Typography: Comparing Typefaces

When I look around the world that lies outside, I see many different things. One thing that stands out to me is signs. My eyes naturally scan the letters that are on the signs and, aside from just reading the words that they form, I also take note of the typeface that they use. Now there are thousands of different typefaces out there, so one can imagine how difficult it can be to pinpoint exactly which one they are looking at. What makes it even more difficult is the fact that many typefaces look the same; however, if one takes the time to notice and remember the slight differences between these typefaces, it will be easier to distinguish one from the other. One typeface may have longer ascenders than the other, or it might have a bigger x-height- whatever the difference is, it’s just a matter of knowing which characteristics to look for. For this post, I will compare the Arial typeface to Helvetica, and Gotham to Avenir.
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