传奇字体 Helvetica（2007）

因为他们至始至终只用一种字体
because they use a typeface that they only use
你可以购买♥♥它 我这有 叫做 Neo Contact 谁都可以买♥♥
You can buy it; I have it; anyone can, it’s called Neo Contact. Anybody can buy it,
但是万宝路把这个字体变成了他们的专有字体
but Marlboro have made the typeface theirs.
你可以在几里之外就可以认出任何万宝路的广♥告♥
You can recognize any Marlboro ad from miles away
就因为那个愚蠢的字体
because of that stupid typeface.
但假如他们用的是 Helvetica… 喂？？？恐怕就不太灵了
If they’d used Helvetica… Hello??? It wouldn’t quite work.
某样东西的展示方式将影响人们对它的反应
The way something is presented will define the way you react to it.
所以你可以用三种不同的字体来传达同一个信息
So you can take the same message and present it in three different typefaces,
而人们的反应 看到的那一瞬间的情感反应 也会有所不同
the response to that, the immediate emotional response will be different.
而字体在这种传达之中 是一种终极武器
And the choice of typeface is the prime weapon,
内维尔·布罗迪
平面设计师
只要你想要
if you want, in that communication.
我说字体是商业广♥告♥和市场中的武器 是因为
And I say weapon largely because with commercial marketing and advertising,
广♥告♥中信息的传递方式将直接决定我们对它的反应
the way a message is dressed is going to define our reaction to that message in the advertising.
如果用一种垃圾风格的字体说 “买♥♥这条牛仔裤吧”
So if it says, buy these jeans, and it’s a grunge font,
你一定觉得那是一条满是划痕和撕裂的裤子
you would expect it to be some kind of ripped jeans
或者是地下服饰店才会有的东西
or to be sold in some kind of underground clothing store.
但如果相同的信息用 Helvetica 表现出来
If you see that same message in Helvetica,
你会觉得 那可能是一条 GAP 牌的牛仔裤
you know, it’s probably on sale at GAP.
你知道那裤子会很干净 很贴身 穿上去也不显眼
It’s going to be clean, that you’re going to fit in, you’re not going to stand out.
任何人 我认为 都是受下意识驱使的
All of us, I would suggest, are prompted in subliminal ways.
也许当你看到某个包装上的字体时 会心有所动
Maybe the feeling you have when you see a particular typographic choices used on a piece of packaging,
我喜欢那个样子 感觉不错 那就是我想要的产品
is just, I like the look of that, that feels good, that’s my kind of product.
但那正是字体的神秘咒语在发挥它的威力
But that’s the type casting its secret spell.
从某种角度说 Helvetica 就是一个俱乐部 一种会员资格的标记
In a way, Helvetica is a club. It’s a mark of membership;
它是一个徽章 昭示则我们是现代社会的一分子
it’s a badge that says we’re part of modern society,
我们有着共同的理想
we share the same ideals.
它方圆周正 不会给人带来破坏和危险的感觉
It’s well-rounded, it’s not going to be damaging or dangerous.
Helvetica 的字母中有着一种近乎完美的收与放的平衡
Helvetica has almost like a perfect balance of push and pull in its letters,
那种完美的平衡似乎在对我们说
and that perfect balance sort of is saying to us,
很明显的 它在对我们说：
well not sort of, it is saying to us,
别担心 你遇到的任何问题 或者说世界上的任何问题
Don’t worry, any of the problems you’re having, or problems in the world,
诸如如何穿过地铁 如何找到洗手间之类的问题
or problems getting through the subway or finding a bathroom,
所有那些问题都没什么大不了的 它们都会被解决
all those problems aren’t going to spill over, they’ll be contained,
或者实际上它们根本就不存在
and in fact maybe they don’t exist.
我喜欢的一点是 如果说有一个严肃的字体
What I like is if this very serious typeface
告诉你在街道上该做什么 不该做什么
tells you the do’s and don’ts of street life,
那一定是 Helvetica
and it must be Helvetica at that moment.
