6 ms·
First, as a type nerd, I don't agree that Times is a bad font or that it signals "apathy." When I see nice kerning, judicious leading and tracking in a book des
by jeffmcmahan 6y ago
First, as a type nerd, I don't agree that Times is a bad font or that it signals "apathy." When I see nice kerning, judicious leading and tracking in a book design or webpage using a Times font - particularly LaTeX documents using TeX Gyre Termes - I'm generally very pleased.
Second, Plantin is not a "Times alternative," it is a variation on Bembo. Bembo is the opposite of Times ... it is e x p a n s i v e. It's like suggesting black as an alternative to white.
Third, I think the best alternative is actually NYT Imperial.
- threepio 6y ago> Plantin is not a "Times alternative," it is a variation on Bembo. Plantin was released about 15 years before Bembo.
- jeffmcmahan 6y agoI stand corrected. Let me rather say that Plantin shares a lot more with (say) Bembo than it does with Times, and I don't see why either would be a times "alternative".
- dhosek 6y agoPlantin is in no way a variation of Bembo. It's based on the designs of Robert Granjon and is the stated starting point for the roman (but not italic or bold) of TNR. Bembo, on the other hand is based on the designs of Aldus Manutius and has a distinctly different character (so to speak).
- jeffmcmahan 6y agoYes, they are more different that I initially thought.
- dheera 6y agoI'm also a type nerd and I can't stand Times New Roman. Or Arial, for that matter. It screams apathy to me because it has been the "default" for a long time and if among the thousands of excellent fonts out there you pick the default, it feels very much apathetic. It makes a piece of work look like a high school essay.
- jeffmcmahan 6y agoI join you in hating Arial for its ugliness. It is one thing to be a copy of another font (Helvetica); it is quite another to be a bad copy.
- michaelcampbell 6y agoI'm torn now between Termes and Pagella.