A friend of mine, fashion designer @signsealzip, was asking me the other day, “What’s the big deal about Helvetica… everyone’s saying it’s the perfect font.” My response was, “oh, but it is!”

There’s even a feature length movie about it!

What are your thoughts? Do you think Helvetica is the most perfect font? Is there something better? Gotham is making a big splash these days and has been hailed as “the next helvetica.” I’ll feature that next week. But really… why all the type-hype?

Overused, missused and missunderstood these are just a few of the fonts that piss me off:

Apple Chancery- the poor man’s “fancy font.” It looks cheap.

Arial Narrow- the Helvetica knock off. Don’t waste time trying immitate the most perfect font (Helvetica, that is).

Comic Sans- the casual and “fun font.” This doesn’t even look good in comic strips.

Papyrus- sorely overused, it was the first of its kind that was organic and a little rough around the edges.

Zapfino- Completely misunderstood, this has been overused in just about every market. And it’s awkward to work with.

So what did them in? Well, mostly their availability through Microsoft and in turn the general public; and people who don’t understand that fonts have a time and a place.

Please, let these fonts rest in peace. You can do better!!

We use it every day on our computers, we see it on street signs — and we take it for granted. Now, Gary Hustwit’s unique documentary introduces us to Helvetica, whose readability has made it the most popular font in the world. Interviews with designers and artists offer insight into the development, use and universal acceptance of Helvetica as the typeface of choice for everything from writing letters to creating corporate logos.