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Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri

(www.reuters.com)
386 points italophil | 1 comments | 10 Dec 25 00:08 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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zzo38computer ◴[10 Dec 25 06:40 UTC] No.46214792[source]▶
Calibri font has "I" and "l" the same, according to Wikipedia. A better font should avoid characters being too similar (such as "I" and "l" and "1").

Another issue is due to the font size and font metrics, how much space it will take up on the page, to be small enough to avoid wasting paper and ink but also not too small to read.

So, there are multiple issues in choosing the fonts; however, Times New Roman and Calibri are not the only two possible choices.

Maybe the government should make up their own (hopefully public domain) font, which would be suitable for their purposes (and avoiding needing proprietary fonts), and use that instead.

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jazzyjackson ◴[10 Dec 25 22:57 UTC] No.46225182[source]▶
> Maybe the government should make up their own

They have, public sans, courtesy of USWDS, and it does distinguish between l and I with a little hook/spur on lowercase el

https://public-sans.digital.gov/

https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Public+Sans?preview.text=1...

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wombatpm ◴[11 Dec 25 04:32 UTC] No.46227683[source]▶
Is USWDS still a thing? I thought they were DOGED out of existence.
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jazzyjackson ◴[11 Dec 25 04:39 UTC] No.46227731[source]▶
Good question, with a little searching I found that, in true DOGE fashion, there exists an executive order announcing a new "National Design Studio" which is tasked with updating USWDS

So why fonts are being managed by Rubio and not the Chief Design Officer is anyone's guess

https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/08/fact-sheet-pr...

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sailfast ◴[11 Dec 25 05:14 UTC] No.46227920[source]▶
Yeah it’s fascist looking as hell, and they’re the ones that have been registering all these rando program domains. So, so dumb - if only because it’s redundant and wasteful.

https://ndstudio.gov/

With such inspiring copy as “What's the biggest brand in the world? If you said Trump, you're not wrong. But what's the foundation of that brand? One that's more globally recognized than practically anything else. It's the nation…where he was born. It's the United States of America.” how can you go wrong?

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Terr_ ◴[11 Dec 25 06:55 UTC] No.46228443[source]▶
For anyone sharing my confusion: Yes, that cringetastic text (and borderline Hatch-Act violation) is up there, but it's a different linked domain:

https://americabydesign.gov/

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1. jrjeksjd8d ◴[11 Dec 25 09:57 UTC] No.46229503[source]▶
The funniest part of this site is talking about how important design is, and then having one bad quality video of a US flag and a bunch of giant text fading into view while scrolling. It's giving "graphic design is my passion"