Times New Roman is a serif typeface designed for legibility in body text. It was commissioned by the British newspaper The Times in 1931 and conceived by Stanley Morison, the artistic advisor to the British branch of the printing equipment company Monotype, in collaboration with Victor Lardent, a lettering artist in the Times' advertising department.[1][2] Although no longer used by The Times, Times New Roman is still very common in book and general printing.[3] It has become one of the most popular and influential typefaces in history and a standard typeface on most desktop computers.[4][5]