传奇字体 Helvetica（2007）

so that the counters and the space between characters just hold the letters.
你看不出丝毫的松动
I mean you can’t imagine anything moving;
它就是如此的结实
it is so firm.
这不是一套弯曲成形的字体
It’s not a letter that’s bent to shape;
每个字母实际上是存在于一个强有力的矩阵所包围着的空间
it’s a letter that lives in a powerful matrix of surrounding space.
这实在是… 太出色了 当所有的一切完成之后
It’s… oh it’s brilliant when it’s done well.
我父亲对于这个字体应该呈现怎样的面貌
My father had clear ideas
有着很清晰的想法
how the typeface should look like.
所以我父亲和米丁格坐在一起 然后他开始绘图
So my father and Miedinger sat together, and he started drawing.
这里有一份字体的小样
Here you have a proof of an alphabet
根据马克斯·米丁格的陈述
with observations by Max Miedinger.
当米丁格在 Haas 工作的时候 其实并不是作为一个设计师
When Miedinger worked for Haas he did not work as a designer.
他实际上是一个销♥售♥员
He was actually a salesman.
马克斯·米丁格
他的工作就是在瑞士到处转
His job was to travel around Switzerland
招揽字体的订单
taking orders for fonts of type.
从专业上来说 他是一个平面设计师
By profession he was a graphic artist,
不过他意识到 卖♥♥字体能让他赚更多的钱
but he realized that he could make more money by selling foundry type.
我父亲说过：每当我对新字体有些想法时 我确信你能把它设计出来
But my father said, If ever I have an idea of a new typeface, I’m sure that you could design it.
我这里有一份字体样册
I have here a type specimen book
是关于两家字体公♥司♥的 Stempel 和 Haas
of both type foundries, Stempel and Haas.
你要知道 Haas 是由德国字体公♥司♥ Stempel 控股的
You have to know that Haas was controlled by the German type foundry Stempel.
而之后 Stempel 又被 Linotype 收♥购♥
And in turn Stempel was also controlled by Linotype.
Linotype 总部
巴特洪堡，德国
Linotype 拥有 Haas 和 Stempel 造字厂，
并同时拥有 Helvetica 的版权
下面让我们到地下室去看看能否找到什么关于 Helvetica 的档案
Now we go down to the cellar and see in our archives where we can find Helvetica.
奥特玛·霍夫尔
Linotype 市场总监
我们要找的是 24 号♥
Here we have number 24.
在这里 Helvetica 的画稿
And there it is, the Helvetica drawings.
Stempel 的市场总监希望有一个更好的名字
The marketing director at Stempel had the idea to give it a better name
布鲁诺·施泰纳特
Linotype 前任总裁
因为 Neue Haas Grotesk（意为：Haas 的新怪物）
because Neue Haas Grotesk didn’t sound very good for a
对于一款要销往美国的字体 这样一个名字听起来并不是很好
typeface that was intended to be sold in the United States.
Stempel 建议用 Helvetia 这个名字
Stempel suggested the name of Helvetia.
这一点非常重要：Helvetia 是瑞士的拉丁语名称
This is very important: Helvetia is the Latin name of Switzerland.
我父亲说 这不可能
And my father said, That’s impossible.
你不能用一个国家的名字来称呼一个字体
You cannot call a typeface after the name of a country.
所以他说 你们为什么不管它叫 Helvetica（Helvetia 的形容词）呢？
So he said, why don’t you call it Helvetica.
所以 换种说法 这个字体将是“瑞士的”字体
So in other words this would be the Swiss typeface.
然后他们同意了
And they agreed.
我认为 Helvetica 在当时是一个完美的名字
I think Helvetica was a perfect name at the time.
赫尔曼·察普夫
字体设计师
瑞士字体排印设计在当时也是闻名于世
And Swiss typography at that time also was well-known worldwide.
所以 Helvetica 是这个字体命名的最佳方案
So it was the best solution for Helvetica
它顺利进入市场
to get into the market.
Helvetica 一经推出 便势不可挡
Once we’d introduced Helvetica, it really ran away.
它无疑是当时的设计师们期盼已久的
It was exactly what the designers were looking for.
