Deconstructing Helvetica

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For this session we worked in small production groups in order to produce an animated ident on the theme of ‘deconstructing helvetica’. Our team discussed and evaluated ideas before producing motion work in After Effects by creating simple sketches and storyboards. To start, I looked at inspirational images and a video on the theme of deconstructing helvetica.

Project References: 



Poster designs related to the theme I would like to create. I like the idea of the black and white contrast.


 These references are ideas to how I could deconstruct the font Helvetica. 

Information about the font:

Helvetica font is a widely used a popular Sans serif typeface that was designed in 1957 by Swiss type designer Max Miedinger with input from Eduard Hoffmann. The font is a neo-grotesque or realist design, that was influenced by 19th century’s typeface Akzidenz-Grotesk.


Our group sketches and ideas:






Helvetica and individual letters shatter. 

Each letter of Helvetica comes towards the camera. 


Each letter decodes in letter by letter. 



To further develop this workshop, I developed stills of deconstructing each letter. Below are my designs of deconstructing Helvetica in Photoshop.


I tried breaking smaller parts of the letter H but I felt this design didn't look visually good. So I approached a different experiment in which I broke apart bigger parts of the letter then added stripes to specific parts. I added two eclipses, one black and one white to make the contrast of black and white stand out a bit more. I think the visuals on the second design is much more pleasing to the eye. So I will be doing a similar style to the other letters of the word "Helvetica".

My design process for the letter "A"-


I broke parts of the letter A that were included inside and outside of eclipse.


I organised the position of the letters on different layers and experimented with a variety of layouts. After trying multiple positions, I was satisfied with this layout  and began working on each letter. My final designs, one with a white background and the other one with a textured background. Overall I'm really happy with how these designs turned out, I feel like they are consistent in style and works really well with this theme of this workshop.