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I really don't consider myself a typography expert or designer, but I found that easy and got a perfect score. There are obvious tells in almost all of them --
by ef4 14y ago
I really don't consider myself a typography expert or designer, but I found that easy and got a perfect score.
There are obvious tells in almost all of them -- mostly lowercase "s", "c", etc, in which Helvetica is has perfectly level edges and arial is angled.
The only harder ones are some of the all caps examples like TOYOTA.
- reidmain 14y agoThat is almost the exact experience I had. I got 17/20 and the ones I screwed up all had capital letters. I couldn't see any difference between Mattel and Toyota.
- Alexx 14y agoMattel is the genuinely incredibly close, the 'Y' in Toyota is the obvious tell if you've spent a while looking at Helvetica though.
- breakall 14y agoFun test! Mattel was also the one that tripped me up. As the GP said, the caps on the S, C, T, etc were usually the giveaways. The flourish at the bottom right (not sure the correct term) of the R in TARGET gave me at moment's pause. But each of the logos was customized to an extent.
- etfb 14y agoI realised it must be Helvetica because of the "R". I reasoned thus: I am more familiar with Arial than Helvetica, and I'm sure I would have seen that "R" before if I were spending a lot of time with it because it's just so ugly, so since I didn't recognise it, it must be Helvetica. And I was right. It's funny, because I universally prefer Helvetica over Arial otherwise.
- etfb 14y agoThe perfectly round "O" was the giveaway for me. Helvetica just feels more "literal" to me, if that makes any sense, with its perfectly horizontal endings on "C" and "S" and "t", so the round "O" seemed more likely. Mattel nearly tripped me up too, but I noticed that Helvetica was bolder throughout than the Arial equivalent, so it wasn't hard.
- callum85 14y agoO isn't perfectly round in Helvetica. The Toyota logo is modified to use perfect circles for the Os. The real O is a bit rounder than in Arial maybe, but still not a circle. Futura is the one with the perfect circles (for both O and o).
- threedaymonk 14y agoToyota was the only one I got wrong: it was the round Os that threw me off. I thought Helvetica didn't look like that, and, well, it doesn't.
- jneal 14y agoI used the same rational. Whichever font looked bolder, I choose and got it correct. Also, the Staples Arial version didn't have the "registered" mark so I got that one easily.
- js2 14y agoBut in the Mattel example, Helvetica is the thinner font. Instead notice the varying letter width, the M being wider than the A with Helvetica in the Mattel example.
- platz 14y agoI think your description of "literalness" relates well to "geometric" typefaces (typefaces constructed on simple geometric shapes).
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- 3825 14y agoI answered 18 out of 20 questions correctly. American Apparel and Toyota tripped me.
- reidmain 14y agoThe first difference I picked up on was lowercase r's. Lowercase Helvetica characters never end on an angle. They are always flat and either parallel on the bottom or the edge of the screen. Toyota was a pure guess for me.
- lusr 14y agoIn the ones where you don't have the flat edges to work from, I found Helvectica is the "bolder" one.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- 38leinad 14y agoactually a was bored after ten right answers or so. It was really easy. At first I only looked for what "looked better" because I generally like Helvetica but find Arial really ugly. After doing the first answers, I started to see the minor differences and now understand why I like Helvetica better.
- bdg 14y agoI found the first few were training me to see the differences, the rest was like playing a matching game.
- trailcable 14y agoNow I feel like my time was wasted. And I was proud of 16/20 when I figured that out.
- anonymouz 14y agoAlso Helvetice tends to look sligthly "heavier" (thicker) when put side by side with Arial. That gives away many examples at a glance.
- sp332 14y agoUnfortunately that's not always true, since Helvetica comes in many weights. http://sixrevisions.com/infographics/helvetica-font-weights-as-rock-music-genres-infographic/ http://sixrevisions.com/infographics/helvetica-font-weights-...
- talmand 14y agoIt should be true if the Arial examples were provided with comparable weights. That is, assuming, that the two fonts were weighted similarly from their base.
- threedaymonk 14y agoThe Helvetica is actually slightly thinner in the Mattel example.
- tshadwell 14y agoI agree- the only one I got wrong was toyota- for the other all caps, I looked for the slightly longer 'A'.
- Aardwolf 14y agoSame here, I had only MATTEL and TOYOTA wrong for that reason. All the rest I had immediately, on the very first image there was 50% chance I had it right and I did a lucky guess, from then on I knew Helvitica was horizontal, Arial slanted.
- killahpriest 14y agoThe way to spot MATTEL is to look at the letter widths. Arial tends towards fixed widths, whereas Helvetica's letters have varying widths.
- js2 14y agoThanks, this is the key to finally help me spot it.
- rexreed 14y agoAgree that lower case is trivial due to the level terminal edges in Helvetica. For uppercase, the tip offs are the following: * The capital A in Helvetica is narrower (more isoceles and less equilateral) * The capital G has an extra hatch on the right side (looks like an arrow and not an L) * The capital R does not have a straight leg in Helvetica * Conversely, arial chooses a non-straight hatch mark for the Q whereas Helvetica's Q hatch is straight. This image provides a good overview on the capital (and numeric) differences: http://cdn.ilovetypography.com/img/gqr.gif http://cdn.ilovetypography.com/img/gqr.gif In the case of TOYOTA where it seems that kerning might different in two images, the heavier strokes in Helvetica should tip that off.
- SeoxyS 14y agoThe perfectly round Os in toyota are the giveaways. I got them all correctly, except for MATTEL for which the only difference is the stroke width; and which I ended up flipping a coin for (incorrectly). That said, I did get a degree in graphic design, so I may not be typical when it comes to this.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- mason55 14y agoI have a degree in CS and did the exact same thing
- deong 14y agoI have three degrees in CS, and I (correctly) answered the titular question with "No", and then proceeded to prove it with 10/20 on the button. I notice the differences (slanted terminals, narrower "A"s, etc.), but had no clue which was which. Weirdly, I'm super-picky about typefaces, but mostly in a "I like what I like" sense rather than a "I know the precise details about why" sense. I dislike both Helvetica and Arial intensely, and so never bothered to learn much about what made them different. They're both just fonts I don't choose for anything.
- 14y ago
- markokocic 14y agoYou don't even have to know anything about typography. Without knowing anything about any typeface, after guessing and comparing the results of first few, I was able to nail 13 of 14. I guess that anyone who knows anything about typography would answer correctly to all questions. Clue: I went for bolder font. Also, Helvetica is a bit wider in these logos. After that, I also noticed the clue in C.
- 67726e 14y agoIn the cases with capital A's, you can tell by the spacing between the two "legs" of the `A`. Helvetica is more compact. The space inside `O` is more compact for Helvetica as well.
- wildmXranat 14y agoIndeed. This was the first time I really compared the two and using this method got me 17/20
- lelf 14y ago+ compare kerning
- js2 14y agoIn the Mattel example they both look kerned about the same to me (the A tucked under the T). Elsewhere in this thread it is pointed out that Helvetica uses varying letter widths and that's the only giveaway I see now in Mattel, though it's somewhat difficult to see due to the kerning. But the M is clearly wider than the A with Helvetica.
- Kluny 14y agoThe Toyota one is actually pretty obvious when you look at the O's - Helvetica O's are perfect circles, where Arial ones are flattened. As a Toyota fan, to me it makes a big difference. Arial is very unacceptable in this case.
- martswite 14y agothe lowercase t is also a giveaway, helvitica has a flat top with arial having a slanted top.