In my previous bibliography, I posted about a negative usage of Helvetica. I also tried to find an example of a positive usage of Helvetica in poster design where were film posters of Trainspotting (1996) and T2 Trainspotting (2017). There are variations in these poster campaigns (see Fig.1), but all these use orange as a key colour and it makes monotone photos stand out. Orderly typography done with Helvetica is arranged on photos or just by itself and it was such a powerful and unique effect in the 90s.
Fig. 1 Posters of Trainspotting
I found an interview with Mark Blamire and Rob O’Connor about the design process for this campaign (LUCAS, G., 2011). This interview illustrates how they developed that iconic poster and typography. Helvetica was consciously chosen after a research of typography on both train and airline information. Also included were chemical packages to interpret the film theme such as young people heading somewhere, drug references and the uniqueness of the characters in typography (see Fig.2).
Fig. 2 Pharmaceutical package, year unknown (Photo taken by me at Wellcome collection)
They referred to the British Rail design based on Modernism which is highly visible to aim good usability in the time of mass transport. Although the New York subway employed the original Helvetica, British Rail adopted a tailor-made Rail Alphabet based on Helvetica Bold. British Rail design is quite similar to the poster design of Trainspotting – hue of the colour, usage of blank space, simple typography and good legibility of bold San Serif (see Fig.3). I think it was an infographic approach and it appears more in the use of the square table, numbering brought from the original book and highly contrasted colours.
British Rail Corporate Identity Manual, 1965Fig. 3 Signage design of British Rail and National Rail today
In the first film, this style was created to convey the message of the film theme. The new posters of the sequel went on obviously in the same way as the original. I think it depicts being “Trainspotting” itself which many people have already experienced in the last film. In addition, I felt that they dared to use the same typography style to evoke the nostalgic feeling of the past 20 years.
Fig. 4 T2 Trainspotting posters, 2017
Reference:
LUCAS, G. (2011) ‘How Trainspotting’s poster campaign was made’. Creative Review [Online] Available from: https://www.creativereview.co.uk/trainspottings-film-poster-campaign-15-years-on/ [Accessed: 29th Oct 2017]
SHAW, P. (2008) ‘The (Mostly) True Story of Helvetica and the New York City Subway’. AIGA [Online] Available at: http://www.aiga.org/the-mostly-true-story-of-helvetica-and-the-new-york-city-subway [Accessed: 29th Oct 2017]