传奇字体 Helvetica（2007）

传奇字体 Helvetica
字体永远在对我们诉说着什么
Type is saying things to us all the time.
字体传达某种情绪和氛围
Typefaces express a mood, an atmosphere,
它们赋予词语某种色彩
they give words a certain coloring.
无论你望向何处 总会见到各种字体
Everywhere you look, you see typefaces.
但有一种可能是你见得最多的 那就是 Helvetica
But there’s probably one you see more than any other one, and that’s Helvetica.
它们似乎原本就在那里 而不是来自何方
You know, there it is, and it just seems to come from nowhere.
你懂的 它们就好像是空气或者重力一样
You know, it seems like air, it seems like gravity.
很难恰当地评价它
It’s hard to evaluate it,
就好像有人问你该如何评价乳白色的墙漆
it’s like being asked what you think about off-white paint,
它就是如此 如此存在着
it’s just… It just there.
你很难忽视如此体量巨大的东西
It’s hard to get your head around something that big.
大部分人使用 Helvetica 是因为它无处不在
Most people who use Helvetica use it because it’s ubiquitous.
就好像我们饥不择食到去麦当劳吃东西一样
It’s like going to McDonalds instead of thinking about food.
因为它就在那里 街头巷尾到处都有
Because it’s there, it’s on every street corner.
所以我们就吃垃圾食品吧 因为街角就有
So let’s eat crap, because it’s on the corner.
对我来说 Helvetica 就是这样一个美好、永恒的东西
For me, Helvetica’s just this beautiful, timeless thing.
如此美好的东西应该好好珍惜 对不对？
And certain things shouldn’t be messed with, you know?
平面设计是信息沟通的框架
Graphic design is the communication framework,
它承载着各种各样的信息 诸如这个世界的现状
through which these messages, about what the world is now
我们对未来的向往
and what we should aspire to,
信息就是通过这样的方式传达给我们
it’s the way they reach us.
设计师们担负着极其重大的责任
The designer has an enormous responsibility,
他们是那些将线路接入我们大脑的人
those are the people putting their wires into our heads.
纽约城市运输标志
马西莫·维涅里，1966 年
现在我应该说吗？不应该说吗？
Now should I talk? Should I not talk?
你希望我说点什么吗？
You want me to say something?
说吗 不说吗？
Say something, say nothing?
马西莫·维涅里
设计师的生活是战斗的生活
The life of a designer is a life of fight:
对抗丑陋的战斗
fight against the ugliness.
就好像医生对抗疾病一样
Just like a doctor fights against disease.
对我们而言 我们的周边漫布着这种视觉的“疾病”
For us, the visual disease is what we have around,
我们尝试治愈这种“疾病”的方法 就是设计
and what we try to do is to cure it somehow, you know, with design.
好的字体排印设计师 对字母之间的距离永远有着高度的敏感
Good typographer always has sensitivity about the distance between the letters.
我们以为字体排印设计就是黑色加白色
We think typography is black and white.
而字体排印实际上是白的 根本不是黑的
Typography is really white, you know, it’s not even black.
因为字体是由黑色形体之间的空白来定义的
It is the space between the blacks that really makes it.
这有点像音乐
In a sense it’s like music,
音乐不是由音符 而是由音符之间的空间来定义的
it’s not the notes, it’s the space you put between the notes that makes the music.
举个例子 我们曾经为美国航♥空♥设计过 CI （企业识别）
For instance, we designed the corporate identity for American Airlines.
这是 1966 年完成的
This was done in 1966,
我们进行了一个在当时来说比较新奇的设计 把两个单词合成一个
and the novelty at the time was the fact of making one word instead of two
我们把 American 和 Airlines 连接成一个单词 AmericanAirlines
American Airlines by making AmericanAirlines all one word,
一半红色 一半蓝色 仅仅用颜色来区分
half red and half blue, just separated by the color.
还有比红色加蓝色更美国的吗？所以 这很完美
What could be more American than red and blue? You know, so it’s perfect.
这是唯一一家在过去四十年来从未更改过 CI 的航♥空♥公♥司♥
It’s the only airline in the last forty years that has not changed their identity.
所有航♥空♥公♥司♥都在来回改变 CI… 除了美国航♥空♥ 他们没必要改
All the airlines coming and going and changing… American Airlines is still the same. There’s no need to change,
他们还能怎么改进？
and how can they improve it?
他们已经是最好的了 懂吧 使用 Helvetica 的“美国航♥空♥”
They got the best already, you know. AmericanAirlines in Helvetica.
我们总是倾向于使用极少数的几种字体
We always had a tendency to use very few typefaces.
不是我们不信任字体
It’s not that we don’t believe in type.
而是我们觉得好字体并不多 对吧
We believe there are not that many good typefaces, you know.
如果我说得大方一点 大概有一打
If I want to be really generous there’s a dozen,
但基本上我使用的不会超过 3 种
basically I use no more than three.
有人觉得字体应该富有表现力
There are people that think that type should be expressive.
那是他们的看法 我不这么认为
They have a different point of view than mine.
我认为字体根本就不应该有表现力 我是说
I don’t think type should be expressive at all. I mean…
我可以用任何字体来写这个“狗”字
I can write the word “dog” with any typeface
这个字并不需要看起来像一只狗 对吧
and it doesn’t have to look like a dog. You know.
但就有人认为他们写的那个“狗”应该汪汪叫！你懂吧
But there are people that think when they write “dog” it should bark! You know.
Helvetica 是什么？它是一款为了满足人们对易读性的更高期盼的字体
What Helvetica is? It’s a typeface that was generated by a desire of having better legibility.
