What Type Of Bonkers Is This...?

Mr. Marco Rubio, Esq. hath decreed that Official Documents, at least those in his area of the USA's governance, shalt not use Calibri typeface, replacing it with Times Roman..

Not for aesthetics, personal taste or other logical reason, but apparently for some "political" reason.

The BBC News programme asked Calibri's Dutch inventor his views. He thought it rather amusing but also rather sad.

He devised it to be easy to read on computer screens. It's a sans-serif typeface similar to that used here, probably Ariel or Verdana.

Times Roman, with its serifs, was designed to be easy to read in large blocks of print in newspapers in books; as are the slightly similar Baskerville and Bookman Old Style.

(All these fonts are in the standard MS 'Word' library.)

.....

Reminds me a bit of the stuff-and-nonsense a privatised, former UK-government, agency thought clever. According to friends who had worked for it, it hired a "brand consultancy" to invent an awkward company name and far more wastefully, a "company typeface" that turned out indistinguishable from the Ariel already on all of its office computers.

All of which shows that senior politicians and company directors alike can be as naive as the most fashion-conscious teenagers, when they spot the latest sociological or commercial "must-have".

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SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

Typefaces with serifs can be more difficult to read, especially for those with dyslexia. The RNIB recommends Ariel point 12 as being the most accessible typeface.

This man has too much time on his hands.

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@SunshineGirl I find sans-serif fonts harder in large wodges of print, but easier on things like text-messages, signs and technical drawings.

The worst, I think, in any use is 'Century Gothic', and it seems to have faded from fashion. The letter 't' in lower-case is its most noticeable, a stark, tail-less cross shaped like the Christian symbol. Its form, and seeing it first on American publications, inspired me to call it "American Kindergarten".

I suppose it will be very much a matter of individual preference as well as physical ease.

By sheer chance the matter came up again on the radio as I typed that.

Rubio believes Calibri to be too "DEI", and that Times New Roman is more professional with more decorum. Oh, and he specifies 14pt size too, so quite large when printed, at 4mm high for capitals and tall letters. (I tested this by printing that last sentence.)

RedBaron · M

@ArishMell What’s a wodge? Is that actually a word?

SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

@ArishMell "Woke" fonts . . it had to happen. They'll spend millions of tax dollars altering stationery just to satisfy one man's vanity, then put it all back again when he is gone and forgotten.

ninalanyon · 61-69, T

@RedBaron It's an informal British English term for a clump, a handful, a lump, that sort of thing.

ElwoodBlues · M

@SunshineGirl Our son was dyslexic, and san serif fonts were the bane of his elementary school existence. Here's an obvious problem:

Some fonts are even worse!

Another problem is more subtle. A rabbit is the same animal, whether facing left or right. To some 2nd graders, b and d are the same animal facing different directions. Our son made that mistake ALL the time.

A well designed serif font will subtly break the mirror symmetry between b & d and p & q. Whatever designer laid down the law about how great Arial is, it's hard to believe they raised a dyslexic child.

SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

@ElwoodBlues Thank you for explaining that, it's an interesting perspective.

I made a generalisation based on a colleague who uses sans serif to "declutter" the page and improve her focus.

MartinII · 70-79, M

@SunshineGirl I very much doubt if the US Secretary of State has much spare time.

dancingtongue · 80-89, M

@SunshineGirl I had not heard that about dyslexia, but can see why it might be an issue. For those of us who preceded Boomers, anything below 14 pt becomes difficult to read, and sans serif (except, apparently, for the dyslexic) makes it easier as well. But then current generations aren't even taught cursive.

But you are right, if Marco Rubio is wasting his time on such issues our foreign policy is in even worse shape than I thought. I presume, however, that it was a recommendation from some staffer asking for his endorsement and his signature is mostly a "whatever" gesture.