"The Calibri font is the latest government worker to be fired from the Trump Administration for its association with diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility. In an action that reads like a story from The Onion (and will certainly be fodder for Saturday Night Live or South Park), U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has banned the font and ordered diplomats to use Times New Roman for official documents instead, the New York Times reported after obtaining a leaked memo on the topic."
"Rubio's memo has designated Times New Roman as his tenure's official font, stating it will "restore decorum and professionalism" to documents. Rubio did admit in the memo that Calibri wasn't the "most illegal, immoral, radical or wasteful" example of DEI to his mind's eye, but he still berated the font for contributing to "the degradation" of the State Department's official correspondence."
"Many people across the political spectrum dislike Calibri (according to an informal survey of TechCrunch writers) but all the same, that's a harsh criticism for a font. Apparently, there were rumblings within the department in 2023 when Calibri was first adopted, the Times reported. Font choices inspire the same kind of love/hate passions as sports teams. Everyone has their favorites and their rivalries."
Secretary of State Marco Rubio banned the Calibri font and ordered diplomats to use Times New Roman for official documents, saying the change will restore decorum and professionalism. Calibri was adopted in 2023 by the department's DEI office to improve readability for vision-impaired readers; sans-serif fonts like Calibri have cleaner lines and slightly wider letter spacing, which can aid people with dyslexia and low vision, though research on serif impact remains inconclusive. The DEI office was disbanded under Rubio amid anti-DEI directives. Font choices provoked internal rumblings and public dislike across the political spectrum.
Read at TechCrunch
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