farmdoc's blog post number 66

In the mid 1970s, when a Melbourne University lecturer, I attended a seminar about overhead projection slides. I recall being told about serif and sans-serif fonts, and hearing that sans-serifs were more readable. That kindled my interest in fonts which has continued to this day. Two years later I typed my PhD thesis – on an IBM Selectric typewriter because this predated home computers and word processors. I added the headings using Letraset dry transfer lettering. Wanting them to be in the clearest and simplest font, I chose Helvetica. Last Friday my sweetheart Vivienne and I watched a 2007 documentary titled Helvetica which darling Meg and her partner PJ gave me for my birthday. This doco examines typography and graphic design by considering the proliferation of the Helvetica typeface within the context of the way type affects our lives. Seems like a dry topic, eh? But I wasn’t bored for a moment of its 80 minutes. Having been fascinated by fonts for 30 years, I loved this doco as much as I love Helvetica. The simplest and most functional things in life are often the most cherished and the longest lasting. Helvetica was developed in 1957. My big regret is that the Helvetica font, being owned by the Linotype Corporation, is expensive to download. So I write my medical reports in another sans-serif font: Verdana.