The distinctive logo of The New York Times had a period at the end when it was originally published on September 18, 1851. But that time was eliminated after more than a century of usage, partly to reduce ink costs. Before getting its first graphic makeover in 1857 and changing its name to just The New-York Times, the corporation was known as the New-York Daily Times. When the newspaper eliminated the hyphen from its logo in 1896, the masthead underwent even more changes. But the period wasn’t completely eliminated until 71 years later.
During the mid-1900s, the Times looked for ways to update its appearance. By making the narrower portions of the font thinner and the thicker portions of the font even thicker, art director Louis Silverstein revised the logo in 1967 to make it appear stronger and more visually appealing. He also removed the final period since, in his opinion, it gave the logo a less modern and more outdated appearance. There was also a financial upside to the change: according to Silverstein, removing the period would save yearly ink expenses of about $600, or about $5,500. The only significant alterations to the paper’s logo since then have been to the lettering’s thickness.
