Taking the critique to heart, the management of The Times challenged Morison to create something better. Morison teamed up with Victor Lardent, a talented draftsman from the advertising department of The Times , to design a brand-new typeface. Morison’s primary goals were highly pragmatic:
Arthur Kline had spent forty-two years staring at . As a senior copy editor for Halstead & Birch, he believed God had designed letters in 12-point, double-spaced, justified columns. He could spot a rogue widow at fifty paces. A hyphen instead of an em dash made his left eye twitch. times 20new 20 roman font
The American Council of the Blind and many accessibility guidelines recommend 18-point font as a minimum for large print. At 20 points, Times New Roman provides a comfortable reading experience for individuals with low vision. Its classic serif shapes help distinguish similar characters (e.g., ‘I’, ‘l’, and ‘1’) better than many sans‑serif fonts at the same size. Taking the critique to heart, the management of
At 20 points, default single line spacing (typically 120% of font size = 24pt) can feel airy. However, for large-print documents, increase leading to 28–30pt to prevent descenders from touching ascenders on the next line. As a senior copy editor for Halstead &
The monitor buzzed. Then, impossibly, the text began to crawl.
| Font (20pt) | Characters per line (typical width) | Subjective legibility | Formality level | |----------------|--------------------------------------|------------------------|------------------| | Times New Roman | 63 | Excellent (sharp serifs)| High | | Arial | 68 | Good | Neutral | | Calibri | 66 | Very good (wider form) | Low (friendly) | | Courier New | 55 | Moderate (monospaced) | High (retro) | | Verdana | 60 | Best for dyslexic users| Low |
Small details, such as the rounded ear on the lowercase 'g' and the modified '@' and '%' symbols, differentiate the two. 5. Top Alternatives to Times New Roman