A font is a set of characters that share a common design. These characters include letters, numbers, punctuation marks...
Fonts
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Microsoft, the tech titan, has been using Calibri as the default font across all of its Office applications and services since 2007. This font was chosen to replace Times New Roman and Arial, both of which came before it. This time, there’s a new default font coming, and it's called 'Aptos', a sans serif typeface.
Having simple letterforms and strokes, Aptos is meant to be easily readable, thanks to its varying geometric shapes, is bold, well-defined, directive, and constrained.
And due to having no decorative lines or tapers, but with subtle circular squares within the letters’ contours, the typeface allows higher legibility, especially at small sizes.
The path towards choosing Aptos can be traced back to 2021.
At that time, Microsoft released five new fonts it commissioned as possible replacements for Calibri.
The new fonts - Tenorite, Bierstadt, Skeena, Seaford, and Grandview - were added to the drop-down font picker in Microsoft 365 applications and services since then.
Microsoft then listened to feedback, and chose the one that resonated most.
And based on Microsoft's data, Bierstadt was the most popular out of the five, and because of that, Microsoft wants it to become the default font to officially replace Calibri.
But before that, Microsoft renamed Bierstadt to Aptos.
As explained by Microsoft in a Medium blog post:
"The typeface was created by Steve Matteson, one of the world’s leading type designers."
"His previous work includes the development of the original Windows TrueType core fonts and the creation of Segoe. Steve renamed the typeface he designed from Bierstadt to Aptos after his favorite unincorporated town in Santa Cruz, California, whose widely ranging landscape and climate epitomizes the font’s versatility."
"The fog, beaches, redwood trees, and mountains of Aptos summed up everything that he loved about California. Getting away from digital and evoking the outdoors was akin to getting back to pencil and paper. Drawing letters by hand would play a pivotal role in Steve’s creative process."
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"We changed. The technology we use every day has changed. And so, our search for the perfect font for higher-resolution screens began. The font needed to have sharpness, uniformity, and be great for display type. It was exciting at times, but also intimidating."
Following the introduction of the font, Microsoft is making it the default font for Word, PowerPoint, and Excel documents, and it will also be used in Outlook.
Since releasing the font means that it needs to appeal to different test, users can still change their default font in all Microsoft 365 applications, if you’re not a fan of the new look.
Microsoft also noted that Aptos shall not be automatically applied to any existing documents, so users don’t need to worry about sudden formatting changes or other potential issues.
And for fans of the other four contenders, Microsoft is keeping Grandview, Seaford, Skeena, and Tenorite in the font picker. And Calibri, the font it replaced, is pinned to the top near its predecessors, Times New Roman and Arial.
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