Image courtesy Lenny Naar.

Let's admit it, that things don't get much nerdier than when it comes to the world of graphic design; and that within the nerdy world of design, nothing is more nerdy there than typographers, or those like me who have developed over the years an obsessive love for typefaces, fonts, and other typographical idiosyncrasies. So it's with fair geek warning that I let you know today about a new documentary film called Helvetica, taking a detailed look at both the history and use of what many consider "the most perfect typeface in human history" (and by the way, is the typeface you see on display here at the CCLaP website as well).

Originally created in 1957 by Swedish designer Max Miedinger, Helvetica was actually a response to the work of many of the bauhaus designers of the 1910s through '30s; to see whether it was possible to design the "perfect font," a typeface that causes absolutely no attention to itself but rather acts as a blank slate for whoever is using it. And boy, that's sure turned out to be true; if you think back, in fact, Helvetica has been a leading cutting-edge design element in virtually every school of thought in the last half-century, with it representing in one form or another over the decades the cool Modernism of the '50s, '70s Soho chic, the cold machine logic of the '80s, and now the bright happy future of the Web 2.0. Of any typeface to become obsessed by, Helvetica's a good one to pick, and apparently the movie's been blowing people away wherever it's now screened; check out, for example, the raving review it received at Aint It Cool News, whose usual coverage mostly leans heavily towards horror and science-fiction.

You can check out the film's official website for more on whether or not it'll be screening in your city soon; and yes, Chicagoans, the reason I mention it today in particular is that it's opening here tomorrow, down at the Gene Siskel Film Center. And why yes, the filmmaker himself, Gary Hustwit, will be on hand at all of Friday's screenings as well, to answer questions afterwards, although I can't even imagine how one would possibly get tickets to that at this point, other than to simply show up and hope for some nerd scalpers to be there. Is there even such a thing as nerd scalpers? "I got two for the Elizabethan retrospective at the Newberry! Two hot ones for the Elizabethan retrospective, who needs 'em?!"