The History of and Story Behind the New York Times Logo
The logo of the New York Times is unique and it appears almost the same way it did more than a hundred and fifty years ago when the newspaper was introduced. Even though the wordmark has been tweaked a few times, it never changed completely. The New York newspaper is a classic.
History
The New York Times was started on 18 September 1851. It was initially known as the New-York Daily Times. It was founded by Henry Jarvis Raymond, a journalist and a politician. The New York Times logo gained life more than 150 years ago when the newspaper started. The logo has changed drastically with the course of time. It was initially known as the New York Daily Times from the 1851 to 1857. It changed to the New York Times in 1857 till date. The logo has undergone numerous modifications throughout its years. The logo is a highly recognizable representation of the New York Times logo’s brand.
Modifications
Over the years, it has been transformed into a more modern and cleaner presentation. The logo represents a long and distinguished history of the New York Times magazine. Such modifications include it dropping the hyphen between new and York in the 1896 when Adolph S. Ochs took over the times. On 30th December 19144, a minor modification where the descender of the “h” in “the” was shortened. The logo remained like that until February 21 1967. In the bowl of the “T” an arrow was placed there but, in this year, the arrow was removed and a diamond put in its place. The change in the logo in 1967 caused an uproar. Readers complained about how the logo had changed and the nameplate had been eliminated. The elimination of this nameplate period saved ink thus saving the company money.
According to 1000logos.net, the current version of the logo was designed by Edward Benguit. Edward is a renowned designer in the United States. The logo uses a black and white color combination. This combination matches the rest of the newspaper. This gives the newspaper its original touch and makes it in touch with it original style. Black and white also gives the newspaper a classic look. In 2001, the art director, Luo Silverstein wanted to change it. The crew decided to take and fix the logo instead of changing it. If the logo was changed then New York Times would lose its recognition. Roger Black was the art director of the New York Times. He had commissioned Jim Parkinson, a letterform designer to redraw the logo. Mr. Black never touched the logo on the first page.
Mr. Carter working with Janet Froelich, who was then the magazine’s creative director redrew the magazine logo. They based their design totally on the original design of Mr. Benguiat. Mr. Carter, Mr. Brodkin and Kelly Doe, the New York Times design director for brand identity also designed a new nameplate for The International Herald Tribune now known as The International New York Times. The lettering was based on the original design by Edward Benguiat. They made a few revisions on to the original design such as reducing the size of “S” at the end. The original nameplate of the logo has never changed. The ‘Germanization’ of the lettering style made it sharper, heavier and had more contrast than the ‘Old English’ version. Some designers objected this change.
Designers
The history of the nameplate begun with the great Anglo-Saxon scholar Alcuin in collaboration with the Holy Roman emperor Charlemagne. Under their directions monks developed letterforms known as Carolingian. When the Charlemagne’s empire was dissolved, there were regional variations. A condensed, strongly vertical letterform called the texture or blackletter gained popularity in the northern Europe. When Henry Raymond wanted to model the logo of the New York Times, he wanted it to resemble The London Times. The blackletter nameplate was part of the New York Times logo from the beginning. A change occurred on January 6th 1884 when Henry Raymond had died for 15 years. The ‘N’, “r” and the “s” were exaggerated into swashes. The swashes were so extravagant that they almost wrapped around themselves. On January 15 1894, the terminals were trimmed. The thin vertical stem that looked as if it supported the upper arm of the “T” was given an arrow-like decoration. It carried this decoration for 73 years up to 21st February 1967.
Color
The nameplate on which the letterforms are based is known as the blackletter or gothic. This letterform can be traced to the late 700s. This is before ink was even used to type by the Gutenberg. The logo uses the back and white color scheme that is used in the rest of the headings in the newspaper. It appears classic and offers a chance to emphasize the character’s intricate shape.
Reception
When the current version of the logo was released in 1967, the newspaper lost around 1000 subscribers. People thought that time had passed and the newspaper was changing and losing its touch. The company was just changing its face to a better brand. The New York Times started testing a new home screen design on a small number of its users. Their aim is to collect feedback and information from the newsreaders and the newsmakers. The nameplate will remain the same and will not be adjusted. The nameplate is the mark of the magazine and will remain the same from when it was started and will continue being its mark. The New York Times logo has stood for centuries and continues to excel. Adjustments are the only changes that have been done on the nameplate. The New York Times logo has been around for almost 200 years. The logo holds a lot of history about the New York Times. It holds the tails of the magazine and all its endeavors throughout the year. Whenever you are reading the magazine it is good to take time and appreciate the logo for it has undergone an immense journey together with the newspaper to where it is now.