The Highway to Helvetica

Apparently, the Trump administration doesn’t know that sans serif typefaces are more straight. During the Biden years, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken ordered the department to start using the sans serif font Calibri “to improve accessibility for readers with disabilities, such as low vision and dyslexia, and people who use assistive technologies, such as screen readers.” After this transition, State Department memos and directives were being subjected to what can only be referred to as a woke font. But fear not, State Department employees, Calibri has been officially deported from your printer port. In modern parlance, the Calibri font has been officially undocumented. The return of the Times New Roman Empire is upon us. “While mostly framed as a matter of clarity and formality in presentation, Mr. Rubio’s directive to all diplomatic posts around the world blamed ‘radical’ diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility programs for what he said was a misguided and ineffective switch from the serif typeface Times New Roman to sans serif Calibri in official department paperwork.” (It goes without saying that all files must only be printed in black and white: Documents of color are not welcome.) NYT (Gift Article): At State Dept., a Typeface Falls Victim in the War Against Woke. “Serif typefaces are ‘generally perceived to connote tradition, formality and ceremony,’ Mr. Rubio’s order said, adding that they were used by the White House, Supreme Court and other state and federal government entities.” If this administration really wants a font that represents the current American government, I suggest they consider Comic Sans.