Victor Lardent (1905–1968) was a British advertising designer and draftsman at The Times in London. He created the typeface Times New Roman under the artistic direction of Stanley Morison in 1931, which is commonly used in Microsoft Word.[1]
Lardent worked as a draftsman in the publicity department of The Times newspaper. His specialism was creating lettering art for advertisers in The Times who did not have an advertising agency,[2] and he was talented at drawing in pen and using an airbrush.[3]
Times New Roman
Lardent's most famous project was designing the new typeface for The Times: once released as Times New Roman to the general market, it became one of the most popular typefaces of the twentieth century. Lardent did not have a detailed memory of his work on Times New Roman, although he spoke to Walter Tracy and James Moran about it in the 1960s.[2][4]
The artistic director who commissioned and conceptualised the design was Stanley Morison, an influential writer on printing and artistic adviser to the typesetting machine manufacturer Monotype. Morison's biographer Nicolas Barker has described the different accounts of the design process as "puzzling and not a little hard to follow".[5] Morison wrote that he created sketches for the typeface and gave them to Lardent, who created a finished design.[6] Morison said that he chose to employ Lardent because of his ability to produce "an unusually firm and clear line".[7] Morison remembered that he drew sketches of the design he wanted which Lardent expanded into a full type design.[8]
Lardent told Moran that he thought he had been shown a photograph of a book printed by sixteenth-century printer Christophe Plantin; according to Moran "he was not sure about the exact book, but Plantin had remained in his mind".[9] Moran felt that it was more likely a 1905 specimen from the Plantin-Moretus Museum,[10] which holds Plantin's surviving materials and other types including the type by Robert Granjon that Times New Roman is loosely based on. Both Tracy and Barker endorsed this view,[2] noting that the 'a' on Times New Roman is based on a replacement character added to the type in the 1730s.[11]
Lardent's original drawings are according to Rhatigan lost, but photographs exist of his drawings. Rhatigan comments that Lardent's originals show "the spirit of the final type, but not the details."[12] The design was adapted from Lardent's large drawings by the Monotype drawing office team in Salfords, Surrey, which worked out spacing and simplified some fine details.[13][14]
James Moran's 1971 book Stanley Morison: His Typographic Achievement argued that Morison had exaggerated some aspects of his career in later life.[10] He felt that "Morison could sketch a layout but was no draughtsman."[4] Moran wrote that Lardent was embittered until his death at what he perceived to be a lack of proper recognition for his efforts in creating the font,[15] but neither Barker nor Tracy remembered this speaking to him.[2][3] Lardent worked for Morison again later in his career on art for the book Politics and Script.[16]
^Morison, Stanley (1972). Politics and script : aspects of authority and freedom in the development of Graeco-Latin script from the sixth century B.C. to the twentieth century A.D. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 3. ISBN9780198181460.
Cited literature
Barker, Nicolas (1972). Stanley Morison. Harvard University Press. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
Barker, Nicolas (2003). Form and Meaning in the History of the Book: selected essays. London: British Library. ISBN9780712347778.
Carter, Sebastian (2002). Twentieth century type designers. London: Lund Humphries. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
Loxley, Simon (2006). Type: the secret history of letters. I. B. Tauris & Co. Ltd. pp. 130–131. ISBN1-84511-028-5.
