Getting into the Times

While I am an avid Times New Roman user it is fun to experiment with different text-faces. The other day my roommate and I decided on each other's astrological fonts. Only the big 3, we didn’t go too far. Incase you are wondering, according to my roommate, I’m a Lemonada Sun, Proxima Nova moon, Caveat rising.  If you don’t understand astrological signs or why this is interesting then maybe you’re an Arial Sun. Which isn’t a bad thing at all, just something interesting to look into. For my roommate I choose all serif fonts, and for me originally I was all sans-serif. Maybe that's why we get along so well, every sans needs a serif.

The main reason I use Times New Roman is because it's what I have always used. But what's stopping me from using Comics Sans, a text-face that is proven to be better to read for people with dyslexia? I think it's instinct and the rules of American English taught in schools. Within academia we are taught Times New Roman/most serif fonts are the best. Because it's the ‘easiest’ to read or the most comfortable. To dive into some of the history of Times New Roman, it was invented in 1929 to be a text-face for daily printers, a font that can fit more text per line. Spread more information and have a greater reach across any medium. Times New Roman has become a sense of safety for writers of any medium, afraid to broaden their text-face-usage. 

I work as a fiction editor in a literary publication. 99% of the submissions I read are Times New Roman, or even arial, which makes me feel nothing. Not that nothing is a bad thing, I just don’t see much beyond the piece’s visual effect. The fiction that sticks with me are the very few that reject this standard of Times New Roman. Using the Impact font, or Playfair Display font, it captures my eyes and  makes me curious as to why the writer decided to break away from the talons of Times New Roman. It can broaden the scope of how we readers and writers interact with a written piece of art. 

To go back to my main point, experimenting with fonts is something that can help explore your inner personalities, such as why does Lemonada fit my ego and outer personality? Same with Proxima Nova moon, and Caveat rising. Finding ways of creativity is important, so keep playing with text-faces. 

*Unfortunately Wix would not let me change my font ways, so it is up to your imagination on how each mentioned font looks.

Sources:

https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/advice/employers/creating-a-dyslexia-friendly-workplace/dyslexia-friendly-style-guide 

https://typographyforlawyers.com/a-brief-history-of-times-new-roman.html