它是一款现代字体 一款非常清晰的字体
It is a modern type. It is a very clear type.
它可以很好地应用于几乎一切场合
It’s good for everything, pretty much.
你可以用 Helvetica 说“我爱你”
You can say I love you in Helvetica.
你可以用 Helvetica 极细体 如果你希望使你的设计非常的精致
And you can say it with Helvetica Extra Light if you want to be really fancy.
或者你可以用 Helvetica 超黑体：如果你希望表现强烈或热情的感觉
Or you can say it in Extra Bold if it’s really intensive and passionate,
你懂的 非常有效
you know, and it might work.
你还可以说“我恨你”
You can also say I hate you.
我可以写… 我当然还可以用 Helvetica 写几个字母 比如说…
You know, I can write… You know. l certainly can write a few letters in Helvetica saying that…
“我恨你 华盛顿！” 如果我可以这么说的话
to Washington in particular, if I can put it that way.
Helvetica 的出现 是我们期待已久的
When Helvetica came about, we were all ready for it.
它总是能正确地表达出我们所期望的含义
It just had all the right connotations we were looking for,
适用于一切必须要明确传达的信息：现代
for anything that had to spell out loud and clear: modern.
五十年代在平面设计的发展历程中是一个有趣的时期
The 1950s is an interesting period in the development of graphic design.
在战后
In that postwar period,
在第二次世界大战的恐怖和巨变之后
after the horror and cataclysm of the Second World War,
瑞克·波伊诺
设计作家
一种理想主义的情感 在一些 也可能是很多设计师当中产生
there’s a real feeling of idealism among some designers, many perhaps,
然后蔓延至全世界 尤其是在欧洲
across the world, certainly in Europe.
他们认为设计本身也是需要重建和复兴的一部分
The design is part of that need to rebuild, to reconstruct,
让世界更开放
to make things more open,
运行更平稳 更民♥主♥
make them run more smoothly, be more democratic.
设计师们有着强烈的社会责任感
There was this real sense of social responsibility among designers.
这一时期 也是极端现代主义者的早期试验
And this is the period when the early experiments of the high Modernist period
开始解体、理性化、条理化的时期
start to be broken down, rationalized, codified,
我们迎来了所谓“国际平面设计风格”
you get the emergence of this so-called international typographic style
或者说“瑞士风格”
or Swiss style.
五十年代瑞士设计师们的推波助澜 使得这种风潮推向极致
And it’s Swiss designers in the 1950s who are really driving that along.
这就是 Helvetica 产生的时代背景
This is where Helvetica comes in.
它就诞生于那一时期 1957 年
Helvetica emerges in that period, in 1957,
时代呼唤一种理性的字体
where there’s felt to be a need for rational typefaces
它应当适用于各种现代的信息
which can be applied to all kinds of contemporary information,
不管是用于标识系统 或是企业识别
whether it’s sign systems or corporate identity
将当代世界的视觉手法呈现于公众
and present those visual expressions of the modern world to the public
以一种清晰、明了的方式
in an intelligible, legible way.
所以 我要说的是 在它背后支撑着的
So, it’s underpinned, is what I’m saying
是众多理想主义的设计师们所共同拥有的这种伟大的情感
by this great feeling shared by many designers of idealism.
阿姆斯特丹
维姆·克劳威尔
我是个现代主义者 你知道的
I’m a Modernist, you know.
我就是在那个时代培养出来的
I was trained in that period,
我生活在那个时代 我爱现代主义
I lived in that period. I love Modernism.
下周我就要去伦敦 参观那里的现代主义展
I go next week to London to see the exhibition of Modernism.
我需要它 你知道
I want it, you know.
噢 那是我的生命
And well, that’s my life.
我周围全都是那时候的家具 我已经不能改变自己了
I’m surrounded with furniture from that period. I can’t change myself any more.
但看看今天的设计师们 他们什么字体都用 今天这种字体
But if I see today designers, they use all typefaces. One day one typeface,
明天那种字体 完全取决于当时的心情喜好
the other day the other typeface, all in favor of a certain atmosphere,
我就不是… 我不喜欢这样
I’m not… I don’t like that.
我永远倾向于清晰的风格
I’m always interested in clarity.
它应该是清楚的
It should be clear,
应该是可读的 也应该是直截了当的
it should be readable, it should be straightforward.
所以渐渐地 我开始在自己的设计中使用栅格
So I started using, gradually, grids for my design,
在我为博物馆所做的一个目录设计中
for my catalogues for museums.
我发明了一种栅格 在这种栅格中
I invented a grid, and within the grid
我可以任意发挥
I played my game.
但从不会脱离栅格线
But always along the lines of the grid,
所以总是会有某种秩序在里面
so that there is a certain order in it.
这便是我使用栅格的原因
That’s why I use grids,
所以有人叫我“栅格怪人”
that’s why they call me “Gridnik.”
对我而言 这是一种创造秩序的工具
For me, it’s a tool of creating order,
而所谓字体排印 就是创造秩序
and creating order is typography.
我很晚才开始使用电脑
I started late with the computer.
大约在 1993 年我买♥♥了自己的第一台电脑
I think it was in 1993 that I bought my first computer
然后我开始自学 到现在操纵自如
and I learned myself and I can handle it now quite well
但比不过年轻人
but not like the young people.
我可能比较慢 但是一样能完成
I am slow with it and I can do it.
我觉得很有意思
But I’m very much interested and
我想如果在六十年代我们有电脑就好了
I would have liked to have in the sixties the computer
因为这样我们的工作就可以完成得更快 完成得更好
because we can speed up our work, we can do it so much better,
特别是当你需要在作品中使用图层的时候
and especially all the layers you can bring into your work.