Typophile

A simple arial-related question: semi-bold?

olivia warnecke0 votes

Hi, i am sort of new here, long-time lurker, too shy to post...This is an arial-related question, so don't laugh...or do. I didn't want the first time i ever posted to be about Arial of all things, but what can you do?

We have a client that needs Arial in semi-bold form, but from what i (think) i know, Arial Semi-Bold doesn't exist. You can almost mimic what it would look like by applying a faux bold to the regular font, but that's not going to help the client.

Any ideas?

Thank you so much in advance and i apologize if this is such a ridiculous post,

Olivia

Don McCahill0 votes

Are you sure he needs Arial? Or does he think there are only two fonts in the world, Arial and Times New Roman?

If the latter is the case, then you can safely give him a semibold version of Helvetica or Helvetica Neue (or perhaps even another more attractive sans).

But you are right, there is no Arial semi-bold that I know of.

olivia warnecke0 votes

Yea, across the board they need arial since they use it in everything. I wish that wasn't the case.

I was thinking it could be redrawn, but that is my only thought.

Thanks Don!

crossgrove0 votes

Actually there is no "semibold" but there is a Medium, as well as Light, Extrabold and Black. Check Fonts.com.

Si_Daniels0 votes

Also on Windows the fake bold adds a single pixel to the regular weight - might look like a semibold on screen (at certain sizes) but won't help you in print at 600dpi and up probably (unless the printer driver is really clever)

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