What are the differences between Helvetica and Arial?

Question

I've heard there are a number of slight differences between these two similar fonts, is one better than the other for different contexts?

Answer 1

As far as the non-trained human eye is concerned, Helvetica and Arial are not really that different. Yes, the fonts are very different to designers. The kerning, letting and letter shapes are different. But if you are not designing for designers, you don't really have to worry about the difference.

Fun fact: many of the signs you see are in Helvetica. The government uses Helvetica on their street signs and highway signs for quick and clear reading. I think if you are moving ahead in your design career, you should start looking at more sans serif typefaces. Arial and Helvetica are good if you have no other choices but as far as print design goes, you have an endless supply of sans-serif fonts at your disposal. Even if the web, you can use Google Fonts now. Open Sans is much more consistent and pleasing to the eye in my opinion.

So, no. There are no measurable difference in the everyday person reading something in Arial versus Helvetica. If you want to be a graphic designer or web designer, you should look at more typefaces than just the free ones that come with your computer.