The Historical Importance of Visual Language

In today digital world, it is common to see photos that seem to express human feelings, thoughts and emotions in social media, magazines and other platforms of communication. However, the interesting fact is these are various means of visual communication. “Visual language has its roots in man’s first communication tools and humans have used this method since its first communication” (Mirzoeff 30). It is often considered that man in the early ages used visual elements combined with the story in order to convey their ideas and concepts to others. Times New Roman is a serif typeface, and it was designed for the legibility in the body text. The essay aims to discuss the Times New Roman an example of historical typeface and analysis it. The discussion involves the aesthetic characteristics of this particular typeface that are related to its situation on the aspect of political, cultural, aesthetic and economic.

Times new roman has got its name from The Times of London, the well-known British newspaper in the year 1931. It was convinced by the artistic advisor and typographer Stanley Morison to the British branch of the printing equipment company Monotype. This was performed in collaboration with Victor Lardent who was in the Times’ advertising department as a lettering artist. Victor Lardent drew the letterforms whereas Morison led the project. The invention of the typography in their initial stages faced criticism. The font was able to become popular in a very short span of time since it was used for the newspaper. It was accepted by printers of the day. Through the decades of evolutions, typesetting devices have changed and developed, however, Times of Roman has not only been constant but also one of the first fonts that were available in every new device. In the contemporary era as well, Times New Roman is easily found in every device. It is only for the fact that the font is widely accepted as one of the regular and clear fonts with less usage of space.

Relation with culture:    According to Samuels, typefaces are more than just written letters which is the reason it is a big deal for topologists. “Visual language is extremely powerful and impactful. Therefore it is highly advisable that the typeface is considered with concern. Poor usage of typography in cultural aspect may lead to disaster. There have been arguments that states, typefaces have the potential to create wars” (Koops et al. 483). There is an existing relationship between typefaces and culture. Typography is an artistic rendition that is mostly visuals expressed via writing. It is one of the important parts of a human’s daily lives that intend to send messages explicitly as well as implicitly. Due to this important power that is bestowed in typefaces, it is even used as a force of expressing. According to Velasco, Times new roman has been impactful in European early modern and baroque printing. The type is the ultimate form that has been originated from “roman”. The font was developed involving the lack of a specific pre-existing model. The font was expected to be a design on a darker and more traditional basic structure. It was considered as monotype that that shows elegant titling caps design that is different to other fonts. Times new roman has been one of the popular typefaces and has gained its goal within a few years. The monotype of this typeface took advantages, and therefore it took the lead in the book publishing, and newspapers.

Times New Roman: Origin and Development

Evaluation: The font was not specifically wrong in any way objectively. Since the font was designed for the purpose of a newspaper, it is considered a narrower than the other fonts available. However, newspapers demand the narrower fonts more as it is easily fit more text per line. When compared to italics, it is taken as an average font however these are not fatal flaws. “Times news roman is a font that is widely used for work purpose or in official areas. Also, the font has several reasons for being popular” (Atzori, Iera and Morabito 101).

Type expression in design and advertising: Written words can have a significant amount of power and strength which carries the capabilities of influencing people and leave an impact. Apart from the transmission of messages, a typeface can also add a voice as well a tone to the information of the message. In association with the viewer’s mind, it creates various emotional responses. It is a fact that it depends according to people regarding the matter that is consumed. It is subjective and depends largely on the viewer’s experience, personality, mood and cultural background. Therefore, designers are constantly challenged to make use of typography effectively in order to communicate with the audiences. Also, often typography is adequate to amplify meaning to words.

Typeface classification: It is essential to understand the classification of a typeface. There are a various way of classifying the typefaces. It began in the 19th century when a variety of typeface was available. Throughout history, many types of typeface have been developed by Francis Thibaudeau, Maximilien Vox, Alexander Lawson, Robert Bringhurst, Jan Solpera and Catherine Dixon. There are more than 25 different systems that have been created for different types of typeface until today. Every system has a different organisational process with advantages and disadvantages. Also, the systems depend highly on the landmark, the purpose of use and attributes along with categories and subcategories. However, there is no universal system that would classify involving all the typeface that does not exist today.

