just rambling

Interpreting Typefaces of Singapore’s Newspaper Nameplates

A few posts ago, I introduced the typefaces of Singapore’s English newspaper nameplates and who else uses them. This time, I’ll interpret them and see if they might mean anything at all!

Barnhurst’s Seeing The Newspaper is a great book on visual journalism and in one chapter, he looks at typography and meaning through a typeface’s origins in history and its use in that society.

The meanings assigned to type by readers and typographers seem to spring not form some objective code but from the cultural experience common to both groups.
Barnhurst, Seeing The Newspaper, p.155

With his words in mind, here is my take on the nameplates!

Typeface: Big Caslon (Straits Times)

Based on a humanistic handwriting by printers in Italy before 1500, Big Caslon is a modern day recreation of the original typeface by William Caslon of England in 1725. Back then, Caslon was very popular and even used in the US Declaration of Independence. The saying went, “when in doubt, use Caslon”. It seems appropriate for ST to use such a historic and serious typeface as “the paper of record” but it is also a safe and un-imaginative choice.

Typeface: Times New Roman

The default typeface in Microsoft Word for several years, Times New Roman was created by Stanely Morison and Victor Lardent for London’s The Times newspaper in 1931. It’s hard to go wrong with a typeface designed for newspapers but its ubiquity also suggests that TODAY was not really thinking out of the box. And for some reason, to be a serious newspaper here, you have to use a British typeface.

Typeface: Helvetica Neue (The New Paper)

Perhaps the most well-known popular typeface today, Helvetica was created as a neutral sans serif typeface that had great clarity and no intrinsic meaning. Indeed, TNP’s choice of this Swiss typeface reflects its readership and news — simple and familiar to the masses. There is no need for frills when this tabloid’s content is already full of sex, violence, gossip, soccer…

Typeface: Frutiger

Sans serif typefaces, like this one, came about in the 19th century and was first used in advertising displays. This particular one is another Swiss typeface and designed by Adrian Frutiger for directional signs for an international airport in France.

What better way to report about business by using a typeface they made their own? This one has an international appeal to boot too.

Typeface: Freight Sans

Being part of The Business Times, this nameplate cannot deviate a lot from its main paper. The choice of this pretty new typeface seems like a update with the times plus a touch of lightness for the weekend crowd. The typeface’s creator Joshua Darden says Freight Sans is “designed for warm formality in text and an authoritative, helpful tone in display” — indeed.

Typeface: Myriad

Used by Apple Computer since 2002, this paper probably wants to identify itself with the younger generation, so speak the language of one of the most popular brands amongst the youth today?

Typeface: TheSans

It’s Sunday and the last thing you want is to be greeted by a serious paper the first thing in the morning. Thus, the choice of this typeface by Dutch designer Luc(as) de Groot seems appropriate since it is marketed as a “useful-yet-friendly, all-purpose contemporary sans-serif”. Until you realise it is also “the face of thousands of organisations, publications and web sites”, but then it has to stay safe like its main paper, The Straits Times, too.

Typefaces of Singapore Newspaper Nameplates

Here’s a list of the nameplates of Singapore’s english newspapers and what typefaces they use. I’ve also included popular contemporary references that also use the same typeface, maybe the choice of usage says something about the paper?

Typeface: Big Caslon (Straits Times)
You might have seen it: Foreign Affairs (headline) and The New Yorker (body text)

Typeface: Helvetica Neue (The New Paper)
You might have seen it: Everywhere (even a film made about it)

Typeface: Frutiger
You might have seen it: National University of Singapore

Typeface: Freight Sans (The Business Times)
You might have seen it: Reader’s Digest (logo)

Typeface: Myriad (my paper)
Also used by: Apple Inc

Typeface: TheSans
You might have seen it: Sprint

Typeface: Times New Roman
You might have seen it: Default font for Microsoft Word prior to Microsoft Office 2007

Redesigning newspapers and why it matters

One point, or approximately 0.04 cm, was all it took for readers to find the recently redesigned Sunday Times a comfortable read again. After its redesign in April 2008,several readers complained that it was hard to read the paper’s body copy so designer Peter Thomas Williams increased its leading (amount of space between lines of text) from 11 point to 12 point and to his delight, the week after, a reader sent in an e-mail saying it was much easier to read it.

