General Research

During the lecture we were introduced to the first project within this module to create a Type Specimen Screen for a font we could select from a list.

The first thing I needed to do was to go and research Type Specimen Screen and look at the elements they contain and how they are laid out.

A quick online search threw up many different Type Specimen Screens. In the past Type Specimen sheets/posters were created by individual printers or those who built printing blocks to show off their typefaces, to attract customers to use their typeface. these developed into Type Specimen books which showed the range of different typefaces available for designers and printers to choose from.

Today Type Specimen Screens are created mainly by students looking at typography and contain a number of key elements:

• Typeface History- they all contain a paragraph or so on who designed the typeface, when and for what purpose
• Typeface Scale- They all show how the font looks at differing font sizes
• Different Font Weights and Decorations- they show off the versatility of the typeface, showing off its different versions such as Bold, Italic, Bold Italic and so on
• The Alphabet and the digits 0-9- Each contains an example of all the letters of the Alphabet and the digits 0-9, some go as far to show how common grammatical symbols look as well
• Design- All are laid out as attractive graphic designs, where the font takes centre stage, you won’t see images or other additional graphics, but colour and good solid design principles will always be present.

Source (eduardochavez.myportfolio.com/type-specimen-sheets) Last Accessed 04/10/2022

Source (https://www.behance.net/gallery/11014125/TYPE-POSTERS) Last Accessed 04/10/2022

Typeface Research

Now I had researched what needed to be included within my Type Specimen Screen, I could select a font and start researching it. I selected Times New Roman, it was the standard font for Microsoft Word when I started using it at primary school. With so many documents having been printed in it because of this. Strangely though, I don’t know anything about its design, who designed it, its original purpose or even when it was designed. As it has now been superseded in modern versions of Microsoft Word by Calibri, a modern Sans Serif font, I wanted to look into this classic font further.

Times New Roman, was commissioned by The Times of London Newspaper in 1931 to replace their existing typeface. The Times had been criticised in an article by Stanley Morrison of Monotype as being badly printed and behind the times typographically. So The Times commissioned Morrison to find a new typeface for the paper. After looking at many existing options none were found suitable, and a new typeface needed to be created. The font Plantin was used as a basis for the design, with changes made to better suit newspaper printing methods. Stanley Morrison oversaw Victor Lardent an artist in the advertising department at The Times, who drew the new font. It was debuted in October 1932 in The Times and made commercially available a year later. The name came from the fact the previous typeface for The Times Newspaper was called “Times Old Roman” so the new Typeface became “Times New Roman”

It has been a popular font for every kind of document ever since the 1940s and as I mentioned above was the default font for a number of computer word processing platforms for many years.

It was redesigned again in 1972 by Walter Tracy as Times Europa to update it to match newer and more modern printing methods.