Calibri’s founder is also pleased that Microsoft is making progress

For almost 15 over the years, Calibri has dominated as the default and therefore dominant font for Microsoft systems. Countless times have appeared in unformatted Word documents, PowerPoint presentations and Excel spreadsheets, a typographical recovery that has halted decisions. But now there is a new sans serif in town. Actually, five of them: Microsoft he announced He plans to replace the caliber as the default font with the five new fonts he released this week.

It’s the end of an era, but Calibri’s designer, Lucas de Groot, has no hesitation in letting his typography rest a bit. “It’s soothing,” he says.

De Groot created Calibri in the early 2000s as part of a collection of fonts to improve screen reading. “I designed it pretty quickly,” he says. “I already had some sketches, so I adjusted them and added these rounded corners to get the feel of the design.” For a long time, the pixel density on computer screens lacked the ability to faithfully render all fonts; the rounded corners did not appear as arches but as stairs. That changed in 2000 with Microsoft’s new ClearType technology, which optimized the resolution on LCD screens and made de Groot-like fonts easier to read. The company liked Caliber enough to become the default Windows Vista in 2007.

Since then, Caliber has fulfilled his duties with absolute humility. It never became a typographic favorite like ever before Helvetica, but did not create many enemies. “We don’t put customers at odds with that, and that happens with fonts,” says Simon Daniels, Microsoft Office Design’s chief program manager. Nothing oker With Calibri. After almost two decades, Daniel thought it might be time to try something new.

“I often think of this quote from Roger Black, who says fonts are basically like clothes for your ideas,” says Daniel. “So what we’re saying is that Calibri is out of fashion.”

Instead of immediately settling for a new look, Microsoft is giving itself some time to explore options. Daniels commissioned five new fonts from major designers of the type each recovering the default font: Tenorita is crisp and circular with round punctuation marks. Bierstadt is more limited, paying homage to mid-century Swiss typography. Skeena sans serif is a “humanist”; Grandview, “industrial.” Seaford is inspired by the shape of the armchairs: comfortable but ergonomic.