传奇字体 Helvetica（2007）

It will lead you to a certain language also,
这也是 Helvetica 成功的秘诀之一
and this is also one of the secrets of the success of Helvetica
就是它自身已经包含了
that in itself it is already
某种特定的风格 某种特定的美感
it has a certain style, a certain aesthetic
你就会这么用它 你懂的
that you will just use it like that, you know,
因为这个字体 它本身要求这么做
because of the typeface, because the typeface wants it like that.
你只要听从它的指令照做就行了
You wilI do what the typeface wants you to do.
如果你不是个好的设计师 或者你本来就不是设计师
If you are not a good designer, or if you are not a designer,
用固定字号♥的 Helvetica 粗体就是了
just use Helvetica Bold in one size,
比如用在宣传♥单♥页上… 它就会… 很好看
Like for a flyer… it looks good.
很可能 至少在平面设计的潮流上
So it may very well be that when it comes to trends,
我们已经抵达了历史的终点
at least in graphic design, we’ve reached sort of the end of history.
钟摆往复运动 不会再摆向第三个方向
And the pendulum that swings back and forth doesn’t have any more directions it can swing in.
最终的潮流可能就是生产方式完全为大众所用
The final trend may simply be the completely democratic distribution of the means of production
每个希望能拥有的人 每个负担得起的人都能得到
to anyone who wants it or anyone who can afford it.
你花上几千块钱就能拥有一个音乐工作室
You can have a music studio for a couple thousand bucks,
花上一万美元就能有一间电影工作室
you can have a film studio for ten grand,
你当然也可以花上一两千美元来成为一个设计师
you definitely can be a designer with one or two thousand dollars,
而且基本上
and have basically
你使用的工具和那些专业的人士也不会相差太远
similar tools as the people who do this for a living.
当这些人都有了好的设计工具 他们就会
If all these people have the tools to make good design,
意识到到事情并不那么简单
they realize that it ain’t that easy.
设计不是打开一个 CorelDraw 或 PowerPoint 模板那么简单
You know, it’s not just opening a template in CorelDraw or in Powerpoint.
拥有某个软件的最新版本并不是设计
It’s not about having the latest version of whatever program.
如果你没有眼力 如果你没有对设计的感觉
If you don’t have the eye, if you don’t a sense of design,
软件也不可能赋予你
the program’s not going to give it to you.
我记得几年前 有个做电台广♥告♥的朋友
I remember, years ago, a friend of mine who produced radio commercials
叫五个人到 CBS 唱片公♥司♥的走廊去
had five guys go out in the hallway of CBS Records
去唱海滩男孩的“Round Round Get Around, I Get Around”
and sing the beginning of “Round Round Get Around, I Get Around”
这首歌♥的开头
by the Beach Boys.
他们确实很努力 他们花了一个星期来排练 把和声练准
And they really tried, they rehearsed for a week to get their harmonies right,
而且他们是所在楼层里唱歌♥唱得最好的
and they were the best vocalists who worked in that department on that floor,
而且他们还很热爱音乐
and they loved music.
然后他们出来演唱了
And they went out and they sang it,
当然他们唱得非常的糟糕…
and of course they were totally flat and sounded horribly…
太糟糕了 但他们排练过了 然后
terrible. But they’d rehearsed. And then
这个广♥告♥的画外音说：“现在你该知道海滩男孩唱得有多好了吧”
the voiceover for the commercial said, “Now you can appreciate the Beach Boys.”
这和我们现在所说的其实是一样的
And it’s really sort of the same thing.
你越是接近它 对它看得越多
The closer you come to it, and the more you see it,
就越能够欣赏它的优秀
the more you appreciate it when it’s terrific.
现在优秀的年轻字体设计师越来越多了 比以往任何时候都要多
There are more good, young type designers
我所说的“年轻”指的是现在二十多岁 三十出头的
by young I mean probably late twenties, early thirties now, than at any time in history.