Moran, James (1971). Stanley Morison: His typographic achievement. London: Lund Humphries. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
victor, lardent, 1905, 1968, british, advertising, designer, draftsman, times, london, created, typeface, times, roman, under, artistic, direction, stanley, morison, 1931, which, commonly, used, microsoft, word, contents, career, times, roman, references, cite. Victor Lardent 1905 1968 was a British advertising designer and draftsman at The Times in London He created the typeface Times New Roman under the artistic direction of Stanley Morison in 1931 which is commonly used in Microsoft Word 1 Contents 1 Career 1 1 Times New Roman 2 References 2 1 Cited literatureCareer EditLardent worked as a draftsman in the publicity department of The Times newspaper His specialism was creating lettering art for advertisers in The Times who did not have an advertising agency 2 and he was talented at drawing in pen and using an airbrush 3 Times New Roman Edit Lardent s most famous project was designing the new typeface for The Times once released as Times New Roman to the general market it became one of the most popular typefaces of the twentieth century Lardent did not have a detailed memory of his work on Times New Roman although he spoke to Walter Tracy and James Moran about it in the 1960s 2 4 The artistic director who commissioned and conceptualised the design was Stanley Morison an influential writer on printing and artistic adviser to the typesetting machine manufacturer Monotype Morison s biographer Nicolas Barker has described the different accounts of the design process as puzzling and not a little hard to follow 5 Morison wrote that he created sketches for the typeface and gave them to Lardent who created a finished design 6 Morison said that he chose to employ Lardent because of his ability to produce an unusually firm and clear line 7 Morison remembered that he drew sketches of the design he wanted which Lardent expanded into a full type design 8 Lardent told Moran that he thought he had been shown a photograph of a book printed by sixteenth century printer Christophe Plantin according to Moran he was not sure about the exact book but Plantin had remained in his mind 9 Moran felt that it was more likely a 1905 specimen from the Plantin Moretus Museum 10 which holds Plantin s surviving materials and other types including the type by Robert Granjon that Times New Roman is loosely based on Both Tracy and Barker endorsed this view 2 noting that the a on Times New Roman is based on a replacement character added to the type in the 1730s 11 Lardent s original drawings are according to Rhatigan lost but photographs exist of his drawings Rhatigan comments that Lardent s originals show the spirit of the final type but not the details 12 The design was adapted from Lardent s large drawings by the Monotype drawing office team in Salfords Surrey which worked out spacing and simplified some fine details 13 14 James Moran s 1971 book Stanley Morison His Typographic Achievement argued that Morison had exaggerated some aspects of his career in later life 10 He felt that Morison could sketch a layout but was no draughtsman 4 Moran wrote that Lardent was embittered until his death at what he perceived to be a lack of proper recognition for his efforts in creating the font 15 but neither Barker nor Tracy remembered this speaking to him 2 3 Lardent worked for Morison again later in his career on art for the book Politics and Script 16 References Edit MyFonts article a b c d Tracy 2003 p 196 a b Barker 2003 p 383 a b Moran 1971 p 127 Barker 2003 p 381 A Tally of Types A Tally of Types A Tally of Types Moran 1971 p 128 a b Moran 1971 Barker 2003 p 385 Rhatigan Dan Time and Times again ultrasparky org Retrieved 28 July 2015 Tracy 2003 p 202 Savoie Alice 1 December 2020 The women behind Times New Roman Journal of Design History 33 3 209 224 doi 10 1093 jdh epaa025 Moran 1971 p 130 Morison Stanley 1972 Politics and script aspects of authority and freedom in the development of Graeco Latin script from the sixth century B C to the twentieth century A D Oxford Clarendon Press p 3 ISBN 9780198181460 Cited literature Edit Barker Nicolas 1972 Stanley Morison Harvard University Press Retrieved 17 October 2022 Barker Nicolas 2003 Form and Meaning in the History of the Book selected essays London British Library ISBN 9780712347778 Carter Sebastian 2002 Twentieth century type designers London Lund Humphries Retrieved 17 October 2022 Loxley Simon 2006 Type the secret history of letters I B Tauris amp Co Ltd pp 130 131 ISBN 1 84511 028 5 Moran James 1971 Stanley Morison His typographic achievement London Lund Humphries Retrieved 17 October 2022 Tracy Walter 2003 Letters of Credit A View of Type Design D R Godine ISBN 978 1 56792 240 0 This article about an artist from the United Kingdom is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte This typography related article is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte This biographical article about a designer is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Victor Lardent amp oldid 1121190405, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
