A History Lesson in Fonts
“The font you choose to display text is every bit as important as the voice you use to speak if you want a reader to not only understand what they are reading, but also remember it as well” (Edutopia, Jason CranfordTeague, August 8, 2013). Usually, readers only care about the content and images of the writing, but don’t you know, fonts also have an important contribution to it? So, you need to be careful and wise to choose an appropriate font for your text.
What is the term “Font”?
“The term ‘font’ was originally used to identify the design elements in a typeface e.g. bold, underlined, or italic” (Artyfactory). The purpose of the bold type is to emphasize or add strength to your typing. Also, the underlined type is like you are highlighting a part of your writing, for example, the title of a document or a part of your text that you want your readers to pay attention to. Italic type has the same purpose as underlined or bold type, which is to emphasize an important section of the text, however, usually it is used in a more informal context.
On the other hand, the theme fonts contribute essentially to the text as well. The most three theme fonts that are used widely and you can easily find in any informal or formal texts are Arial, Times New Roman, and Chicago.
A Brief History of Three Common Theme Fonts
- Arial
The Arial typeface has been created for 30 years by Monotype Imaging designers, Robin Nicholas and Patricia Saunders. Arial is preferred because it is easy to read at lard and small sizes and in a variety of applications. Additionally, Arial is commonly chosen for advertising, book design, and office communication. It can be used for creating logos, booklets, education ads, and instruction manuals as well.
- Times New Roman
Times New Roman was created by a typographer Stanly Morison in 1929 for the Times, a British newspaper. Then, it started becoming popular since it was used in a daily newspaper. Nowadays, this font is used a lot in schools and formal texts with a preferred size 12-point Times New Romance.
- Chicago
Chicago font was created by Susan Kare in 1984. This font was the first Apple Macintosh typeface. “Chicago is an object lesson in aesthetic and technological restraint” (CNN Style, Paul McNeil, December 20th, 2017). It is used in Mac and Apple’s products due to its user-friendly and easy to read on the low-resolution Mac computer screen.
Works Cited
https://www.artyfactory.com/graphic_design/typography/the_art_of_typography.html
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/fonts-help-students-remember-read-jason-cranford-teague
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/visual-history-of-typefaces/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/visual-history-of-typefaces/index.html