This is why Peter, who has redesigned ST (twice), The Sunday Times and designed tabla! and my paper, starts every project by working on the typography of its body copy. My Paper proved a challenge for the Irish because he had to design a newspaper that incorporated both the English and Chinese language. He did this by using similar colours and grid system, and picking matching typefaces that unified the disparate languages on to one paper.

While he says that “proper” redesigns usually take up to a year, the recent ST redesign was done in six months, partly to coincide with the launch of ST’s new video news platform Razor TV.  A redesign should not be rushed because it is not just a matter of deciding on a new look but it takes time to introduce it to the sub-editors and into the computer systems, “You can’t just redesign a newspaper and walk away, the hard part is implementing it down the line.” he said.

But didn’t ST redesign in 2004? Peter said that newspapers today redesign every 2 to 3 years in an effort to stay relevant to its readers. In fact, in the most recent redesign, they considered reducing the nameplate to just “ST” because it was known to most of its readers as that.

On a daily basis, one of the biggest challenge in designing a page is working around advertisements says Peter, “The less ads the more beautiful your pages are going to be… SPH (papers) are full of ads.”. He pointed out that the winning designs awarded annually by the Society of News Design rarely have any advertisements on them, but the design editor of my paper is realistic, “That’s where we get our bonuses and your paycheck, so we can’t really complain that much.”

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In the previous part of this interview, The Paginator asks Peter the importance of typography in news design and how the papers of Singapore Press Holdings chooses its typefaces

News values, your values, my values?

So The Sunday Times unveiled its redesign today and what made me completely flip wasn’t anything design-related but simply that its biggest story was about the fallout after the breakup badminton star, Ronald Susilo and his fiance, table tennis star, Li Jiawei.

I refused to read the story but it made me reflect upon what is considered news. My argument is that news values, what matters to you as a reader and what benefits society for having news are three separate entities that do not always coincide. Based on the Venn diagram on the left, it becomes clearer.

A - This is the ideal function of news, it is information that I think is important to me and also benefits society. An example is news on the government stock-piling enough rice to last us through a food crisis.

B - This is an instance where useful information slips through newspapers. This is often due to lack of depth and the fact that the issue is something old. The alternative is usually books and things you encounter in education. For instance, information on how CPF works or how to file taxes are useful information for society to function but unless there is something new to highlight, the assumption of news values is that it is not responsible in ensuring you know something it already knows.

C - Such news is a bit more reader-centric. In fact, I would say this is better served in specialised-interests publications like magazines or newspapers that aim to serve only a certain community. An example of such news are those covered in Lifestyle, or even the fact that The Sunday Times is published in English means it matters only to those who know the language.

D - Such news usually don’t matter to you because you are not directly affected. For instance, as a Singaporean, it might not make much sense to read about what happens in the US or North Korea. But in the larger picture of things, one realises that such information is what drives foreign relations and has an impact on your society and you.

So where does the Susilo story fall into? It’s probably C or simply “What is News”. It will interest those who want to indulge in the affairs of others and is news because it is about famous people in society. And that’s why it does not matter to me, because I do not see how knowing about this piece of news benefits anyone or society.

The main story speaks volumes about what its editorial team thinks matters. Moreover, together with the launch of its redesign. I wished The Sunday Times had not pandered to such news but I think I represent a minority of its readers; this decision was about getting maximum eyeballs. It could have given more prominence to its “Think” pages, but I suppose that’s not what it thinks matters most to society nor would have appealed to most of its readers.