starring

I have a soft spot in my heart for typography. We can "feel the difference when sommething is set in one typeface," rather an another, says says Ina Saltz, a professor in Electronic Design and Multimedia at City College NYC. "There's a visual distinction that sends a visual message." Saltz was one of more than a dozen interviews that I spent more than a month on (just prior to starting this blog), for a story exploring the rising trend of typographical/word tattoos. I interviewed several "words" in Shellly Jackson's Skin project, a typeface designer in Las Vegas whose whole torso is covered in Latin tattoos in antique typefaces, Saltz, editor of Body Type, the first photographic book of word/typographic tattoos, among others.
So I was thrilled to read unBeige's blog report on the world premiere of the feature-length documentary film, Helvetica, held at SXSW last week. The film "just might be the best history of graphic design we've ever seen," reports unBeige. Helvetica, that [in]famous font, turns 50 this year.

Festival organizers had to turn away more than 150 people at the SXSW premiere. I think that's going to be the precident as the film begins touring the international film fest circut. It's coming to New York for a screening at the New School on April 6, and guess what? Yep, sold out. The film's website has the complete—and oft updated— tour schedule. In the meantime, I'm gonna try to get into the screening, guerrila-style.