字体介绍

1931年，伦敦《泰晤士报》（The Times of London）委托Stanley Morison与Monotype公司设计一款新的文本字体，此前Morison曾写过一篇文章批评《泰晤士报》的印刷差以及排印落后于时代。新设计由Stanley Morison指导，《泰晤士报》广告部的艺术家Victor Lardent执笔。Morison使用了一种较老的字体Plantin作为他设计的基础，但在可读性和空间节省方面进行了修改（这一直是报纸所关注的重要)。由于报纸使用的旧字体一直被称为“Times Old Roman”，Morison修订后的版本就变成了“Times New Roman”。1932年10月，伦敦《泰晤士报》首次推出了这款新字体，一年之后，这款字体就被用于商业销售。Linotype版本被简单地为“Times”，它是为整行铸造排字技术而进行的优化，但在基本设计上存在细微的差异。伦敦《泰晤士报》使用的这款字体非常成功，它使用了比大多数报纸更高等级的新闻纸。更好、更白的纸张增强了新字体的高对比度和锐利的衬线，同时形成了其闪闪发光的、现代的外观。1972年，Walter Tracy为伦敦《泰晤士报》设计了Times Europa。这是一个更强健的版本，它需要满足报纸印刷的最新需求: 更快的印刷速度和更便宜的纸张。自20世纪40年代以来，Times字体家族作为一种杂志和书籍的字体在美国大受欢迎。由于《泰晤士报》的多功能性和可读性，它在世界各地仍然非常受欢迎。由于它是大多数计算机和数字打印机上的标准字体，所以它已经成为办公室里普遍熟悉的常用字体。Times®、Times® Europa以及Times New Roman® 对于提案、年度报告、办公室信件、杂志和报纸而言都是很好的选择。
Linotype提供了这种字体的许多版本:
Times®是Times的通用版本，以前常用作Lonotype整行铸造排字机的字模。罗马体、斜体、粗体以及粗斜体这四个基本字重是在大多数打印机上使用的标准字体。也有小写字母、老式的数字、音标和中欧文字。
Times® Ten是专为较小文本设计的版本（12pt及以下）；它的字符更宽、细笔画比较坚固。Times Ten有很多种字重适用于拉丁排印，适用于中欧、西里尔和希腊排印的也有几个字重。
Times® Eighteen是标题版本，适用于18pt或者更大号的字体。字符被巧妙地缩窄了且细笔画更出色。

In 1931, The Times of London commissioned a new text type design from Stanley Morison and the Monotype Corporation, after Morison had written an article criticizing The Times for being badly printed and typographically behind the times. The new design was supervised by Stanley Morison and drawn by Victor Lardent, an artist from the advertising department of The Times. Morison used an older typeface, Plantin, as the basis for his design, but made revisions for legibility and economy of space (always important concerns for newspapers). As the old type used by the newspaper had been called Times Old Roman," Morison's revision became "Times New Roman." The Times of London debuted the new typeface in October 1932, and after one year the design was released for commercial sale. The Linotype version, called simply "Times," was optimized for line-casting technology, though the differences in the basic design are subtle. The typeface was very successful for the Times of London, which used a higher grade of newsprint than most newspapers. The better, whiter paper enhanced the new typeface's high degree of contrast and sharp serifs, and created a sparkling, modern look. In 1972, Walter Tracy designed Times Europa for The Times of London. This was a sturdier version, and it was needed to hold up to the newest demands of newspaper printing: faster presses and cheaper paper. In the United States, the Times font family has enjoyed popularity as a magazine and book type since the 1940s. Times continues to be very popular around the world because of its versatility and readability. And because it is a standard font on most computers and digital printers, it has become universally familiar as the office workhorse. Times?, Times? Europa, and Times New Roman? are sure bets for proposals, annual reports, office correspondence, magazines, and newspapers.
Linotype offers many versions of this font:
Times? is the universal version of Times, used formerly as the matrices for the Linotype hot metal line-casting machines. The basic four weights of roman, italic, bold and bold italic are standard fonts on most printers. There are also small caps, Old style Figures, phonetic characters, and Central European characters.
Times? Ten is the version specially designed for smaller text (12 point and below); its characters are wider and the hairlines are a little stronger. Times Ten has many weights for Latin typography, as well as several weights for Central European, Cyrillic, and Greek typesetting.
Times? Eighteen is the headline version, ideal for point sizes of 18 and larger. The characters are subtly condensed and the hairlines are finer."