After almost two decades, Times New Roman is being phased out by the US State Department due to "issues for individuals with disabilities" that are associated with serif fonts.
The US Department of State's font type is changing to Calibri, which has led to complaints from staff members who find the shift inconvenient, US Today News reports.
The Decision To Change To Calibri Has Drawn Criticism
In late January 2004, over 20 years ago, Times New Roman 14 replaced Courier New 12 as the "new" font for official public and private documents.
However, Times New Roman was barely contemporary at the time because it was designed in 1932 for the Times of London by British typographer Stanley Morison.
Additionally, serif fonts contain decorative lines or tapers that might be problematic for accessibility for individuals with impairments who use screen readers or optical character recognition software.
Because of this, the wider sans-serif font Calibri will replace Times New Roman for high-level internal documents in the US State Department.
This was according to a message from Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the state department with the subject line "The Times (New Roman) are a-Changin."
Blinken said the department's domestic and international offices have until February 6 to "adopt Calibri as the standard font for all requested papers," according to Gizmodo.
The modification was suggested by the secretary's office of diversity and inclusion and is intended to assist employees who are blind or visually challenged.
The Calibri typeface, however, has drawn criticism for being unattractive, according to concerns about the announcement, US Today News details.
Read More: US EV Infrastructure Plan Revealed: 5 Billion Nationwide Fast Charging Project
Blinken Emphasizes That The Change Is Not For Aesthetics Purposes
According to a Foreign Service officer, the water cooler conversation regarding the font change took nearly half a day, and included opinions from both ends of the approval spectrum.
Although there is opposition to the change, the State Department has changed the typeface on internal documents before.
As mentioned before, Times New Roman replaced Courier New 12 as the default typeface in 2004, but at the time it was criticized for the change as well.
Times New Roman was chosen in its place because it occupies almost the same space on the page as Courier New 12 and has a crisper, cleaner, more contemporary appearance.
The "wings" and "feet" of the font are what are forcing the change this time, as Calibri replaces Arial as the default font within the State Department, Gizmodo notes.
According to a senior State Department official, Blinken's choice was made only with employees' accessibility needs in mind and not the font's aesthetics.
Tech Crunch claims that it makes sense that the federal government would normally choose a product that has been used for a long time and demonstrated to work.
Although it's not their strongest suit, the federal government is getting better at design, outperforming several state governments in this area.
In this case, switching to a better font, even if it is outdated and uncool, is a smart step and may be the trickle before a flood of well-thought-out design, of which accessibility is a result and not simply a cause.
Related Article: 6 Best Graphic Design Sites That Can Be Alternatives To Canva
