Times New Roman
This article possibly contains original research. (September 2007) |
Category | Serif |
---|---|
Classification | Transitional PANOSE: 2263545234 |
Designer(s) | Stanley Morison Victor Lardent |
Commissioned by | The Times |
Foundry | Monotype |
Date released | 1931 |
Times New Roman is a serif typeface commissioned by the British newspaper, The Times, in 1931, designed by Stanley Morison and Victor Lardent at the English branch of Monotype.[1] It was commissioned after Morison had written an article criticizing The Times for being badly printed and typographically behind the times.[2] The font was supervised by Stanley Morison and drawn by Victor Lardent, an artist from the advertising department of The Times. Morison used an older font named Plantin as the basis for his design, but made revisions for legibility and economy of space. As the old type used by the newspaper had been called Times Old Roman, Morison's revision became Times New Roman and made its debut in the 3 October 1932 issue of The Times newspaper.[3] After one year, the design was released for commercial sale. The Times stayed with Times New Roman for 40 years, but new production techniques and the format change from broadsheet to tabloid in 2004 have caused the newspaper to switch font five times since 1972. However, all the new fonts have been variants of the original New Roman font.
Because of its ubiquity, the typeface has been influential in the subsequent development of a number of serif typefaces both before and after the start of the digital-font era. One notable example is Georgia, shown at right, which has very similar stroke shapes to Times New Roman but wider serifs.
Although no longer used by The Times, Times New Roman is still widely used for book typography[citation needed]. It is one of the most successful and ubiquitous typefaces in history.
Times 4-line Mathematics Series 569
It is a variant designed for printing mathematical formula, using the 4‑line system for mathematics developed by Monotype in 1957. Developed from Times New Roman Series 327, it contained many new glyphs that were drawn to reduce the need for kerning and enable, where appropriate, the reuse of matrices for both superior and inferior characters. Greek characters, operators, and other mathematical symbols previously cut for other series were added to Series 569 and redrawn to harmonize with its overall design. New matrices were also made for oversized fence characters (brackets, braces, parentheses, etc.) in sizes up to 72 point. The italic glyphs has as reduced slant of 12° to minimize the need for kerning. The family includes Greek, fraktur, and script alphabets; alternate versions of many glyphs; numerous versions with attached accent marks or maths symbols; and a vast selection of maths symbols. Originally between 700 and 800 different matrices were prepared for the initial release, but by 1971 this number had grown to over 8,000, with up to 5 new matrices still being added each week.
Variants
Times
Times is the font family used by Linotype for the Times New Roman family licensed from Monotype. Linotype classifies Times Roman as the upright (Roman) font of the Times family.
Linotype received registration status for Times Roman in 1945. In the 1980s, there was an attempt by unknown entrepreneurs to seek Rupert Murdoch, who owned The Times, the right to use the Times Roman name; separately, a legal action was also initiated to clarify the right of Monotype to use the name in the US despite Linotype's registration. As a result of legal action, Linotype and its licensees continue to use the name Times Roman, while Monotype and its licensees use the name Times New Roman.[4]
Although Times and Times New Roman shares the same font design, various differences developed between the versions marketed by Linotype and Monotype when the master fonts were transferred from metal to photo and digital media. For example, Linotype has slanted serifs on the capital S, while Monotype's are vertical. Most of these differences are invisible in body text at normal reading distances. (Vivid differences between the two versions do occur in the lowercase z in the italic weight and in the percent sign in all weights.)
Microsoft's version of Times New Roman licensed from Monotype matches the widths from the Adobe/Linotype version (a PostScript core font by Linotype). It has the lighter capitals that were originally developed for printing German (where all nouns begin with a capital letter). Versions of Times New Roman from Monotype exist which vary from the Linotype metrics (i.e. not the same as the version for Microsoft).
Others
- Times Ten is a version of Times by Linotype, specially designed for smaller text (12 point and below). It features wider characters and stronger hairlines.
- Times Eighteen is the headline version of Times by Linotype, ideal for point sizes of 18 and larger. The characters are subtly condensed and the hairlines are finer.
- URW++ produced a version of Times New Roman called Nimbus Roman. Nimbus Roman No9 L, URW's PostScript variant, was released under the GNU General Public License, and available in major free and open source operating systems.
- CG Times is a variant of Times family made by Compugraphic Corporation foundry.
