Microsoft is replacing its Calibri default font with Aptos, a new sans-serif typeface inspired by mid-20th-century Swiss typography. Microsoft, formerly known as Bierstadt, has been looking for its new Aptos default font for the past few years. The software giant rolled out five new custom fonts for Office in 2021, and the Aptos font was chosen as the default after years of feedback.
Today we are starting the final phase of this major transition, where Aptos will begin to appear as the new default font in Word, Outlook, PowerPoint and Excel for millions of users, explains Si Daniels, a principal program manager at Microsoft. Are. Design a blog post today. “And, over the next few months it will become the default for all of our customers.”
Aptos was created by Steve Matteson, a prominent type designer. Matteson had previously created Segoe, which was licensed by Microsoft for use as the Windows default font. Microsoft first started using the Segoe UI font subfamily in Windows Vista, and it is still used in Windows 11 today. Matteson also worked on the development of the original Windows TrueType core font. Bierstadt was renamed Aptos after Matteson’s favorite unincorporated town in Santa Cruz, California.
Aptos’s stroke ends are very clearly cut, but there’s some subtle softness to it to avoid the rigid grid-based typography you typically find with fonts like this. Helvetica is the best-known example of this type of “grotesque san-serif” font, and Matteson also compares it to Microsoft’s Arial font here.
While Aptos will replace Calibri as the default, Calibri will still be pre-pinned at the top of a new font menu (initially available only on the web) alongside 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 became a key piece of evidence in the corruption investigation surrounding Pakistan’s prime minister in 2017. However, not everyone has been using Calibri for years.
The US State Department instructed its staff to use Calibri for memos earlier this year. The State Department had been using Times New Roman instead since 2004. Given that it took them a full 16 years to switch to Calibri, they’ll probably wait another decade or more to finally switch to Aptos.
The other four fonts that weren’t selected as the default Grandview, Seaford, Skeena, and Tenorite will still be available in Office, and Microsoft is also placing the Bierstadt font name in the drop-down picker for those who already have it. Get familiar with it.
“Aptos is just one part of a broader wave of features coming to Microsoft 365. We’re focused on making the software more expressive and inclusive,” explains Daniels. “There’s a redesigned font picker experience along with new themes, colors, and backgrounds.”
