it's the date Roman leader Julius Caesar was betrayed and assassinated by his besties, the ides of march! let's take a look back at one of the most ubiquitous fonts in our modern history: Times New Roman.

Times New Roman has been around since 1931, when it was commissioned by The Times, a British newspaper (which, in fact, is the very first newspaper to call itself the Times). It is a serif typeface, which means the letters all have little lines on the bottom. Serif typefaces are even known by some as Roman typefaces.

Victor Lardent, who worked at the publication, created the font, with the guidance of Stanley Morison, of the printing equipment company, Monotype. Morison had suggested The Times switch to a more legible, space-saving, and modern font, so Lardent began designing what would become one of the most widely utilized fonts of modern times. It took almost a year to complete, and was later released for commercial sale.

Perhaps because of its journalistic beginnings, many consider Times New Roman to be a serious font. Maybe its scholarly association came from Microsoft's use of the typeface as the default for Word. But in a world with Comic Sans floating around, it could just be the clean, sharp lines of Times New Roman contrast starkly to its contemporaries' less...elegant nature.

Whatever makes Times New Roman so popular, the almost 100 year-old font is here to stay. So on this Ides of March, keep the Romans (or serif typefaces) close to your heart!

The British History of Times New Roman

it's the date Roman leader Julius Caesar was betrayed and assassinated by his besties, the ides of march! let's take a look back at one of the most ubiquitous fonts in our modern history: Times New Roman.