我的意思是 它的成功是空前绝后的
I mean, I don’t think there’s been such a hot thing since
由于字体的正负形关系得到了良好的处理
as the figure-ground relationship properly executed
它就好像… 哦 一次即将爆发的山体滑坡 懂吧
and it was… oh, just a landslide waiting to go down the mountain. You know.
一发不可收拾
And away it went.
我可以想像 当时这个字体给人的感觉真是太美妙了
I imagine there was a time when it just felt so good
将那些陈旧、邋遢、粗糙、丑陋的字体
to take something that was old and dusty and homemade and crappy looking
全部换成 Helvetica
and replace it with Helvetica.
就好像你把那些脏旧东西外面的污秽剥离掉
It just must have felt like you were scraping the crud off of like filthy old things
迈克·布雷特
平面设计师
让它们焕然一新 实际上
and restoring them to shining beauty. And in fact,
你懂的 六十年代的企业识别 大多由那些东西构成
you know, corporate identity in the sixties, that’s what it sort of consisted of.
你懂的 来找你的客户往往带着成堆的五十年代土气的企宣手册
You know. Clients would come in and they’d have, you know, piles of goofy old brochures from the fifties
上面有各种奇怪的形状 蠢笨难看的照片
that hide like shapes on them and goofy bad photographs.
他们有一些信头上可能写着“联合制品”
They’d have some letterhead that would say Amalgamated Widget on the top
用着某种傻气的字体 也可能是一个手写体在“联合制品”之上
in some goofy, maybe a script typeface, above Amalgamated Widget
会有一个描绘他们在爱荷华州帕迪尤卡总部形象的
it would have an engraving showing their headquarters
版画图案 旁边是冒着黑烟的烟囱 懂吧
in Paducah, lowa, with smokestacks belching smoke, you know.
如果在 1965、1966 年左右 你走进一家企业形象咨♥询♥事务所
And then you go to a corporate identity consultant circa 1965, 1966,
他们会把那些东西摊在那里然后说 这是你们现在的信封信笺
and they would take that and lay it here and say, Here’s your current stationery,
然后 这是我们提议的方案
and all it implies, and this is what we’re proposing.
在它旁边 是那冒烟的烟囱
And next to that, next to the belching smokestacks and the
在婚礼字体和象牙色纸张旁边
nuptial script and the ivory paper,
是挺括而雪亮的纸张
they’d have a crisp bright white piece of paper
再没有那些 “联合制品 始于 1857”
and instead of Amalgamated Widget, founded 1857,
仅仅用 Helvetica 中黑体写着 Widgco
it just would say Widgco, in Helvetica Medium
你能想像那是多么令人振奋和激动？
Can you imagine how bracing and thrilling that was?
就如同你刚爬出一片沙漠
That must have seemed like you’d crawled through a desert
满嘴都是肮脏的沙尘
with your mouth just caked with filthy dust
然后这时有人给你递上一杯清澈见底 提神醒脑的冰水
and then someone is offering you a clear, refreshing, distilled, icy glass of water
让你把所有的不快、历史的包袱全都抛之脑后
to clear away all this horrible, kind of like, burden of history.
那绝对是妙极了 你知道这太棒了
It must have been just fantastic. And you know it must have been fantastic
因为这样的事会接二连三连四的发生
because it was done over and over and over again.
这就是我前面所说的：1953 年的《生活》杂♥志♥
So this is what I’m talking about, this is Life Magazine 1953.
一个又一个广♥告♥ 毫无例外的重复着那一时期特有的视觉设计上的陋习
One ad after another in here, that just kind of shows every single visual bad habit that was endemic in those days.
到处都是小丑般的手写美术字
You’ve got zany hand lettering everywhere,
用花体字来显示优雅
swash typography to signify elegance,
感叹号♥、感叹号♥、感叹号♥
exclamation points, exclamation points, exclamation points.
这里用婚礼请柬的花饰字体和版式写着
Cursive wedding invitation typography down here reading,
“几乎每个人都会鉴赏至美”
“Almost everyone appreciates the best.”
