Overview
- Starting Wednesday, U.S. diplomats must use 14-point Times New Roman for all official documents, the department said in a statement to NPR.
- Rubio’s cable characterizes the 2023 move to Calibri as a wasteful DEIA effort and says the change is meant to restore decorum and credibility.
- Accessibility researchers told NPR that sans-serif fonts like Calibri are generally easier to read on screens and for people with low vision or dyslexia, and the department did not answer questions about potential accessibility impacts.
- Calibri designer Lucas de Groot called inclusivity a compliment, dismissed claims that his font is political, and noted Calibri was built for on-screen readability as Microsoft’s default from 2007 before Aptos replaced it in 2023.
- The department said the typographic shift aligns with the administration’s One Voice directive, follows Times New Roman’s prior use from 2004 to 2023, and reflects broader rollbacks of DEI programs reported by AP and LAist.