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Loved this article. Amazing how such a subtle difference can cause such a big difference in visual impact

sachinag 17y ago
Um, the fact that there is a HOWTO tell the difference tells me that there isn't really much of a difference in real-world visual impact. Sure, Helvetica kerns a lot better than Arial, but the vast majority of people don't see the difference.
- beza1e1 17y ago
  ... but they may feel the difference without noticing.
- pmichaud 17y ago
  It might not be obvious given a few characters, but the overall impact is huge. People who don't know the difference, and can't articulate it, will /still/ know something is wrong, even though they can't put their finger on it.
  - jeff18 17y ago
    Which one should we use so that people don't feel bad due to our choice of minutely different font?
    - pmichaud 17y ago
      Meaning, which is the higher quality font between Arial and Helvetica? Helvetica is the winner. Geometry is much tighter, plus the kerning and hinting is far better, and you have the possibility of using the many faces in the family from ultra condensed, to wide, from light to black.
    - DrJokepu 17y ago
      How about not using any of them? The biggest strength of Helvetica is its biggest weakness as well; it works with everything. Almost anything in any context can be written with Helvetica. In most cases though, it's not a particularly intersting choice, I could say, it's a bit boring to see Helvetica everywhere. Of course there are places where Helvetica is a very good fit; the New York Subway is one example of that in my opinion.
  - benhoyt 17y ago
    I would like to think this is true, but honestly find it difficult to believe. Do you have any evidence or research on the topic?
- mingyeow 17y ago
  from my own testing, it seems that people will sometimes say "that does not feel right", and when i switch it over to the other, they go "ah, that is better". just my own experience, which is why i find this so interesting
tptacek 17y ago
This is just how to tell them apart easily. The sum of the visual difference between text set in Arial and Helvetica is bigger than that.

Um, the fact that there is a HOWTO tell the difference tells me that there isn't really much of a difference in real-world visual impact. Sure, Helvetica kerns a lot better than Arial, but the vast majority of people don't see the difference.

beza1e1 17y ago
... but they may feel the difference without noticing.
pmichaud 17y ago
It might not be obvious given a few characters, but the overall impact is huge. People who don't know the difference, and can't articulate it, will /still/ know something is wrong, even though they can't put their finger on it.
- jeff18 17y ago
  Which one should we use so that people don't feel bad due to our choice of minutely different font?
  - pmichaud 17y ago
    Meaning, which is the higher quality font between Arial and Helvetica? Helvetica is the winner. Geometry is much tighter, plus the kerning and hinting is far better, and you have the possibility of using the many faces in the family from ultra condensed, to wide, from light to black.
  - DrJokepu 17y ago
    How about not using any of them? The biggest strength of Helvetica is its biggest weakness as well; it works with everything. Almost anything in any context can be written with Helvetica. In most cases though, it's not a particularly intersting choice, I could say, it's a bit boring to see Helvetica everywhere. Of course there are places where Helvetica is a very good fit; the New York Subway is one example of that in my opinion.
- benhoyt 17y ago
  I would like to think this is true, but honestly find it difficult to believe. Do you have any evidence or research on the topic?
mingyeow 17y ago
from my own testing, it seems that people will sometimes say "that does not feel right", and when i switch it over to the other, they go "ah, that is better". just my own experience, which is why i find this so interesting

tptacek 17y ago

This is just how to tell them apart easily. The sum of the visual difference between text set in Arial and Helvetica is bigger than that.