Akin to Helvetica and Times New Roman, Arial is one of the most recognisable fonts of our time. Easily accessible across a variety of platforms and programmes, Arial is often used as a default font, free of charge. But where did this cultural staple begin? 1982, to be exact, and it was created by the type foundry, Monotype. Originally made for IBM printers, the font was intended to mimic that of Helvetica, which it was designed to be metrically identical to. Akin to many sans-serif fonts, Arial was designed to be humanist, sporting low contrast between thick and thin strokes and loose letter spacing, making it more legible at smaller sizes. This was something that its basis, Helvetica was criticised for, whilst Arial seemed to excel at. Eventually the font became intertwined with Microsoft and their products, with the font being present within all versions of Microsoft Windows from Windows 3.1 onwards.
Perhaps one of the most recognisable fonts of our time, Helvetica, and its many variations are widespread across society. Even if the name does not seem familiar, exposure to the font is ever present, through government produced media to magazine publications. In terms of the typeface’s origins, Helvetica was originally named Neue Haas Grotesk (New Haas Grotesque) but was later renamed after the Latin word “Helvetica’’ meaning Swiss, having been created in 1957 by Swiss Type Designer, Max Miedinger. The font was designed to be seen as neutral and modern, a sans-serif that would be easily adaptable within the Swiss market. The typeface’s popularity began to boom when it was made available for phototypesetting systems, as well as many other formats such as Letraset dry transfers and plastic letters. Soon, the typeface would be licensed to Xerox, Adobe and Apple, becoming a core typeface available on devices and software that these companies would create. With this expansion, Helvetica managed to create a greater sense of cultural capital due to its ease of access.
In 1913, Frank Pick, the manager of “the Underground group” in London commissioned, the “father of modern calligraphy” Edward Johnston, to create a font for usage across the London Underground System. The result of this endeavour was the eponymously named “Johnston” Typeface. Seen as the origin of more “humanistic” types of sans-serif typefaces, fonts that lack serifs, but take inspiration from traditional, serif fonts. As the company expanded post-WW1, the majority of underground stations in and around London came under the control of “the Underground group.” Yet, by the end of the 1930s, the company took control of stations outside the county of London. Eventually, the stations would be owned, by what we now call TFL, and the Johnston Font would be everywhere, from the Underground to the Overground.
One of the most recognisable fonts around, Times New Roman has never truly faltered with the passage of time. Having been created by Stanley Morrison and Victor Lardent when commissioned by the London newspaper “The Times’’, the aim of the font was to be as print economic as possible. The main goals of the font’s creation was to maximise the amount of type that would fit on a page. The second, and equally important goal was to be easily readable, both of these goals would prove a success. Despite the diminishing value of print in modern-day society, Times New Roman is still widely used, primarily due to its ease of access, associated meanings and inclusion in most modern day word processors.
The history of the Blackletter typeface stems back to the 12th century and was approximately used until the 17th throughout western Europe. Whilst this typeface comes in a variety of forms and fonts, it is easily recognisable, with its intricate, extravagant design with a dramatic contrast in font-weight. What has to be noted is that the Blackletter typeface was initially, and still is, largely associated with quality and wealth.
For the world at large, the year 2000 brought promise, yet equally, fear. Whilst many saw the new millennium as a fresh beginning, many were convinced that it would be the end of technology itself, with a supposed computer-related apocalypse looming on the horizon. But some took a different, more positive stance, believing in a technological future full of unlimited prosperity, allowing a sense of newfound optimism to emerge.