拉尔斯·穆勒
平面设计师，出版人
作为企业识别字体的 Helvetica
The image of Helvetica as the corporate typeface
给它自身留下了所谓“资本主义字体”的形象
made it the so-called typeface of capitalism,
我要站出来反对
which I would actually reject and say
我要说 它是社♥会♥主♥义♥的字体
it’s the typeface of socialism
因为它到处都是 很容易得到 它欢迎业余爱好者
because it is available all over and it’s inviting dilettantes and amateurs and
和所有的人 都来从事字体排印
everybody to do typography,
创造他们自己的字体设计 我认为这是件好事
to create their own type designs, and I think that’s a good thing.
我想我把 Helvetica 叫做城市的香气是对的
I think I’m right calling Helvetica the perfume of the city.
它是某种我们平常熟视无睹的东西
It’s just something we don’t notice usually
但一旦它消失 会让我们非常的怀念
but we would miss very much if it wouldn’t be there.
我想一个字体能发展到那种地步实在是让人吃惊
I think it’s quite amazing that a typeface can advance to such a status
在我们的生活中
in our lives
任何风格的东西 都有一个审美疲劳的边际效用律
As is always the case with any style, there’s a law of diminishing returns.
你看得越多 整个社会看得越多
The more you see it, the more the public sees it,
设计师们在字体排印和平面视觉上使用得越多
the more the designer uses those typographic and graphic solutions,
它就变得越是熟悉 平庸和极度无聊
the more familiar, predictable, and ultimately dull they become.
当我开始成为一个设计师的时候 这个行业的唯一“技巧”
By the time I started as a designer, it sort of seemed there was only one trick in town,
大概就是 除了 Helvetica 你还能用什么？
which was like, what can you use instead of Helvetica.
你知道 A、B、H（血型） 所有的东西都在用 Helvetica
You know, ABH, Anything But Helvetica.
其实我们需要有很多的无衬线字体
And you do need lot of sans-serif typefaces,
我觉得 Helvetica 被广泛地和过度的滥用了
but it seemed like Helvetica had just been used so much and overused so much
并且总是与如此众多巨大的、面无表情的事物关联在一起
and associated with so many big, faceless things
它已经失去了那种令人赏心悦目的能力 至少对我而言
that it had lost all its capacity even, to my eyes at least, to look nice.
在七十年代 特别是美国
And by the seventies, especially in America,
人们开始采取行动反抗
you start to get a reaction against,
那些千篇一律的设计风格
what it seems to those designers is the conformity,
那种同一化的单调乏味
the kind of dull blanket of sameness
这种设计方法已经蔓延全世界
that this way of designing is imposing on the world.
设计已经不再发自内心的想法
So something that had come out of idealism
而变成了纯粹的例行公事 这种情形需要有所改变
has by this time become merely routine, and there’s a need for a change.
纽约
当你进入设计领域的时候
You come into design,
你也进入了历史上的一个坐标点
at the point that you start out in history,
薛·博兰
却不自知
without knowing that you’re starting out in history,
通常来说你并不知道之前发生的故事 也不知道为什么发展到了那一步
and often you don’t have a sense of what came before you and how it got there,
你也必定不知道将要发生什么
and you certainly don’t know what’s going to come after.
当我成为泰勒艺术学院的学生 进入设计领域时
And when I walked into design as a student at Tyler School of Art,
两种截然不同的设计文化给我很大的冲击
what struck me was sort of two separate cultures of design.
一种是公♥司♥文化
One was the corporate culture,
公♥司♥文化指的是大公♥司♥的视觉语言
and the corporate culture was the visual language of big corporations,
那个时候的公♥司♥文化毫无疑问地是 Helvetica
and at that time they were persuasively Helvetica.
它们看上去很相似 在我看来有点法♥西♥斯♥
They looked alike, they looked a little fascistic to me.
它们很干净 干净得让我想去清理自己的房♥间
They were clean, it reminded me of cleaning up your room.
我甚至怀疑 这是我母亲的阴谋 为的是让我保持房♥间整洁
I felt like, this was some conspiracy of my mother’s, to make me keep the house clean,
懂吧 我所有的有关混乱房♥间的青春期叛逆都回来了
you know, that all my messy room adolescent rebellion was coming back at me
而这次是 Helvetica 版本的 我要把它全部推♥翻♥
in the form of Helvetica, and I had to overthrow it.
嘿 我昨晚拿到了一些打印输出的东西
Hey, I got some printouts of the stuff from last night.