The serif typeface: The name of this particular category of typeface is obtained from the term ‘serif’ which is a tiny decorative line at the end of the stroke in the letters of the symbols. This form of typeface has been used widely since its inception, and it has been used in various forms of media. It is noticed that historically and traditionally, most of the books, magazines and newspapers tend to use this form of typeface for the body text. Although traditionally it was widely preferred for longer texts, it was also used for the purpose of advertising. “Serif typefaces can be classified into four different groups, old style or humanist, transitional, modern and slab. It is important to note that some typefaces possess characteristics of more than one group. Among the four groups, Times new roman belongs to the Transitional group” (Zikl et al. 916).

According to Brownie, Transitional is a form of serif typeface that in the middle of the eighteenth century made its appearance. The reason they are called the transitional is that they made its appearance in the transitional period that existed between the modern typefaces and old style. To a certain extent, it consists features of both the periods. More of the vertical axis and sharper serif is observed in transitional type. It is less bracketed as well as flattened out using the high contrast between thin and heavy strokes and strokes that are more refined. The primary source of inspiration behind the typeface that was derived from engraving. The main purpose of these form of typeface or for Times New Roman is only for the longer reading texts however it is also for seen in adverts frequently.

Times New Roman and Culture: A Relationship

The psychological impact of its type: According to Jung, “it is observed that different typefaces have the potential to impact the recipient and the way they will receive the information”. Here, psychology plays an important role. It is a reason that explains the reason there is a different typeface for different information. Therefore, there are several factors that are important to consider before choosing the typeface. The heritage, historical landmark, culture, demographics and style are a few of the factors that play an important role. It is of no doubt that typeface carries psychological and emotional values. It will amplify the message that wants to be conveyed.

According to Newcombe and Shipley, “objects that are existing in space are the letters. It always carries certain spatial properties, forms and shapes regardless of the fact it is written or typed”. Due to this, it can be stated that those letters have personalities that create specific associations in the human brain. Special properties of type are connected with typesetting and movable types that is indeed the process of creating the composition of text by arranging physical type. Due to the ability of typeface to be impactful, it is widely used. Times New Roman has been one of the sophisticated forms of a typeface. Serif typefaces are more appealing to academic than san serifs which is a reason it is most preferred in universities as well that shows the aesthetic nature of the typeface.

  Tradition, fashion and trends of the type in adverting: Similar to any other field, typography and typefaces to follow the trends that could be reasonable as well as unreasonable. In the areas where common sense might be unhelpful, it tends to be too tyrannical that leaves some freedom and good taste that adheres to trends. It is as natural as any other aspects as it is for typefaces that changes according to time. Every age has its own unique way of displaying its beauty through various creative measures. Each period shows a different trending style of typeface that are most used during the period in advertising. Therefore, along with many other objects that have the potential of reflecting time and period, typeface too is used to implement a certain form of time senses.

It can establish a certain way that would help people perceive the information and message. This is done with the use of appropriate typography. Typography, along with expressing various thoughts and messages also a matter of aesthetic. Apart from the transmission of messages, a typeface can also add a voice as well a tone to the information of the message. Although the tone and the voice of the message be subjective since it varies according to people. Times new roman is may be perceived as traditional and classic to some while at the same time it might be boring to others. However, according to researches, it is mainly depended on the content, context and the present psychological state of the viewer. Since its inception till today, typography has been one of the crucial tool of communicating with audiences.

References:

Atzori, Luigi, Antonio Iera, and Giacomo Morabito. “From” smart objects” to” social objects”: The next evolutionary step of the internet of things.” IEEE Communications Magazine 52.1 (2014): 97-105.

Brownie, Barbara. “A New History of Temporal Typography: Towards Fluid Letterforms.” Journal of Design History 27.2 (2013): 167-181.

Jung, Carl. Psychological types. Routledge, 2016. 91-92.

Koops, Bert-Jaap, et al. “A typology of privacy.” U. Pa. J. Int’l L. 38 (2016): 483.

Mirzoeff, Nicholas. “INTRODUCTION The multiple viewpoint: diasporic visual cultures.” Diaspora and Visual Culture. Routledge, 2014.

Newcombe, Nora S., and Thomas F. Shipley. “Thinking about spatial thinking: New typology, new assessments.” Studying visual and spatial reasoning for design creativity. Springer, Dordrecht, 2015. 179-192.

Samuels, Andrew. The plural psyche: Personality, morality and the father. Routledge, 2016. 25-42.

Velasco, Carlos, et al. “The taste of typeface.” i-Perception 6.4 (2015): 2041669515593040.

Zikl, Pavel, et al. “The possibilities of ICT use for compensation of difficulties with reading in pupils with dyslexia.” Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences 176 (2015): 915-922.