Handpainted sign by John Downer

It was exactly one year ago that I attended TypeCon in Boston, and showed three minutes of raw footage from the film. I know what you non-designers are thinking: “C’mon, there’s actually a convention for fonts???” You better believe it, pal. So it was only fitting that I return to this year’s event (held in Seattle this time) and screen the film as the Seattle premiere.

The crowd at the TypeCon screening

700 type geeks crowded the University of Washington’s Roethke Auditorium and were greeted by the Honorary Swiss Cultural Consul for the Pacific Northwest (!)… apparently August 1st is Swiss National Day. I guess I should’ve known that. It’s celebrated each year with town-wide paper lantern parades, bonfires, hanging strings of Swiss flags, and fireworks. After my suggestion for an indoor bonfire at the theater was nixed, I opted for waving a small Swiss flag around the rest of the evening.

Matthew Carter and Linotype’s Otmar Hoefer joined me onstage for a Q&A afterwards. I loved Otmar’s answer regarding Helvetica’s readability as body copy: “Well, you can read it… if you want to.”

Veer also unveiled a cool new Helvetica Film coffee mug at TypeCon… I didn’t get any pictures of it, but I’m sure it will be on sale at Veer.com soon.

Thanks to the amazing Tamye Riggs, JP, the TypeCon volunteers, the UW staff, the Veer gang, and everyone in attendance.