It appears that design instructors will have options beyond the
film Helvetica to share with their students (not that we don’t
appreciate the documentary dedicated to the world’s most famous
typeface). With the release of the documentary The Visual
Language of Herbert Matter earlier this year,and now the up-and-
coming movie Linotype: The Film, it appears that the history of
the graphic design industry is getting some reasonable coverage
in the form of documentary film making. Yes… this is a design
nerd alert! “Linotype: The Film is a feature-length documentary
film centered around the Linotype typecasting machine invented
by Ottmar Mergenthaler in 1886. Called the ‘Eighth Wonder of the
World’ by Thomas Edison, the Linotype revolutionized printing
and society, but very few people know about the inventor or his
fascinating machine. The Linotype completely transformed the
communication of information similarly to how the internet is
now changing communication again. Although these machines were
revolutionary, te