The difference between Helvetica and Arial might seem like small potatoes to some. The problem is that there is a reason why one typeface is celebrated and used worldwide for over 50 years and comes complete with a documentary about it, and one does not.

Revealing the differences is important to appreciating each font a little better and perhaps paying closer attention to typography as it applies to everyday life.

Many signs and informative displays you read over the course of the day are set in one of these faces. Take note of the nuances of them and see if you can spot them throughout your day.

Helvetica

Helvetica was developed in 1957 by Max Miedinger with Eduard Hoffmann at the Haas type foundry. Originally called Die Neue Haas Grotesk, it was created based on Schelter-Grotesk. The aim of the new design was to create a neutral typeface that had great clarity, had no intrinsic meaning in its form, and could be used on a wide variety of signage. – wikipedia

Since then the typeface has been marketed to the nines and used worldwide. The documentary about the typeface helps the viewer to appreciate it quite a bit more and I highly recommend it.

Arial

Arial is a sans-serif typeface and computer font packaged with Microsoft Windows, other Microsoft software applications, Apple Mac OS X, and many PostScript computer printers. The typeface was designed in 1982 by Robin Nicholas and Patricia Saunders for Monotype Typography.

Arial has identical character widths to those of Helvetica but differs greatly in most letters. The differences are especially noticeable in the capital letters but in many lower case letters it can be distinguished by terminals that don’t go quite horizontal. The letter e has a terminal at the bottom where the letter comes to and end. In Helvetica this is horizontal to the baseline and in Arial this is angled.

These characters highlight some of the major differences between the fonts. Angled lines are drawn on the Helvetica letters (set in red) to show the terminal differences.

The capital ‘R’ highlights a major difference in the consideration and beautification put into each typeface.

Can you see the difference?

These two typefaces are used everywhere. Can you spot the differences when they aren’t right next to each other? Do you think distinguishing type like this really matters? Are there instances where Arial should be used over Helvetica and why?

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