DT25017 Changing Typefaces V01 131225

 ‘Woke’ font creator is happy to be cancelled

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Seren Hughes

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Calibri was created for Microsoft in 2007 to be easy to read on a screen

The designer of a typeface that was dropped by the US secretary of state, claiming its use was a diversity measure, has said the suggestion his design is inclusive was a “compliment”.

Marco Rubio ordered diplomats to return to using Times New Roman, calling the move in 2023 by his predecessor Antony Blinken to adopt Calibri, a modern, rounded sans-serif typeface, a “wasteful” diversity initiative.

The Biden administration said at the  time that “fonts like Times New Roman have serifs [wings and feet] or decorative angular features that can introduce accessibility issues for individuals with disabilities” such as poor vision.

Rubio told US diplomats that the return to Times New Roman was done to “restore decorum and professionalism” to the department’s written work.

Lucas de Groot, who created Calibri, said the switch was a “bad choice” because his typeface was designed to be readable in small sizes on screens for everybody, including those with impaired vision. “So if Rubio thinks it’s inclusive, he’s right,” he told The Times.“It’s a compliment, of course.”He dismissed any accusation that his font was “woke” as “politics”.

De Groot noted that Microsoft, for which the typeface was created, moved from Times New Roman to Calibri in 2007 because of the typeface’s limitations on a digital screen.

Times New Roman was designed for The Times in 1931 by Stanley Morison, who called it “English, direct, simple and free from frivolity”. De Groot said the font was “really beautiful” when used for print.

However, he said the digital version of Times New Roman could create visual disturbance on screens. De Groot added: “If you write in capitals, like the US administration loves to do all the time, the spacing is really irregular.

“Some letters are very tight, other letter pairs are very loose. And this gives a very unprofessional look to the serif font.

“Choosing a serif font for official stuff, no problem with that, but the digital Times New Roman as it is built into the Microsoft operating system and Office, is not a good choice.”

In an editorial that same year, The Times said the State Department’s switch to “the round-edged upstart”

Calibri was a “monstrous misjudgment” and “dumbing down”.