Times New Roman | Type Set
Times New Roman, the font many are familiar with has an interesting history to it. Created for The Times of London newspaper around the early 1930s it has a different purpose than those previously covered on Type Set. Influenced by 16th century typefaces, Times New Roman has long been a staple of reports, books, and newspapers round the world. With this level of popularity many have argued that it has become overused and is a lazy choice in a sea of alternatives. So what made this font so popular to be used into oversaturation?
Origins of Times New Roman
As previously stated, the Times of London commissioned a new typeface designed for the purposes of the newspaper. They hired Stanley Morison with the help of the Times’ own Victor Lardent as the supervisor/point of contact.
Upon release the typeface exploded in popularity amongst the printing community. Its narrower design allows for more words to fit on a line, and is especially evident when looking at the bold style.
Analysis of Times New Roman
What makes Times New Roman not just a popular choice among those that don’t know about typography? Times New Roman’s primary goal is readability in print which it succeeds in from a number of factors that are listed below.
X-Height and Cap Height
Times New Roman features an average x-height for a serif typeface, smaller than Georgia which we previously covered. The cap height is also standard when compared to other serif typefaces of the style due to its primarily print purpose.
Counters
Times New Roman makes use of large counters which help with legibility, especially on low quality newspaper prints.
Ascenders
The ascenders rise above the cap height to further differentiate the capital letters from the lowercase letterforms. Looking at the T and the h in “the” we can see exactly that. The ascender rises above the capital T which offers a distinct sense of character to the face.
Serifs
Times New Roman makes use of sharp brackets, finials, and links. The lowercase g also features an ear and loop as well that help to differentiate the font from other serifs.
Tracking
Times New Roman’s tracking, or space between each letter is narrow to allow for more characters to fit on a line of paper than other fonts before.
Italic
The Times New Roman italic font makes use of different letterforms, especially on the f which has a descender that isn’t featured on the regular font.
Bold
The Times New Roman bold font is about double the width of the characters. The tracking is also narrower than most bold serif font faces which helps with differentiation on print.
Uses of Times New Roman
Designed primarily for use in printing and publishing, Times New Roman carries its over 85 year legacy into today. Publications such as the American Psychological Association still call for Times New Roman in their articles. The Times themselves use a variant of the typeface called Times Modern. Interestingly enough, the Supreme Court actually forbids the use of Times New Roman.
Compatible Font Pairings
Times New Roman pairs well with almost any simple sans-serif font of a similar width and x-height.
Gotham
Gotham is a geometric sans-serif font that was released in 2000. Designed by designers Tobias Frere-Jones with Jesse Ragan who were inspired by the modern movement in art and architecture. The typeface comes in four weights so the amount of options are vast.
Lucida Grande
Another sans serif font pairing that features a similar width and x-height. The humanist sans-serif font of Lucida Grande implies a sense of unity to the contrast of serif with sans-serif. The tails of the a mimic that of the a of Times New Roman and thus create a unity in the typography.
Source Sans Pro
Source Sans Pro is a sans-serif font which was developed as an open-source font by Adobe. The reason why this font works is that it has a similar tracking and is almost a sans-serif version of Times New Roman itself. Mimicking the g’s tail the unity is similar to the ideas behind Lucida Grande.
Alternative Font Options to Times New Roman
Times New Roman is a font that has been used to death and now many critics say almost any other choice is better than the mediocrity of Times New Roman. With that said here are some notable standouts.
Georgia
Georgia, while similar to Times New Roman, a transitional serif font, differs in some regards. The main point of the typeface is to be legible on low resolution screens vs printing. The x-height of Georgia is higher than that of Times New Roman, and is larger at the same point size. Times New Roman’s axis is less diagonal than Georgia as seen in the lowercase g. Georgia is also slightly wider and incorporates serifs with flatter ends. Georgia also utilizes while Times New Roman features lining figures.
Cambria
Cambria is another transitional serif with elements of a slab-serif typeface. Designed by Dutch typeface designer Jelle Bosma in 2004 for Windows Vista’s ClearType Font Collection, which looks to do what Georgia did but for LCD screens. Cambria also has a math variant which was made to directly replace Times New Roman for mathematical and scientific texts.
Roboto Slab
Roboto Slab is a font developed by Google and designed by Christian Robertson. Based around the Roboto typeface marrying the geometric sans-serif with serif/humanist elements. Built around being a serif pairing to Roboto, it is not exclusive.
Conclusion
Created to correct the problems of the Times’ font for print and looked to be more optimized for the medium. Times New Roman from creation, quickly became a popular font. The overuse of the typeface has led many to revolt against the use of what was once a default font. While it has its place, there are other options as outlined above that are not only more modern, but don’t carry with them the stigma of 80 years of use. I would recommend only using Times New Roman as a last resort in its intended circumstance due to its current stigmas.