在道义上我也要反对 Helvetica
I also was morally opposed to Helvetica,
因为我看到那些被 Helvetica 粉饰的大公♥司♥们
because I viewed the big corporations that were slathered in Helvetica
成为了越南战争的资助者
as, you know, sponsors of the Vietnam War.
所以 如果你用 Helvetica
So therefore, if you used Helvetica,
那就意味着你赞同越南战争
it meant that you were in favor of the Vietnam War,
所以你怎么能用它呢？
so how could you use it?
当时最酷的东西是唱片专辑的封套 之字形的卷桶纸
What looked cool to me at that point were record album covers, Zig-Zag rolling papers,
麻醉生命和反文化的装备
the accoutrements of dope life and counterculture,
显然还有地下报纸和杂♥志♥ 还有图钉工作室
obviously underground newspapers and magazines, and Pushpin Studios.
我读大学的时候 图钉工作室是最火的
Pushpin Studios was the height of, at the time I was in college,
所有人的愿望是 去那里工作 做出像他们那样充满灵感的作品
everybody’s ambition. To work there, to do work that was as inspiring as their work,
他们的作品看上去是那样的鲜活 机智 寓意丰富
because it seemed fresh and alive and witty and content-laden,
而西摩·切瓦斯特和米尔顿·格拉泽真的很会画画
aside from the fact that Seymour Chwast and Milton Glaser could really draw.
我也想做出那样的作品
And I wanted to make work that looked like that.
当我在泰勒艺术学院读书的时候 我想成为一个插画师
When I was at Tyler, I wanted to be an illustrator,
我的老师叫史坦尼斯劳·扎戈斯基
and I had a teacher named Stanislaw Zagorski.
我从来就不知道如何在自己的设计中安排字体和排版
And I never knew what to do with the typography on my designs.
学校作业是设计书籍封面和唱片封套
We would make book covers and record covers as school projects,
我会去当地的艺术商店：Sam Flax 购买♥♥ Helvetica 的转印字
and I’d go to the local art store, I’d go to Sam Flax, and I’d buy Helvetica as press type,
我把买♥♥到的字体擦印到唱片封套的角上 左对齐
and I’d rub it down in the corner of the album the way I thought it was supposed to be, kind of flush left.
当然它们从来也排不整齐 会裂开或者破损
And of course it would never line up properly and thing would crackle and break
那真是可怕
and it’d be terrible.
扎戈斯基老师告诉我 别用转印字了
And Zagorski told me to let go of the press type,
自己画字体上去
and illustrate the type.
我恍然大悟 原来字体排印也可以是有个性的
And it hadn’t dawned on me that typography could have personality
就像画画一样是有个性的
the way drawing did.
我意识到字体是有灵魂的 能够传达情绪
I realized that type had spirit and could convey mood,
它可以成为你自己独有的媒介
and that it could be your own medium,
它有着自己的韵味 一种能表达任何东西的能力
that it was its own palate, a broad palate to express all kinds of things.
所以我画了这期 AIGA 年报的封面
So I painted this cover the AlGA Annual,
这期 AIGA 年报的标题是《美国平面设计》
and the title of the AlGA Annual was Graphic Design U.S.A.
我决定从字面上精确地表达这个题目
And I decided I would take the title literally
对美国平面设计做某种分♥析♥
and sort of analyze what Graphic Design U.S.A. was,
于是我决定把美国每一个州都列出来
so I decided what I’d do is list every state in the United States,
加上人们使用 Helvetica 的百分比
and the percentage of people who used Helvetica.
我没有科学的证据证明每一个州具体有多少人在用 Helvetica
And I didn’t have any scientific evidence of knowing what percentage of people in each state used Helvetica,
所以我决定基于最近一次里根总统的选举
so I decided to base it on the last Reagan election.
所有支持里根的州
So that the states that went for Reagan
都有超过 50% 的人使用 Helvetica
all had more than 50% of the people who used Helvetica.
（如果说 Helvetica 是越南战争的字体
If Helvetica was the typeface of the Vietnam War,
那这场战争的字体是什么)
what’s the typeface of this war?
伊♥拉♥克♥战争？
The Iraqi War?
Helvetica
Helvetica.
相同的历史时期 我的意思是 历史重演了
Same time period, I mean it is, it’s the same, it repeated.