Areal — Dinamo Typefaces
We initially designed Areal as a bespoke typeface for [Are.na](https://www.are.na/), to replace Arial, the typeface they had been using for almost 15 years. 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. So to access specific versions of Arial, we worked with computer tech archivists to get access to some of the first personal computers and operating systems still capable of running it. Once we managed to do all the archeological work, we screenshotted the exact version of Arial that was present when the doors of the internet opened to the general public (the web-era Arial!) and those screenshots became our virtual blueprint: we digitally traced the sample characters we now had access to in the most faithful way, and that became the basis for Areal. Areal is made for today’s day and age. The typeface keeps Arial’s familiar silhouette but rebuilds the outlines throughout: stem thicknesses have been streamlined, missing characters filled in, and the overall design consistency has been improved across weights. We added a Medium weight and also ligatures the original never included. And not to forget, Areal goes beyond Arial’s own design space by breaching into Mono and Semi Mono territory. All of this is packaged as a very-able Variable Font, for light weight file size and full control over all design parameters. Darkmode optimization was another thing we took seriously. The variable font version of Areal carries a darkmode axis that kicks in automatically depending on whether you love it light or enjoy the darker of modes. Put simply, it corrects the performance of white text on dark backgr