US drops Calibri typeface from official usage citing "degradation" of correspondence
The US State Department has ended the use of the Calibri sans-serif typeface for its communications, re-instating the use of Times New Roman to "return to tradition". Designers and communications researchers weigh in.
Yesterday, a directive for the US State Department to stop using the Calibri typeface in its correspondence went into effect, requiring the staff, which includes diplomats, to switch to Times New Roman.
The change comes after the secretary of state Marco Rubio released a memo called Return to Tradition: Times New Roman 14-Point Font Required for All Department Paper, obtained by the New York Times.
It comes two years after the department shifted away from using Times New Roman, citing "accessibility" as a reason, according to a New York Times report at the time. Some sans-serif typefaces, such as Calibri, can be easier for people to read.
However, Rubio called the shift "wasteful" and too different from the department's letterhead.
"Switching to Calibri achieved nothing except the degradation of the department's official correspondence," he said, adding that serif typefaces were more applicable in instances of "formality" and "ceremony".
Calibri "designed to facilitate reading" on computers
Speaking to news organisation BBC, Calibri's Dutch designer Lucas de Groot called the decision "sad and hilarious".
"Calibri was designed to facilitate reading on modern computer screens – it was chosen to replace TNR – the typeface that Rubio wants to go back to now," de Groot told the BBC.
Times New Roman had been the official typeface of the department since 2004, and before that it was Courier New.
The shift lends itself towards more than decorum, according to experts.
"Typography is never neutral," Elon University assistant professor of communication design Shannon Zenner told Dezeen.
Zenner's research with colleagues Katherine Haenschen and Jessica Collier has shown that "people attach political meaning to typefaces in surprisingly consistent ways."
"This is consistent with what designers have long understood: type is deeply tied to personal and cultural identity," Zenner said.
Design decisions now "pulled into partisan narratives
According to Zenner, Calibri was chosen because it is more easily read by people with low vision.
"Reframing a functional accommodation as ideological shows how thoroughly design decisions have been pulled into partisan narratives," she continued.
"We have found that Republicans tend to gravitate toward serif typefaces while Democrats lean toward sans-serif. The return to Times New Roman is therefore not simply a gesture toward professionalism."
"It functions, intentionally or not, as a political signal in a landscape where visual cues perform a great deal of identity work."
The decision is the latest in a line of several impositions on design in physical and digital infrastructure.
Other examples include the ongoing move towards classical and traditional architecture, codified in an August executive order put out by president Donald Trump.
The administration has also made digital design an explicit focus, founding a National Design Studio to revamp the nation's websites in a new style.
Dezeen interviewed newly appointed chief design officer Joe Gebbia last month.
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