Helvetica is:

Apparently a lot of people have given a lot of thought to what Helvetica is despite the unanimous critique that if ever there were a universal and unassuming font that blended casually into the landscape, Helvetica would be it. The consensus in Gary Hustwit's film is that Helvetica is everywhere, it's unavoidable, "it's air" even. Yet air it seems can be a sweet perfume smell or even the subtle scents of a gentle breeze or it can be stale or thick or even stifling. It seems that's exactly how Erik Spiekermann feels about Helvetica. It is what it is and "There's no choice."

Maybe the best quote from the film belongs to Spikermann, who responds to the question "Why is Helvetica so popular?" with "Why is bad taste ubiquitous?"

Personally I'm drawn to Helvetica. It's clean and nondescript (that's very revealing of me maybe). It's a blank slate and as modernist designer Massimo Vignelli points out in the opening minutes of the film, Helvetica can say whatever you want it to say.

As for the film, I liked it. Did I find it educational? Not really. It's a pretty film (from a design/photography perspective) with a host of appearances from designers and critics that are as entertaining as they are knowledgeable and opinionated. But it's not a very informative movie like you'd maybe expect from something like this.

Here are some more of my favorite quotes:

"The meaning is in the content of the text and not in the typeface, and that is why we loved Helvetica very much." - Wim Crouwel

"And Helvetica maybe says everything, and that's perhaps part of its appeal." - Jonathan Hoefler

"I'm very much a word person, so that's why typography for me is the obvious extension. It just makes my words visible." - Erik Spiekermann

"It's The Real Thing. Period. Coke. Period. Any Questions? Of course not." - Michael Bierut