BLANKA & CANDY present '50', an exhibition celebrating 50 years of Helvetica.

[CandyCollective]

Hello there.

Presales are now open for the entire 50 show, images will follow once the show opens in London but this is for those of you who feel like taking a risk... I've seen all the work and it's not much of a bet to be honest, the standard overall is really high...

http://www.blanka.co.uk/Events/50_Ex...on/1957_-_1981
http://www.blanka.co.uk/Events/50_Ex...on/1982_-_2007

Also, watch out for next month's Creative Review. We've got a 4 page feature inside for the show and 2 of the submissions, including one Irish, have got the front and back cover.

Hopefully see you in London for the launch July 18th.

Have a great day. Richard.

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Blanka and Candy present
50 years of Helvetica

Launching at Design Museum, London 19 July – 31 August

2007 sees the fiftieth anniversary of Helvetica. Created in 1957 by Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann at the Haas type foundry in Switzerland, the typeface was originally christened Neue Haas Grotesk. Its name changed to Helvetica in 1960 in an attempt to take the typeface to a wider international audience. Over the years the typeface has been celebrated widely and used in many renowned applications, implanting its own indelible place in design history. From the beautifully implemented New York Subway signage system by Vignelli to its usage on the lowly generic EXIT sign, the flexibility of the typeface seems to have no boundaries. 2007 even sees the typographic phenomenon celebrated on the big screen in, ‘Helvetica, a documentary film’ by Gary Hustwit. In its 50 year lifespan Helvetica has deservedly become the the most widely used and respected sans serif typeface on the planet.

The 50 exhibition imagines the world from the perspective of Helvetica itself, highlighting events and inspirational things it has seen- and been influenced by - during its lifetime, from the lunar moon landing to the first British nudist camp. For the exhibition, 50 leading designers and graphic artists from around the world have joined forces with Blanka and Candy to create a visual diary of 50 separate events from the last half century. The exhibition is a birthday party that pays homage to Helvetica’s massive influence on our visual culture. Long live Helvetica… Happy Birthday!

Blanka and Candy have invited 50 leading designers and graphic artists to produce 50 images. Each artist has produced a 50cm x 50 cm print in an edition of 50, available online from blanka.co.uk for £50 each. Each print is produced using Epson Archival Giclee Inkjet technology. The exhibition launches in London at the Design Museum and also will appear at the Image Now Gallery in November for Design Week in Ireland.

The event is also currently set to visit Edinburgh, Leicester, Newcastle Paris and New York, with Sydney, Berlin and Copenhagen [TBC].

Blanka.co.uk / Candyculture.net

Produced in association with Veer / Epson / GFSmith / Victionary / Design Museum / Build / Generation Press.

Contributors: 1957 Spin, 1958 Vince Frost, 1959 Bleed, 1960 Ros Shiers, 1961 The Designers Republic, 1962 Farrow, 1963 Antoine et Manuel, 1964 Ian Wright, 1965 Fabio Ongarato, 1966 Experimental Jetset, 1967 Parra, 1968 Kam Tang, 1969 Build, 1970 Hamish Muir, 1971 Fred Flade, 1972 Ben Drury, 1973 Darren Firth, 1974 James Jarvis, 1975 Rinzen, 1976 Airside, 1977 Niklaus Troxler, 1978 Jonathan Ellery, 1979 Oliver Jeffers, 1980 Glenn Leyburn, 1981 Barber Osgerby, 1982 Alan Kitching, 1983 Conor & David, 1984 Michael Gillette, 1985 NB Studio, 1986 North, 1987 Cartlidge Levene, 1988 Luca Ionescu, 1989 Jenny Mörtsell, 1990 Emmi, 1991 Marc Atlan, 1992 Alexander Gelman, 1993 Hellovon, 1994 Image Now, 1995 Lars Müller, 1996 Kiosk, 1997 Kim Hiorthøy, 1998 Genevieve Gauckler, 1999 Adrian Shaughnessy, 2000 Winkreative, 2001 Commonwealth, 2002 Angry/Aad, 2003 Phunkstudio, 2004 Luke Prowse, 2005 Vaughan Oliver, 2006 Rob Ryan, 2007 Exhibition overview

[SugarSpunSister]

I love the way everybody treats Helvetica. Its a bit like the Queen, theres a touch of "awwwww" to it.

Yay Helvetica :)

[CandyCollective]

couldn't agree more... we have the helvetica film and wim crouwel coming over to dublin next week which should be bonkers... will we see you at the opening in london town, rumour has it the streets are paved with cheese and biscuits...

[Toon]

It used to be a nice font, all the attention has gone to it's head, now it's just stuck up!

[SugarSpunSister]

Haha, you leave Helvetica alone Toon, its allowed to be a bit full of itself on its birthday.

[CandyCollective]

i see it more like Paul Potts... unassuming and just going about it's life until it had stardom placed upon it's head...

;-p

[Toon]

Originally Posted by CandyCollective

i see it more like Paul Potts... unassuming and just going about it's life until it had stardom placed upon it's head...

;-p

Maybe except a little neater around the edges than Paul!