Re: Keeping envelope fonts Times New Roman
I suspect that Times New Roman is also a simple enough font -- for a serif
font -- and it would probably wouldn't give the USPS any problems.
But you're right about Helvetica. It used to be one of the most popular
fonts in the world -- and last year it celebrated its 50th anniversary --
until Microsoft came up with Arial in 1992.
Here are a couple of paragraphs from a piece called "The Helvetica Hegemony"
at
http://www.slate.com/id/2166887/?GT1=10034
"...Helvetica has weathered the transition from lead to digital type
remarkably well. Since 1985, every Apple Macintosh computer-the choice of
most graphic designers-has included Helvetica as a "resident font," meaning
that Apple licensed the typeface and embedded it in the system's software.
Microsoft, on the other hand, looked around for a cheaper alternative. In
1992, the company chose Arial, a digital Helvetica knockoff, as the default
font in its Windows software. Since then Arial has spread like a virus, much
to the dismay of graphic designers who dismiss it as a homely imposter.
To an untrained eye, the two typefaces are nearly indistinguishable, though
there are a few telltale differences: Helvetica's lowercase a has a tail;
Arial's doesn't. Helvetica's R has a curved leg; Arial's is straight.
Helvetica's G has a spur on the bottom right; Arial's doesn't. (Designer
Mark Simonson offers a more thorough comparison of the two typefaces here.
Think you can tell them apart? Take the quiz here.
In what you might read as a tacit acknowledgment of Arial's inferiority,
Microsoft chose Helvetica for its own corporate logo..."
Alan
"HeyBub" <heybub@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:%23KWDMpgMJHA.6044@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> Alan wrote:
>> Actually, Times New Roman is the 'normal font for Word documents,
>> while Arial is the 'normal' font for envelopes.
>>
>
> Ariel (or Helvetica) is also recommended by the United States Postal
> Service.
>
> http://www.usps.com/businessmail101/addressing/deliveryAddress.htm
>
> They say one should use a "simple type" font, but the example is Ariel.
>