Arial wasn't around until 1982. I think it happened more or less by mistake. The intent wasn't to make it be a substitute for Helvetica: http://en.wikipedia.o

Arial wasn't around until 1982. I think it happened more or less by mistake. The intent wasn't to make it be a substitute for Helvetica: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arial http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arial The letter shapes of Arial are based on Monotype Grotesque.[5][6] Subtle changes and variations were made to both the letterforms and the spacing between characters in order to make it more readable at various resolutions. The changes cause the typeface to nearly match Linotype Helvetica in both proportion and weight[7] (see figure), and perfectly match in width. Nevertheless, there are differences. One columnist observed "Arial was drawn more rounded than [Helvetica], the curves softer and fuller and the counters more open. The ends of the strokes on letters such as c, e, g and s, rather than being cut off on the horizontal, are terminated at the more natural angle in relation to the stroke direction."