typeface to a symbol for the Vietnam War. Quite the accusation! However, this was what was so magnificent about the film… the revelation that typefaces in themselves are an enormous process that directly contributes to the emotional impact that a piece of work has on the audience. Michael Bierut’s sheer enthusiasm talking about Helvetica is enough to make me wake up in the morning and thank god for the Haas Type foundery. Many may laugh at the idea that someone could be so passionate about a typeface, but this movie proves that even the coolest designers have a little bit of typophilia in them.
Perhaps it’s neutrality is what I love so much. Helvetica is versatile, capable of taking on the essence of it’s surroundings, yet clearly communicating the meaning of the words it so proudly presents. You can elegantly display plain black helvetica on rich white paper, and it says “sophistication”. Yet you can etch it on steel and splatter paint and it can say “badass mo-fo”. It empowers the designer to communicate the contents of their copy clearly without committing to a specific emotion up front.

At the end of the movie David Carson and Gary Hustwit spoke a little about what it was like making the film. One comment that peeked my interest was Hustwit’s explanation on how he chose the soundtrack. He explained that this is just what Helvetica sounded like to him. This really got me thinking about the correlation of typefaces with music. What does Type sound like? I thought a lot about this while Jim and I were at a show watching the band Explosions in the Sky. We both have very different tastes in music but can agree that Helvetica rocks. Though we agree on Helvetica, we both have the potential to use it very differently within our work. This level playing field is one aspect of the typeface that I find very inspirational. The opportunity to start with the same canvas as so many designers before but to create a very different result. It is a challenge.

Overall, I highly recommend taking the opportunity to see the film Helvetica. A riveting motion picture devoted to the life, love and hatred of a typeface. It will inspire the uninspired, tickle the temptation of a typohile, and continue to confuse the crap out of non-designers. Whatever category you feel you may fit in, go see it, its a well made film that is entertaining and will leave you with a better understanding of the Design industry.

[techtags: Helvetica, helvetica film , Gary Hustwit, Typophile, typography, Paula Sher, Michael Bierut, David Carson, Fonts, Design, SXSW]

On Sunday at South By Southwest I attended one of my favorite panels called “Deadlines, Clients, and Cashflow: The Business side of Web Design” given by James Archer. One of the points Archer made in his panel was that when running a business you should have an already established business model that you look up to and aspire to be like. I think many designers have these role models. They are people who have similar interests in the industry that inspire you to be better than what you currently are. They don’t have to be famous, just famous to you. At South By Southwest sometimes star struck web geeks get confused and treat their design role models more as heroes, reacting as if they are celebrities bombarding them and showering them with praise. Frankly I can’t blame them, because when I met mine this past week, I nearly felt my heart jump through my throat.

I found my design role model back in 2005 while searching the internet for a little bit of inspiration. When I found him, there was no doubt that I was in love with the work. I even sent him an e-mail on October 18, 2005 saying so. I became a big fan of his site, checking it all the time, always looking for hidden easter eggs and showing everyone I knew. I am in admiration of the clean sans-serif typography that gracefully dances across each innovative site. The subtle incorporation of sharp humor is the real kicker for me. I am a sucker for a site that makes me laugh and he had me with the loader. His sites are always pushing the boundaries of innovation while exhibiting classic visual simplicity. When someone asks me what my idea of a “BadAss” really is, I usually direct them to his site.

One night after getting a little side tracked we started our way to the Ze Frank Party. Along the way a group of other interactive designers spotted us and began a conversation. Karma rewarding me, I turned to my left to find my personal design role model walking down Congress Street next to me. I introduced myself and he introduced himself withholding his last name. Seeking confirmation upon my suspicion my eyes quickly sought his badge which disappointedly found his name deceptively covered with stickers. Sure, I’m a constructive e-creeper but I would even scare myself if I could pick an internet personality out of a lineup. My heart jumped just a bit.. “where are you from?” I interjected, and then it was confirmed. We all chatted for about 30-40 minutes as we walked to the party and stood in line. This is a group of guys (and one girl) who have won countless awards, been interviewed for Commarts and are considered by their peers to be leaders of the industry. The Lead leader, my design role model, never once revealing his full identity, boasting, or even letting on that he was the founding partner, joking that his project manager was real the boss. He was not even giving out businesses cards.

Now you can imagine how hard it was for me to let on that I knew who these guys were. That crucial decision to not be like “Oh my god, I am your biggest freaking fan”. It took a lot of self control. After all I nearly tackled both Craig Newmark and Jeffery Zeldman last year and this guy, in my eyes, is the Chuck Norris of web design. I mean he can roundhouse kick you through your monitor. It probably was not in my best interest to come off as being a creepy internet stalker. What I learned from this group of web professionals was bigger than anything muttered in a panel. Walking around SXSW you find people just oozing about how awesome they are. People parading around with entourages and plugging their studios when you thought you were going to actually learn something. Its one thing to network your small business, its another thing to shamelessly self promote your very established one during Q & A portion of a panel. Not only were these guys humble, but they were interested in what me and Jim do. That attitude taught me so much about how to conduct a successful web design business, much more than any panel I saw. To sum up the most important thing I learned at SXSW this year: Be a bad-ass, do it quietly, and then listen intently to those around you. Your work screams louder than you ever can.

[techtags: SXSW, SXSWi, SXSW interactive, design inspiration, design heroes]

Last year I was unprepared for my trip to the SXSW Interactive Festival. This time i am going as my vacation and in an attempt to make the most of it, I put together a map of some of my planned destinations in Austin. While this map does not include everything, I marked what I could for now and figured I would wing the rest. There are a lot of other people attending who could probably benefit from the map, so it is available for download here. I used google maps to put this together, so its accuracy has not been confirmed yet.

Download Here!

Hope to see you there!

[techtags: SXSW, SXSW Interactive, SXSW map, Austin Map, Austin, Map download]