Microsoft is replacing its default Calibri font with Aptos, a new sans serif typeface inspired by mid-20th-century Swiss typography. Microsoft, formerly Bierstadt, has been researching a new Aptos default font for two years. The software giant ordered five new custom fonts for Office in 2021, and the Aptos font was chosen as the default after years of feedback.
“Today we are entering the final phase of this major change, as Aptos will begin to appear as the new default font in Word, Outlook, PowerPoint and Excel for hundreds of millions of users,” said Si Daniels, Senior Manager of the program at Microsoft. blog post design today. “And over the next few months, it will be rolled out as the default option for all of our customers. »
Aptos was created by Steve Matteson, one of the leading designers. Matteson previously created Segoe, which was licensed by Microsoft to be used as the default font for Windows. Microsoft started using the Segoe UI font subset in Windows Vista, and they are still used in Windows 11 today. Matteson also developed the original Windows TrueType base fonts. Bierstadt was renamed Aptos after Matteson’s favorite unincorporated town of Santa Cruz, California.
The ends of the Aptos stroke are clearly clipped, but there’s a slight easing to avoid the solid grid-based typography you’d usually find in a font like this. Helvetica is the best-known example of this “grotesque sans serif” typeface, and Matteson also compared Microsoft’s Arial font here.
While Aptos will replace Calibri by default, Calibri will still come pre-installed at the top of the list of new fonts (only available on the web at first) along with its predecessors, Times New Roman and Arial.
Calibri has been the default Office font since the release of Office 2007, replacing Times New Roman at the time. Calibri is so widely used that it even became a key piece of evidence in a Pakistani Prime Minister’s corruption investigation in 2017. However, not everyone has been using Calibri for years.
Only the US State Department asked its staff to use Calibri for notes earlier this year. The State Department has been using Times New Roman instead since 2004. Since it took 16 years to switch to Calibri, they’ll probably wait another decade or more to finally switch to Aptos.
The other four fonts that aren’t selected as default fonts (Grandview, Seaford, Skeena, and Tenorite) will still be available in Office, and Microsoft is keeping the Bierstadt font name in the drop-down picker for those who are already familiar with it.
“Aptos is part of a larger wave of features coming to Microsoft 365. We’re working to make the program more expressive and inclusive,” says Daniels. There’s a new font-selection experience, along with new themes, colors, and backgrounds.
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