Lately, a number of hip brands—including American Apparel and the arty Japanese fashion label Comme des Garcons—have resurrected Helvetica in their logos. But here, the designers are subverting the font's earlier corporate connotations to convey a cheeky, lightly ironic approach to brand identity. This comes across most clearly in American Apparel's ads, which juxtapose the staid Swiss typeface with sexually provocative photographs of young women in cotton underwear.

Ultimately, Helvetica is a cipher—and this is the key to its success. It can be authoritative or ironic, sober or idealistic, corporate or cozy. It's the tofu of typefaces: bland in itself but ready to absorb whatever flavors you add to it. It's clean, legible, and well-designed, but its real power lies in its uncanny mutability. Throughout Hustwit's film, the commentators reach for similes to characterize Helvetica's ubiquitous presence in the contemporary visual landscape. They compare it to air, gravity, and perfume. But I think designer Michael Bierut captures it best. "It's like being asked what you think of off-white paint," he says. "It's just there."