- Times Europa Office is an update to Times Europa, designed by Akira Kobayashi (released 2006). It contains tabulated numbers, mathematical signs, and currency symbols. Each character has the same advanced width in all the fonts in the family. In addition, cap heights and x-heights are the same.[5]
Other typefaces used by The Times
- The Times newspaper has commissioned various alternatives to Times New Roman.
- Times Europa was designed by Walter Tracy in 1972 for The Times, as a sturdier alternative to the Times font family, designed for the demands of faster printing presses and cheaper paper. The typeface features more open counter spaces.
- The Times newspaper replaced Times Europa with Times Roman on 1982-08-30.[6]
- Times Millennium was made in 1991,[7] drawn by Gunnlaugur Briem on the instructions of Aurobind Patel, composing manager of News International.
- Times Classic first appeared in 2001.[8]
Designed as an economical face by the British type team of Dave Farey and Richard Dawson, it took advantage of the new PC-based publishing system at the newspaper, while meeting the production shortcomings of its predecessor Times Millennium. The new typeface included 120 letters per font. Initially the family comprised ten fonts, but a condensed version was added in 2004.
On the November 20, 2006, The Times newspaper unveiled Times Modern, as the successor of Times Classic.[6] Designed for improving legibility in smaller font sizes, it uses 45-degree angled bracket serifs. The font was published by Elsner + Flake as EF Times Modern. The font was designed by Research Studios, led by Ben Preston, Deputy Editor of The Times, in partnership with Neville Brody, former art director of The Face, and lead designer on Actuel, City Limits and Arena magazines. The design team included Ben Preston, David Driver, Mike Prowse, Chris Davalle, Kathleen Wyatt Research Studios: Neville Brody, Jon Hill, Luke Prowse.[9]
Uses
- Microsoft has distributed Times New Roman with every copy of Microsoft Windows since version 3.1. As with Times on the Apple Macintosh, it is used as the default font in many applications, especially web browsers and word processors. However, Microsoft replaced Times New Roman with Calibri, a sans-serif font, as the default font in Microsoft Office 2007 and Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac, although Times New Roman is still included as an optional font. Times New Roman has grown to become the modern day pencil font.[10]
- In 2004, the United States Department of State announced that as of February 1, 2004, all US diplomatic documents would use 14-point Times New Roman instead of the previous 12-point Courier New.[11][12]
References
- ^ Loxley, Simon (2006). Type: the secret history of letters. I. B. Tauris & Co. Ltd. pp. 130–131. ISBN 1 84511 028 5.
- ^ Carter, H. G. (2004). ‘Morison, Stanley Arthur (1889–1967)’. Vol. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, . rev. David McKitterick. Oxford University Press,.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) - ^ TYPOlis: Times New Roman
- ^ Times (New) Roman and its part in the Development of Scalable Fount Technology
- ^ Times Europa Office Font Family
- ^ a b After 221 years, the world’s leading newspaper shows off a fresh face
- ^ Times change of typeface for modern era
- ^ Typography of News Bigger, faster, better
- ^ Neville Brody's Research Studios Creates New Font and Design Changes for The Times as Compact Format Continues to Attract Loyal Readership
- ^ Whitacre, Andrew, “The end of an era for Times New Roman?” Fadtastic.net, accessed May 27, 2006
- ^
"5 FAH-1 H-620 Preparing Diplomatic Notes" (PDF). U.S. Department of State Foreign Affairs Handbook. U.S. Department of State. 2007-08-01. Retrieved 2008-04-18.
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"5 FAH-1 Change Transmittal CH-10" (PDF). U.S. Department of State Foreign Affairs Handbook. U.S. Department of State. 2005-01-19. Retrieved 2008-04-18.
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- Lawson, Alexander S., Anatomy of a Typeface. Godine: 1990. ISBN 978-0879233334.
- Macmillan, Neil. An A–Z of Type Designers. Yale University Press: 2006. ISBN 0-300-11151-7.
See also
External links
Times New Roman
- Times New Roman at Monotype
- Times New Roman at Linotype
- Times New Roman at Microsoft Typography
- Typowiki: Times New Roman
- Downloadable version of Times New Roman (Core fonts for the Web)
- Goodbye to the Courier font? - Tom Vanderbilt, Slate.com, 20 February 2004.
Times 2
Times Modern
- Research Studios: The Times
- A conversation with Times Modern designer Luke Prowse
- Neville Brody and David Driver Q&A contains questions on Times Modern