谁也不知道他们会设计出怎样的字体
So who knows what typefaces they will design
什么样的风格… 但他们会好起来
in terms of style and so on. But they’ll be good.
在我看来 这就是巨大的进步
And… You know, to my way of thinking, that is a huge gain,
受益于这些更大众、更普及的技术
a huge benefit that comes with this more democratic, more accessible technology.
Helvetica 中就是有着某种特质
There’s just something about Helvetica.
人们不断的说“我对 Helvetica 做了某种改进”
Something about the fact that people keep saying I’ve come up with an improvement of Helvetica.
但这些改进从来不会讨好
And it never is really good.
我不知道字体设计中是否还存在某些尚未发现的科学
You know, I wonder whether or not somehow there’s some whole undiscovered science of typography
能够解释出 并非因为我们已经看惯了 Helvetica
that would sort of say it’s not just because we’re used to seeing it,
也并非因为它和那些
it’s not just because it was associated with all these things
我们认为的“权威”联♥系♥在了一起
that we consider authoritative,
而是因为这个字体本身具有的一种内在的合理性
but it somehow has this kind of inherent rightness.
比如 小写的 a 运用曲线中的合理性
You know, the rightness of the way the lowercase a meets the curve,
和大写的 G 下划的那一竖的合理性
the rightness of the way the G has the thing that comes down,
还有 c 的笔画是这样而不是那样
the rightness of the way the c strokes are like that instead of that.
我的意思是 我不认为这些合理性完全是由
I mean, I wouldn’t have believed that those things actually could be right or wrong
个人的欣赏品味所决定的
as opposed to someone’s tastes.
这个有着近五十年历史的东西
Yet we sort of have nearly fifty years of history of the thing just sitting there
在那儿轻蔑地等着我们去修正它 但它看上去就是那样的无懈可击
daring people to fix it. And it seems to be unfixable.
世界永远在变 时代在变
It’s always changing, time is changing,
对字体的欣赏也在发生很大的改变
the appreciation of typefaces is changing very much.
我们现在为某个项目选择某个字体的原因
Why you grab a certain typeface for a certain job
和我们在五十年代时为某个项目选择某个字体有着完全不同的含义
has a different meaning than we grabbed a typeface in the fifties for a certain job.
人永远都是时代的孩子 无法跳出你所处的时代
You are always child of your time, and you cannot step out of that.
我们现有的风气是 视觉交流的观念
What we have is a climate now in which the very idea of visual communication
和平面设计 如果我们还愿意这么叫的话 的观念
and graphic design, if we still want to call it that,
已获得广泛的认可
is accepted by many more people.
他们了解了 他们理解了 他们开始把图形交流
They get it. They understand it. They’re starting to see graphic communication
视为对自己身份的一种表达
as an expression of their own identity.
一个经典的例子是 那些社交网站程序
And the classic case of this is the social networking programs
比如 MySpace 在那你可以定制自己的个人资料
such as MySpace, where you can customize your profile.
你可以修改背景 可以加入图片
You can change the background, you can put pictures in,
随心所欲的更换字体
you can change the typeface to anything you want,
而你所做的这些选择
and those choices, those decisions you make,
就表明了你是什么样的人 你开始关心这个
become expressions of who you are. You start to care about it, in the way
就像关心你的衣着 那也是你个人身份的表达
you care about the clothing you’re wearing as an expression of who you are,
又或是你的发型之类
or your haircut or whatever,
还有你如何装饰自己的公♥寓♥… 等等这一切
or how you decorate your apartment… All of those things.
你知道 我们接受了以这种方式表达自我的观念
You know, we accept the idea of identity being expressed in that way,
通过对消费的选择来表达自己的身份
through these consumer choices.
好吧 这已经在视觉交流的圈子中发生
Well, now it’s happening in the sphere of visual communication
而且工具也在变得越来越精密
and there’s no reason as the tools become ever more sophisticated,
那它就能一直发展 发展 发展下去
why this just won’t go on developing, devoloping and developing.