You know you’re a font fetishist when your emotions are affected by typefaces. It’s true in my case. The modern perkiness of Franklin Gothic Book—my current love—lifts my spirits. The dim, lowest-common-denominator feel of Courier depresses me. And I’ve always believed that typesetting an article in the New Yorker typeface will actually improve the quality of the writing.

Next Thursday, June 5, at 6:00 pm, you can come to the IMA and catch a documentary called Helvetica. Yep—it’s a whole 80 minutes of font porn. Director Gary Hustwit premiered the documentary on the fiftieth anniversary of the ubiquitous typeface, prevalent in urban centers everywhere for its clean, communicative ease. Think of the “el” signs in Chicago.

My husband couldn’t believe there was a whole film about one font. What’s the plot, he asked, an epic smackdown between Helvetica and Times New Roman, while crazy Comic Sans plots to sabotage them all? Read the rest of this entry »