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The US State Department has sent shockwaves through the entire workforce after it dropped Times New Roman as the font of choice in official communications.
The evergreen pile has been used by the government since 2004, but a leaked cable shows that this is about to change.
As reported in The Washington Post (opens in new tab)replaces the iconic font with Calibri for better readability in digital formats.
san serif
Written by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, the cable explained that sans-serif fonts — those without the little protrusions at the end of each letter — are easier to read in smaller sizes on digital devices like smartphones, making them the preferred option for people with visual impairments .
Microsoft also replaced Times New Roman with Calibri as the default font in its word processing software in 2007 when the font was first released. Perhaps this is another reason for the State Department’s decision – if they use the company’s products when creating documents, it would be much more convenient than having to change the font every time you start a new document.
But even Calibri is now in danger of falling out of fashion. In 2021, Microsoft itself wanted to change their default font (opens in new tab) in Microsoft 365, and created five new custom fonts for users to choose from to replace Calibri. For now, however, Calibri still holds the top spot within the IT giant’s estate.
As TechCrunch (opens in new tab) notes, Noto, the typeface co-created by Monotype and Google, is specifically designed for today’s consumption of written content, and is compatible with all languages and symbols, which would suit the State Department given its broad mission and international relations. It is also sans-serif.