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Ruining the game for everyone; two things I love about Helvetica — Terminals at right angles to the stroke. http://c.jon.gd/image/3Q0y2u323j3C http://c.jon.gd/

by jongold 14y ago

Ruining the game for everyone; two things I love about Helvetica — Terminals at right angles to the stroke. http://c.jon.gd/image/3Q0y2u323j3C http://c.jon.gd/image/3Q0y2u323j3C . Arial looks particularly sloppy with jaunty terminals. It is possible to have a similar grotesque sans-serif feel with offset terminals (see Univers & Akzidenz Grotesk) but they're a crucial part of what give Helvetica its character. - The uppercase R. Has a really strong leg compared to Arial's half-assed flaky leg.

visarga 14y ago
I immediately got 17/20, missing only the ones where there were no lower case characters. How do you distinguish between in these 3 cases? http://imgur.com/a/NOLoI http://imgur.com/a/NOLoI
- stevanl 14y ago
  1) Completely round O = Helvetica 2) The C's. Helvetica = flat endings not slanted 3) Like a perfectly round O, the M's have more of a squarish spacing
  - dlitz 14y ago
    Hmm. I see a completely round O in "TOYOTA", but not in "THE NORTH FACE". Is it just me?
- aikn 14y ago
  Kerning. If there's more uniform spacing between all letters in one picture it should be the original: "OTA" in Toyota, "THE" in The North Face and "TEL" in Mattel. But it would be hard without seeing them both at the same time.
- callum85 14y ago
  A thing that helps me distinguish them is that Helvetica is a bit more decorative with some of the capitals, like G and R. I think the Arial designers were probably trying to make it "even more Helvetica than Helvetica", by simplifying the flourishey/decorative bits, like the bottom thing on a G and the curvy bit at the top of the slanty line of the R. (These are the proper typographical terms, btw.)
- publicfig 14y ago
  In Toyota, the O is the most round one. The R in North Face is the easiest tell there. In Mattel, you can see that the E has more balance with the rest of the letters.
- mhitza 14y ago
  Arial's A has a wider base (seems more "fat") than Helvetica's
- drivers99 14y ago
  The "C" (flat terminals) and "R" (straight vs not straight) in the THE NORTH FACE are different.

by jongold 14y ago

visarga 14y ago

I immediately got 17/20, missing only the ones where there were no lower case characters. How do you distinguish between in these 3 cases? http://imgur.com/a/NOLoI http://imgur.com/a/NOLoI

stevanl 14y ago
1) Completely round O = Helvetica 2) The C's. Helvetica = flat endings not slanted 3) Like a perfectly round O, the M's have more of a squarish spacing
- dlitz 14y ago
  Hmm. I see a completely round O in "TOYOTA", but not in "THE NORTH FACE". Is it just me?
aikn 14y ago
Kerning. If there's more uniform spacing between all letters in one picture it should be the original: "OTA" in Toyota, "THE" in The North Face and "TEL" in Mattel. But it would be hard without seeing them both at the same time.
callum85 14y ago
A thing that helps me distinguish them is that Helvetica is a bit more decorative with some of the capitals, like G and R. I think the Arial designers were probably trying to make it "even more Helvetica than Helvetica", by simplifying the flourishey/decorative bits, like the bottom thing on a G and the curvy bit at the top of the slanty line of the R. (These are the proper typographical terms, btw.)
publicfig 14y ago
In Toyota, the O is the most round one. The R in North Face is the easiest tell there. In Mattel, you can see that the E has more balance with the rest of the letters.
mhitza 14y ago
Arial's A has a wider base (seems more "fat") than Helvetica's
drivers99 14y ago
The "C" (flat terminals) and "R" (straight vs not straight) in the THE NORTH FACE are different.