这就是五十年代的视觉环境 那个时代的一切东西都这个模样
This was everywhere in the Fifties, this is how everything looked in the Fifties.
我们来到… 这时候 Helvetica 已经开始大显身手 一样的商品
You cut to… this is after Helvetica was in full swing, same product.
没有人物 没有虚伪的笑容
No people, no smiling fakery,
就是一大杯美丽的冰镇可乐
just a beautiful big glass of ice-cold Coke.
在下面的标语写着：它就这么真实
The slogan underneath: It’s the Real Thing.
句号♥
Period.
可口可乐 句号♥
Coke, period.
用 Helvetica 写着 句号♥
In Helvetica, period.
有问题吗？当然没有 喝可口可乐 句号♥
Any questions? Of course not. Drink Coke, period.
简约
Simple.
政♥府♥和企业喜欢 Helvetica
Governments and corporations love Helvetica
因为一方面它令他们看上去中立和有效率
because on one hand it makes them seem neutral and efficient,
莱斯莉·萨万
媒体作家
柔和的字形也让他们看起来更人性化
but also the smoothness of the letters makes them seem almost human.
这一直是他们试图传达的品质
That is a quality they all want to convey
因为他们一直想改变他们的形象：
because of course they have the image they are always fighting
独断、官僚、
that they are authoritarian they’re bureaucratic,
让人失去理性、压♥迫♥
you lose yourself in them, they’re oppressive.
然而 改用 Helvetica
So instead, by using Helvetica
就可以使他们看起来亲切、透明、可靠
they can come off seeming more accessible, transparent, and accountable,
所有这些热门词汇都是当今的企业和政♥府♥
which are all the buzzwords for what corporations and governments
理应具备的形象
are supposed to be today.
现在他们可以不必真的亲切、可靠、透明
Now they don’t have to be accessible or accountable or transparent
但他们可以看上去如此
but they can look that way.
我们从 IRS（美国国税局）拿到的表格用的是 Helvetica
Our tax forms from the lRS are in Helvetica.
EPA（环保署）也用它
The EPA uses it
现代人希望显得简洁、正式、高效
now there’s someone who wants to look clean and official and efficient.
设计师们 我想甚至是读者们 为这款字体赋予了种种外在的含义
Designers, and I think even readers, invest so much of the surroundings in the typeface.
美国服饰用 Helvetica 显得随意
American Apparel uses Helvetica and it looks cheeky.
而美国航♥空♥用 Helvetica 显得稳重
American Airlines uses it and it looks sober.
这不仅仅因为他们所使用的字重 字距 和颜色
And it’s not just a matter of the weight they use and the letter spacing and the colors.
还因为字体本身就支持开放性的解读
There’s something about the typeface I think really invites this sort of open interpretation.
乔纳森·赫夫勒 托比亚斯·弗里尔-琼斯
可以说 字体分为两种类型
You could say the typefaces are either
一类支持完全开放性的解读
those that are fully open to interpretation
另一类却仅仅与一种含义相关联
or merely have one association attached to them.
一款由冰锥或棒棒糖之类玩意构成的字体只表达一种意思
A typeface made of icicles or candy canes or something just says one thing.
而 Helvetica 却可以表达一切
And Helvetica maybe says everything.
或许这就是它的魅力之一
And that’s perhaps part of its appeal.
我是说字体设计中非常缺乏可用于描述字体特性的术语
I mean Typography has this real poverty of terms to describe things.
仅有的就是 x高度 字高 字重之类
Beyond x-height and cap height and weight and so on.
当托比亚斯和我在一起合作项目时
I find when Tobias and I work on projects together
我们喜欢用很多很主观的词汇来描述字体的特性
we tend to use a lot of qualitative terms that are entirely subjective.
几年前为《君子》杂♥志♥制♥作♥字体时 我记得我们曾说
Working on the typeface for Esquire years ago, I remember us saying,
我记得我说 不 这是土星五号♥时期美国国家航♥空♥航♥天♥局的感觉
I remember my saying. No, this has that Saturn V rocket early NASA quality.
它应该是那种橘色塑料的好利获得打字机 罗马假日浓缩咖啡的感觉