Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri

Post by oneeyedpigeon » Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 11:05 AM UTC

moltopoco wrote: post #469

chinathrow wrote: post #419

> U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday ordered diplomats to return to using Times New Roman font in official communications, calling his predecessor Antony Blinken's decision to adopt Calibri a "wasteful" diversity move, according to an internal department cable seen by Reuters. What a waste of government time and spending.

From the article: > A cable dated December 9 sent to all U.S. diplomatic posts said that typography shapes the professionalism of an official document and Calibri is informal compared to serif typefaces. > "To restore decorum and professionalism to the Department’s written work products and abolish yet another wasteful DEIA program, the Department is returning to Times New Roman as its standard typeface," the cable s…

Post by oneeyedpigeon » Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 11:08 AM UTC

bulbar wrote: post #382

zzo38computer wrote: post #55

Calibri font has "I" and "l" the same, according to Wikipedia. A better font should avoid characters being too similar (such as "I" and "l" and "1"). Another issue is due to the font size and font metrics, how much space it will take up on the page, to be small enough to avoid wasting paper and ink but also not too small to read. So, there are multiple issues in choosing the fonts; however, Times New Roman and Calibr…

Nothing is more inefficient than the secretary of state thinking about and conducting meetings about the font used in documents. It just doesn't matter in the sense that it "doesn't move the needle". I expect the leaders of a government deciding on matters that have a real impact on people's live, not on stuff that from a practical point of view is totally irrelevant.

Post by oneeyedpigeon » Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 11:11 AM UTC

moltopoco wrote: post #473

bulbar wrote: post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's really not. The used font just doesn't move the needle regarding the global impression. 99% of people never ever think or care about the font they use. What else should be decided on on the highest level: spacing, padding, allowance of the Oxford comma? It is useful that somebody thinks about that stuff, just not the highest level of the government. That's like the CEO of Microsoft having meeting about coding co…

The irony here is that Steve Jobs _did_ actually think about fonts. Sure, he certainly didn't think about Times New Roman, but I disagree with the idea that someone at the top should not have time to write a quick memo about trivialities if it bothers them.

Post by oneeyedpigeon » Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 11:12 AM UTC

moomoo11 wrote: post #415

echelon wrote: post #412

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know the fonts on our roads are standardized? And a lot of other official documents? Designing a font that will be public domain forever costs next to nothing. It's a one-time cost that pays dividends into the future and that will probably outlive us. The government would create something standard and accessible, and anyone could use it. No encumbered licensing. I think companies refreshing design systems is a wa…

I don't think you understand how gov spends money lol. What you think is "next to nothing" will 99% turn into $300 million dollars and 10 years later about $4 billion will have been spent. And 100% there are people waiting to milk the gov doing this. Maybe you are one of them? In that case...

Post by oneeyedpigeon » Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 11:16 AM UTC

nonethewiser wrote: post #310

thayne wrote: post #233

> calling his predecessor Antony Blinken's decision to adopt Calibri a "wasteful" diversity move And changing it back to Times New Roman isn't wasteful?

Blinken did change it to Calibri at the recommendation of the diversity and inclusion office. Whether or not it was justified is another matter, but there is no question it was a DEI initiative.