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Arielle Pardes

Gear
May 1, 2021 7:00 AM


EVEN CALIBRI’S CREATOR IS GLAD THAT MICROSOFT IS MOVING ON

Microsoft is switching up its default font for the first time since 2007.
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Nothing is wrong with Calibri. It’s simply that after almost two decades,
Microsoft is ready for a fresh look.Photograph: Microsoft

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For almost 15 years, Calibri has reigned as the default and therefore dominant
font choice for Microsoft systems. It has appeared countless times in
unformatted Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, and Excel spreadsheets, a
typographical reprieve for the decision-paralyzed. But now there’s a new sans
serif in town. Actually, five of them: Microsoft announced that it plans to
replace Calibri as the default font with one of five new typefaces it released
this week.

It’s the end of an era, but Calibri’s designer, Lucas de Groot, has no qualms
about letting his typeface rest for a bit. “It’s a relief,” he says.

De Groot created Calibri in the early 2000s, as part of a collection of fonts
for enhanced screen reading. “I designed it in quite a hurry,” he says. “I had
some sketches already, so I adapted those and added these rounded corners to get
some design feeling in it.” For a long time, computer displays lacked the pixel
density to faithfully render all fonts; rounded corners appeared not as an arch
but a stair. That changed in 2000 with Microsoft’s new ClearType technology,
which optimized the resolution on LCD screens and made fonts like de Groot’s
easier to read. The company liked Calibri enough to make it the default for
Windows Vista in 2007.



Since then, Calibri has performed its duties with absolute modesty. It never
became a typographical darling like Helvetica, but it didn’t create many
enemies, either. “We’re not seeing customers turn against it, which does happen
with fonts,” says Simon Daniels, the principal program manager at Microsoft
Office Design. Nothing is wrong with Calibri. It’s simply that after almost two
decades, Daniels figured it might be time to try something new.

“I often think of this Roger Black quote, which says that fonts are basically
like clothing for your ideas,” says Daniels. “So what we’re saying is that
Calibri has gone out of fashion.”



Rather than settle into a new look right away, though, Microsoft is giving
itself some time to consider the options. Daniels commissioned five new fonts
from leading type designers, each one bringing a fresh take on what a default
font could be: Tenorite is crisp and circular, with round punctuation marks.
Bierstadt is more restrained, paying homage to mid-century Swiss typography.
Skeena is a “humanist” sans serif; Grandview, an “industrial” one. Seaford takes
inspiration from the shape of armchairs: comfortable but ergonomic.




Microsoft is inviting people to give feedback on which new font should replace
Calibri.

Photograph: Microsoft

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All five fonts are now available to use on Microsoft products that are connected
to the cloud, and the company is inviting people to give feedback on which they
like best. It will announce its selection of the new default later this year.
Daniels can’t recall another time that Microsoft has crowd-tested its typefaces
this way, but he believes it will lead to a better decision. Plus, providing
people with options minimizes some of the pressure. “You give somebody one, then
there’s a good chance it becomes polarizing,” Daniels says. “But if you give
people five, almost everyone will have a favorite.”



And make no mistake, the public has feelings about fonts. People have already
begun weighing in on Twitter, with strong opinions about nearly every option:
“The G on Grandview is awesome.” “Maybe not Grandview?” “Awful kerning for
Bierstadt.” “Tenorite is too blocky.” Several people raised specific concerns
about legibility for people with poor vision or dyslexia. Others wondered why
the big fuss over what the text looks like on Microsoft products: “What's wrong
with Calibri? It looks good and works just fine.”

“What’s wrong with Calibri? Nothing,” says Gail Anderson, a designer at the
School of Visual Arts. “It’s not a fancy-dress typeface. You don’t need to check
the mirror before leaving the house when you’re using Calibri.” The font, she
says, doesn’t offend her. “It’s probably just not my first choice.” As for which
of the new typefaces she would use instead, she diplomatically declined to
choose a favorite.



Tenorite is crisp and circular, with round punctuation marks.

Photograph: Microsoft

Other designers say that Calibri worked well in the context for which it was
designed—but now that screen pixel density is no longer an issue, a default font
can take more liberties. “Calibri, I think, can be overly dense,” says Tobias
Frere-Jones, the design director at Frere-Jones Type, which created Seaford. His
new font has wider spacing and more accentuated shapes: The round letters are
more round, the square letters more square, so that each letter appears more
distinctly in a word or a sentence. “It’s very effective in making word shapes
more intelligible,” he says. “And in the last year, as screens became more and
more the place where we live, it seemed more urgent to make something that was
kinder to our eyes.”

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De Groot was surprised by some of the new designs Microsoft chose, which he
criticized as chasing typographical fashion trends. “My absolute favorite is
Seaford,” he says. “It has a strong voice, which I love. But of course, a strong
design voice might also pose a danger. One of the things I tried to do with
Calibri is make it kind of neutral.”

The average person might not pick up on that “voice,” or even notice that their
default font has changed at all. (On Twitter, a few people replied to
Microsoft’s announcement saying they couldn’t tell the difference between the
five new fonts.) But designers say that each carefully designed shape, with its
precise curves and kerning, makes a difference in how people communicate online.
“What we make is the vehicle that people’s thoughts will ride on,” says
Frere-Jones. Now, the only thing left to do is to choose which of the five new
fonts sends the right message.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Arielle Pardes is a senior writer at WIRED, where she works on stories about our
relationship to our technology. Previously she was a senior editor for VICE. She
is an alumna of the University of Pennsylvania and lives in San Francisco.
Senior Writer
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