Little historic context is generally provided regarding design phenomena; ideas, names, events and relationships are disregarded in design's typical superficial coverage; it is as though design exists in a vacuum. This paper seeks to put Helvetica, the face, the font and the movie into context by exploring its relationship to Swiss Design philosophically and practically. The infiltration of Helvetica, the font, into American design practices is also explored, along with some variation on typographic education from both a formal and informal perspective.