Times New Roman Analysis Essay

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Overview

Times New Roman (TNR) is a serif typeface commissioned by the newspaper The Times in 1931 and created by Victor Lardent, an artist from the advertising department of the newspaper. The typeface was supervised by Stanley Morison, who adopted an older typeface named Plantin as the basis, but ‘made revisions for legibility and economy of space’(). Morrison also intended it to be read and not seen, consequently, without doubt, his intention has been realized.

Analysis

• Legibility

Counters: open counters

x-heights: moderate (68%)

Width and weight: Times New Roman is a transitional serif1 typeface with medium width (x=106%) and moderate weight (tk=18%, tn=7%). A number of letters were designed to be more consistent and more harmonious …show more content…

More readable than legible, as the thick and thin transitions can cause issues, especially at larger sizes.

• Aesthetics

Times New Roman is known mostly for its cleanness of readability, it is quite beautiful in its simplicity. A traditional, conservative, invisible, masculine, practical typeface. This may be the voice of the painting Son of Man. Strong ethos in business or other uses where readability and traditional are values. Low ethos with those who are sick of its overuse, such as many typographers and graphic designers.

Axis: as a transitional typeface, Times New Roman has an axis that inclined to the left. However, more vertical when compared to an Old Style typeface such as Garamond.

Serif and terminals: Times New Roman is a modern typeface with serifs that are much straighter like machine print. The curled serif at the tips of lowercase ‘a’ is especially graceful, and the use of both the curved and sharp points in the number ‘5’ are just two of the small details that make Times New Roman the typeface equivalent of the quite girl next door: beautiful with an understated elegance that can often go

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