Chad Weider

Wednesday evening [Joey](http://joeyhagedorn.com) and I left [WWDC](http://developer.apple.com/wwdc/) for a bit and attended a screening for [*Helvetica*](http://www.helveticafilm.com/). A film that as the director, Gary Hustwit, says is “a movie about a font”*. The screening was at hosted by the San Francisco [AIGA](http://www.aiga.org/) for their [Design Week](http://www.aigasf.org/events/event_designweek07.html), and it was excellent.

For those of you who don’t yet know, [Helvetica](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helvetica) is “among the most widely used sans-serif typefaces internationally”^{[1](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helvetica#Usage)} and this year (2007) happens to be its [50th anniversary](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6638423.stm). Over those fifty years it has been in the wordmarks of an uncountable number of
[c](http://www.aa.com/)[o](http://americanapparel.net/)[r](http://www.jeep.com/)[p](http://www.lufthansa.de/)[o](http://www.microsoft.com/)[r](http://www.energizer.com/)[a](http://www.nationalcar.com/)[t](http://www.panasonic.com/)[i](http://www.toyota.co.jp/)[o](http://www.target.com/)[n](http://www.thenorthface.com/)[s](http://www.bmw.com/) and has developed quite an reputation both good and bad among graphic designers the world over.

And yes, Helvetica is also the default font for much of OS X.

The film is a meditation on Helvetica and the impact it has had on design over its 50 years. It has interviews with a number of designers from the US and Europe, including a brief appearance by Hermann Zapf. Interspersed throughout were cuts of Helvetica sightings, on busses, bathrooms, mail bags, billboards, etc. that emphasize its overwhelming, yet unnoticed, ubiquity.**

The designers in the movie all had strong feelings about this notorious typeface and each of the had some choice quotes- like those next to this post (which are covers to a cool [notebook](http://www.veer.com/products/merchdetail.aspx?image=VPR0002068) by Veer).

Most criticism took on Helvetica’s complicity in supporting “god-awful conformity”. Naturally, in my own nihilistic way, I choose to accept it for what it is, a finely crafted and very popular san-serif typeface. And to direct my criticisms of modernism to the school of thought, not its instrument of design.

I hear that the DVD will be released later this year in October- I’m waiting anxiously for it and you should too!

* Helvetica is [not](http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/theyre-not-fonts) really a font, but rather a typeface.

** While Helvetica type is everywhere, it takes some [skill](http://www.ms-studio.com/articlesarialsid.html) to distinguish between it and its brethren.

If you’ve seen me at University, you probably already know this, but if not, there is a post for you… It is about my recent involvement in the vast [unicycle conspiracy](http://www.derf.net/truestory/20050503_the_vast_unicycle_conspiracy/).

It all started last summer when I, once again, pondered the unsuitability of the bicycle for the campus commute. You see I’m terrible at getting to class on-time, and so am in dire need of a efficient mode of transport to and from class. And, as you could probably guess, the usual choice didn’t suit me.

On campus bikes are a pain. To use a bike on campus you need to make all sorts of accommodations for it. Bikes need storage space; you need to use bike racks at each of your destinations (any of which can be crowded, inconvenient, or both). You need to lock them up _everywhere_, they usually require municipal registration, you can only ride on bike paths, and they demand the use of a helmet.

Blech, riding a bike would mean making all sorts of inconvenient compromises – not things which I’m keen on doing…

Now back to my pondering- I had considered trying the skateboard, it’s small and quick, but also a bit dangerous to use on a crowded footway. Remembering once seeing a student ride a [giraffe](http://www.unicycling.com/garage/giraffe.htm) through our [engineering quad](http://uitours.ncsa.uiuc.edu/engineering/bardeenquad/), I had also joked to my [brother](http://thetalik.net) I should see about using the old unicycle in our garage. But for the most part I resigned myself to plodding to and from class on foot.

Long story short, when I returned home that summer from [California](/2006/07/09/california/) my brother had picked up the unicycle and was prepping to bring it along with him to school. It took me a few more months, but by November I had a new unicycle in had, a few more weeks subsequent I was pedaling about on the ultimate class commuting [machine](http://flickr.com/photos/bluebike/232214464/).

Coming soon: The internet-famous, wild parties, and traffic incidents!

I’ve now arrived in sunny California once again. I’m here interning at another groovy [company](http://scalix.com) (amongst other things).

It feels rather nice to have left school behind (and for it to be kept there for the next 3 months). I now have been able to find the free time to [read](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_New_World) a bit, do a little [running](http://runner.oofn.net/?id=80), and some [cooking](http://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe/161/Orzo-Risotto-with-Buttery-Shrimp) to boot.

Despite this as well as the [Peninsula’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Peninsula) beautiful weather, I do feel a little torn over having avoiding the oncoming horde of [Magicicada](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magicicada) from [Brood XIII](http://buzz.ifas.ufl.edu/g900a.htm).

Finishing up – I’m looking forward to Hitting up [WWDC](http://developer.apple.com/wwdc/) and SF at large during the week after next. If your going to be around anytime while I’m here in the Bay Area don’t hesitate to give me a [ring](/about).

Today is [Pi Day](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi_day), Have a wonderful Pi Day, Everyone.

HeyO! I just checked my mail this afternoon to find [this](/pictures/WWDCme.png) in the inbox: an invitation to apply for a student scholarship to [WWDC](http://developer.apple.com/wwdc/students/), nothing too noteworthy about that. However, I was just a bit surprised to see that my friends [Joey](http://www.joeyhagedorn.com/), [Matt](http://www.theronge.com/), and I were featuring in the advert.

What’s more, I had just chanced on wearing that exact same [Mathematica](http://store.wolfram.com/view/misc/) shirt today and on top of that, as Joey (the friend to the left) informs me, he chose to wear his very same shirt on this day as well. – how exciting!

Why, hello everybody! You may have noticed that I’ve been on an extended hiatus for the past few months.

So here’s the story – last December I went in for Jaw Surgery (which any surgeons out there might know better as [Orthognathic surgery](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthognathic_surgery)) in order correct for a problematic [underbite](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandibular_prognathism). In short, it has been quite an adventure. But after a week of feeling [silly](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codeine), a time of dormancy, month of unintelligibility and several months (and counting) of an all [liquid](http://ensure.com/products/index.aspx) [diet](http://www.carnationinstantbreakfast.com/) I am now, at last, back to my functional self.

In the intervening time I was able to attend an informative (and mildly historic) [talk](http://rentzsch.com/psig/100), read some [good](http://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Donald-Norman/dp/0465067107/sr=8-1/qid=1171429985/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-9120067-6114816?ie=UTF8&s=books) [books](http://www.amazon.com/Cuckoos-Egg-Tracking-Computer-Espionage/dp/1416507787/sr=8-1/qid=1171430003/ref=pd_bbs_1/105-9120067-6114816?ie=UTF8&s=books) and listen to [really](http://www.amazon.com/Trance-Groove-Paramount/dp/B000002GSY/ref=m_art_li_0/105-9120067-6114816) [groovy](http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=72969440&s=143441) [music](http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=23879803&s=143441). I also got the chance to scratch out some apps amongst [other](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Mobius) [things](/pictures/torker24.jpg) – All of which I hope to expand on at a later time.

I’ve now been back at school for a number of weeks and am getting back into the groove of things. Missing the lion’s share of winter break has unfortunatly put me back a good ways as far as my todo list is concerned, but thankfully [Jack Frost](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Frost) has [given](http://blog.oofn.net/2007/02/13/snowed-out/) me some much needed breathing room, of which I intend to use.