Arial Font is Bullshit

Sagemindsays...

Arial is a crap font, it always was and always will be.
I'm sure the average person could care less - but for those of us that use fonts all day - and for a living - Arial truly is a sad example of a font.
- Arial is the default font Microsoft feeds to the public because they got it for free.

I have never found a place where Arial would be a better choice than something else.
Helvetica is by far a better font, but not always the right font for the job. It is however a better default font.

To those who are not typesetters, you have to realize that consideration (of font) goes into every design put forward on every piece of print media that is created. Every font sells a sentiment and an emotion. Fonts are used as a subliminal persuasive tool to emote a feeling for whatever the topic at hand is trying to convey.

Sometimes, a non-intrusive font is needed to contrast but not cancel out the stylized font you are using. Arial is ugly, while Helvetica is the "classic, perfect for everything, without inflicting the smallest bit of emotion" font. In never cancels out while always looks professional.

therealblankmansays...

Trailer for Helvetica film posted here... http://www.videosift.com/video/Helvetica

>> ^Sagemind:
Arial is a crap font, it always was and always will be.
I'm sure the average person could care less - but for those of us that use fonts all day - and for a living - Arial truly is a sad example of a font.
- Arial is the default font Microsoft feeds to the public because they got it for free.
I have never found a place where Arial would be a better choice than something else.
Helvetica is by far a better font, but not always the right font for the job. It is however a better default font.
To those who are not typesetters, you have to realize that consideration (of font) goes into every design put forward on every piece of print media that is created. Every font sells a sentiment and an emotion. Fonts are used as a subliminal persuasive tool to emote a feeling for whatever the topic at hand is trying to convey.
Sometimes, a non-intrusive font is needed to contrast but not cancel out the stylized font you are using. Arial is ugly, while Helvetica is the "classic, perfect for everything, without inflicting the smallest bit of emotion" font. In never cancels out while always looks professional.

Raaaghsays...

this sucks...so fucking hard.

This incredibly unfunny wanker shouldnt be on TV, he should go back to his university review stage where the crushing silence of the audience is split with the staccato hoots of his 3 mates.

spawnflaggersays...

^ KnivesOut
Comic Sans was designed to help people with dyslexia. It doesn't have any horizontally-mirrored elements.
So, even though it looks childish, it has a purpose.

I've made a font once (for a friends band). It is laborious, but doesn't really justify the ridiculously large licensing fees some fonts have. Just another reason to hate Adobe. [oh, and my font was iso-8859-1 (western), I would not dare to make a Unicode font that includes all traditional chinese characters as well...]

Also, in Arial's defense - it was designed for the screen, NOT FOR PRINT (like Helvetica). Considering the best screen resolution at the time of Windows 1.0 release - CGA mono 640*200 - the default font had to be something where every character was easily readable at such low DPI.

And I guess this guy hasn't used MS Office for quite some time, since the default font is now Calibri.

xxovercastxxsays...

Pretty sure that's bullshit. In t
his article
the font's creator explains that he made the font to resemble comic book lettering after seeing Microsoft Bob which was using Times New Roman in its speech bubbles at the time.

[edit: better yet, here's the story on his own website - http://www.connare.com/whycomic.htm]
>> ^spawnflagger:
^ KnivesOut
Comic Sans was designed to help people with dyslexia. It doesn't have any horizontally-mirrored elements.

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