In times of political division, it can seem like just about everything, no matter how trivial, is fodder for debate.
Recently, typefaces became a hot-button issue, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the State Department would be changing a Biden-era policy stipulating that the Calibri typeface would be used on official documents.
Rubio is pivoting back to Times New Roman — which the department had used for many years before the Biden administration switched to Calibri. Rubio said the return to Times New Roman had to do with President Donald Trump’s war against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
For some context on how these typefaces got caught up in all this, The Show spoke with Karen Zimmerman, an illustration and design professor at the University of Arizona School of Art. As Zimmerman explained, it’s all a question of readability.
Full conversation
KAREN ZIMMERMAN: Calibri is a sans serif typeface, so it doesn’t have marks on the ends and the tops of the of the letter forms that we call serifs. So it’s a more simplified type form, and so it’s easier — especially on screens — to read.
So the technical way that the font is designed, it’s much more accessible for people with low vision or to be reading on a screen than a typeface that has a serif, which is Times New Roman.
Also, because of the spacing in between the letters, that also helps in the legibility or readability.
SAM DINGMAN: Am I right that there’s more space between the letters in Calibri versus Times New Roman?
ZIMMERMAN: I think more and maybe more uniform. With Times New Roman, some letters are what’s called kerned closer together.
DINGMAN: Got it. And let’s dig in a little bit more, if we can, on this question of serifs, because that seems to be where a lot of the conversation about this has really been focused.
One way that I have been trying to think about this is if listeners think about the letter T. In Calibri, you would just see the straight trunk of the tree and then a straight line across the top as the top of the tree.
Whereas in Times New Roman, on the left and right sides of the top of the tree there’s these two little points hanging down, and at the base of the trunk you kind of see the roots spreading out a little bit at the bottom.
ZIMMERMAN: That’s a really great sort of metaphor to think about, the serifs. And they’re kind of leftover of the hand. So when people were using like a quill or a pen and they were writing, those serifs would have been part of that stroke.
DINGMAN: What about Times New Roman, specifically? What is the backstory of that font?
ZIMMERMAN: Times New Roman is what’s called a traditional old style. So there’s old style and then traditional old style. So all typefaces have sort of classifications. And Calibri would be classified as modern.
And Times New Roman was invented around the ’30s by Stanley Morrison in England for the Times newspaper. And he worked with a type designer that worked on that, and they looked backwards in history for other typefaces, finding one that he thought would be more appropriate for the printing of the day, which was letterpress, I believe.
DINGMAN: And so if a typeface like Calibri is classified, as you mentioned, as a modern typeface, is the lack of serifs — a sans serif font — a modern phenomenon in the literal sense?
ZIMMERMAN: I think there were sans serif typefaces that were used earlier as well. But I think what happened was there was the modernist movement, where things were simplified and streamlined, and I think that that is where the popularity of the sans serif typefaces came. A good example is Paul Renner’s Futura modernism.
When we think of modernist houses and new inventions of fast trains and going to the moon — those inventions that were happening in the ’30s, ’40s, ’60s, just sort of the change in our lifestyles, I guess.
DINGMAN: And what about Times New Roman? I mean, I know you mentioned that originally it was thought to be in line with the letterpress technology.
ZIMMERMAN: Well, I think that Times New Roman is really ... what appeals to people to use Times New Roman is that it has a certain association with newspapers and truth, and it’s more formal. It worked well with the printing because it was much darker. It had much more of a weight on the paper with the ink than the font that they had been using previously.
DINGMAN: To go back to this question, the reasoning that the administration gave for switching back to Times New Roman from Calibri was that it was part of their anti-DEI slate of initiatives.
What is it about serifs that makes them harder to read for folks with visual impairments?
ZIMMERMAN: When they’re looking at the font, there’s less contrast between the white of the paper and the font because there’s more information. So I think especially at small sizes, it just can get more blurry. Whereas without the serifs, it’s almost like, I think you get less noise with the sans serif typeface.
DINGMAN: In the simplest sense, I suppose if a letter has serifs on it, there’s more letter.
ZIMMERMAN: Right.
DINGMAN: And less background.
ZIMMERMAN: Exactly. That space in between the two letters is not as geometric.
DINGMAN: Interesting. Well, you teach at the University of Arizona in illustration, design and animation. Tell me a little bit about how you talk to your students about typefaces and how they should make their selections.
ZIMMERMAN: So I want them to research who designed the font, what its history is, where it’s from, because I feel like the more that they know about the typeface, the better they can use it. So if they understand how and when it was invented and what for purpose, especially the technology.
Like, was it a letterpress, something that would be printed on letterpress? Or is it a digital font? Are there things they have to consider about how it’s going to be reproduced? Is it going to be printed? Is it going to be a woodcut? Is it going to be something only seen on the web? Is it going to be seen at fast speeds, like a typeface that you’d be using on a sign for a billboard?
So knowing the ins and outs and the history of the typeface, I think gives them a more informed reason to choose one font over another.
DINGMAN: So last question for you, Karen. If you were deciding what typeface to use to communicate on official federal matters, what would you choose? If it was up to you?
ZIMMERMAN: Gosh, well, there are so many wonderful typefaces. It would be a really hard choice, but I think I would take an opportunity to have a custom typeface designed by someone, so that the government would be the only people that would have this particular typeface to use for their official documents.
DINGMAN: That’s a great idea. And would there be serifs?
ZIMMERMAN: I would make it in a typeface that had both a serif and a sans serif that worked well together.
DINGMAN: Oh, OK.
ZIMMERMAN: Because often in documents, if you want to have changes in hierarchy or changes in the type of information, you might want to use a serif for certain parts, maybe the body copy, and then a sans serif for maybe the headers or vice versa. And then you would have these two beautiful typefaces that would work well together.
DINGMAN: In a time of politicization of typefaces, a unifying vision from my guest Karen Zimmerman, who is the interim director of the University of Arizona School of Art and is a professor there in illustration, design and animation. Karen, thank you for this conversation.
ZIMMERMAN: Thank you. It was fascinating. Fun to talk to you.
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