Now if we can get the Chinese factories to replace the nasty old serif font they use for every label…
Times New Roman is being phased out at the State Department, replaced by Calibri
21–30 of 267 posts
Re: Times New Roman is being phased out at the State Department, replaced by Calibri
#22Hmm. Are serif fonts beginning to die out altogether, actually? I definitely feel like I see a lot more sans serif than I used to.
I think design trends ebb and flow. We're currently in a period of strong minimalism. But sooner or later some designers will start using serif typefaces in order to stand out and the trend will reverse.
Re: Times New Roman is being phased out at the State Department, replaced by Calibri
#23How are they planning to deal with the I-l issue? Hope that it never comes up?
This is part of why some important government reports still use all caps. It's also a leftover from the telegraph era.
INTELLIGENCE REPORT FOR THE PRESIDENT
STATE DEPARTMENT
SECRET/NOFORN
JANUARY 18 2023
CONTENTS: 1. POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS WITHIN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION 2. PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA'S NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAM 3. TURKEY AND NATO
Re: Times New Roman is being phased out at the State Department, replaced by Calibri
#24I never understand why someone in charge of making one specific simple choice, ends up making a remarkable dumb decision. Why, unless you are doing things unethically, would you go for a licensed font? It's not like this is a hard problem to solve more than adequately with open and more accessible alternatives.
Do you think Anthony Blinken knows what a licensed or unlicensed font is?
I would hope someone who don't know the context or effect of a choice they are making, at the least consults with someone who does? This isn't rocket science to get right.
Re: Times New Roman is being phased out at the State Department, replaced by Calibri
#25Hmm. Are serif fonts beginning to die out altogether, actually? I definitely feel like I see a lot more sans serif than I used to.
Although my brain thinks any serif font document as more “legitimate”, I can’t think of any reason to use serif in a world of such high resolution screens and printers.
Re: Times New Roman is being phased out at the State Department, replaced by Calibri
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you think Anthony Blinken knows what a licensed or unlicensed font is?
I would hope someone who don't know the context or effect of a choice they are making, at the least consults with someone who does? This isn't rocket science to get right.
Font licensing is an incredibly niche thing to be aware of. I'm highly confident the people involved in this decision simply saw that Calibri was the default font in Microsoft Office and didn't think twice about the availability of it. Perhaps someone farther down the chain of command raised a concern about licensing, but I doubt such a concern would make its way back up the chain. It seems like something only lower level employees, graphic artists, or even IT administrators would be aware of.
Anecdotally, the most pressing concern I made to management during my career only ever made its way up two levels in the corporate ladder, not including my manager. I have a feeling the State Department is even more rigid with communication flow.
Re: Times New Roman is being phased out at the State Department, replaced by Calibri
#27Re: Times New Roman is being phased out at the State Department, replaced by Calibri
#28I never understand why someone in charge of making one specific simple choice, ends up making a remarkable dumb decision. Why, unless you are doing things unethically, would you go for a licensed font? It's not like this is a hard problem to solve more than adequately with open and more accessible alternatives.
Do you think Anthony Blinken knows what a licensed or unlicensed font is?
Do you think that Anthony Blinken came up with the idea of using Calibri?
Re: Times New Roman is being phased out at the State Department, replaced by Calibri
#29I never understand why someone in charge of making one specific simple choice, ends up making a remarkable dumb decision. Why, unless you are doing things unethically, would you go for a licensed font? It's not like this is a hard problem to solve more than adequately with open and more accessible alternatives.
Logistics probably. With out a doubt you know this font is deployed on most systems around the world. It’s maintained by one of the largest companies in the world. And its provenance can be assured.
Re: Times New Roman is being phased out at the State Department, replaced by Calibri
#30Interesting that the memo claims that sans serif fonts are preferred to serif fonts for screen reader users and people with disabilities. I thought the exact opposite was true. Is there any definitive research on which type of font is more accessible?
"Results showed a small, but significant advantage in response times for words written in a sans serif font." https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/20445911.2011.5... "Sans serif, monospaced and roman font styles significantly improved the reading performance over serif, proportional and italic fonts." https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/2513383.2513447 and here a whole book about that question https://library.…
Fascinating, thank you