After all, imitation is the best form of flattery. Its also the fact that the font is routinely misused. As in most areas of life, there are very few originals just adaptations. Arial is worse than Helvetica but nothing compares to Comic Sans. Some may say that, if Arial is a rip-off of Helvetica, then Helvetica is a rip-off of Akzidenz Grotesk or we could simply say that they are both rip-offs of earlier Grotesque faces. The differences are subtle, but they are apparent. An example of a font family is Times New Roman, which consists of a roman, italic, bold and bold. Fonts within a family, however, differ from each other in style such as the weight (light, normal, bold, semi-bold, etc.) and the slant (roman or upright, italic and oblique). In the case of Arial, the ends of the “C” are cut at a slight angle. Font Family: A font family is a set of fonts that have a common design. If we put capital C’s side by side, we can see that in Helvetica the ends of the strokes of letters like “C” are perfectly horizontal. What do we see? In Helvetica, the lowercase “a” has a tail unlike the Arial version which does not. Let’s take a look at the lower case “a” side by side.
Only individual tastes can say which font reigns supreme. (Also among designers and Type lovers!) The best way to get a sense of the similarities and differences is to place the typefaces side by side. The Arial vs Helvetica debate is still strong amongst those in the typography industry and font historians. Today Arial font can be seen everywhere, from academic papers to advertising design, and has knocked Helvetica out of the top spot for the last 30 years. It seems they were right in their thinking. Microsoft understood that the average person could not tell the difference between Helvitica and Arial and -more importantly- they would not care.
The popularity of Windows 3.1 has made Arial a household name. Whatever you choose to believe, you most likely use Arial everyday without thinking about it much. Some say that Arial was created by Microsoft for their Windows 3.1 so that they could avoid paying licensing fees and save money. In other words, it’s a copy with very few differences to be able to call it a unique typeface.
Essentially it’s an “original” design that just happens to share exactly the same proportions and weight as another typeface, as stated by Mark Simonson. In 1982 Robin Nicholas and Patricia Saunders created the Arial typeface for Monotype and labeled it Neo Grotesque. “When in doubt, use Helvetica” was a common rule. With its friendly, cheerful appearance and clean lines, it was universally embraced for a time by both the corporate and design worlds as a nearly perfect typeface to be used for anything and everything. Miedinger based his design on that of Akzidenz Grotesk 1896 which was classified as Grotesque san serif face. Helvetica typeface was designed in 1957 by Max Miedinger. But at a closer glance, the nuances of Arial typeface do set it apart.
For the professional the answer may seem obvious, Arial is a knockoff of Helvetica. If you are a designer or typographer chances are you have developed your own opinions. The same can be said for the history of Arial ripoff or inspired design? We decided to take a look at this debate and share what we’ve learned.
History, in general, is full of facts that are subject to personal interpretation and not always solely based on concrete data. Ultra-Thick Velvet Laminated Business Cards Ultra-Thick Silk Laminated Business Cards Ultra-Thick Diamond Glitter Business Cards