Areal, a “revival” of Arial, is based on the first version of Arial that was used on the internet (v2.82). It’s entirely redrawn and rebuilt from the ground up. Most revivals draw on analog artefacts like antique books, record covers, posters, etc. But Arial has always been a digital typeface, born in the computer age, which means its earliest traces existed only as a software running on hardware that barely exists anymore.
I've long been a fan of Dinamo Type and a long time user of Are.na so when they first announced Areal awhile back, I thought it was a wonderful project and something I wanted to get my hands on immediately. Well, a few months later, here we are and it's free for all! And in tons of varieties including variable fonts.
