Microsoft is changing the font used by default in applications in its Office suite. After 15 years of good and loyal service, Calibri gives way to Aptos, its elegant and well-thought-out replacement.
A font is a central element of a software’s graphical interface. Guaranteeing both its readability and its visual identity, it can capture the hearts and disenchantment of users. Since 2007, Calibri has been the hallmark of Microsoft’s Office suite, as the default font for its various applications, and has become a familiar landmark for many users.
But times are changing, and the Redmond firm has wanted to find a replacement for several years now. In 2021, the company launched a competition to designate the successor to Calibri and put up five candidates, the Tenorite, Bierstadt, Skeena, Seaford and Grandview fonts. These character sets were made available to Office users in order to collect their impressions and opinions.
It was ultimately Bierstadt which garnered the approval of the majority and which was chosen to become the new default font for Microsoft Office applications, changing its name to Aptos in the process. Officially announced by Microsoft in summer 2023Aptos should therefore be deployed gradually in the following months for Microsoft 365 users.
Aptos: a modern and elegant font for Microsoft Office
The newcomer was created by Steve Matteson, the designer already behind Segoe UI, the Windows font. He renamed his creation Aptos after a city in California and drew the characters by hand. The new font aims above all for readability and professionalism, with simple, distinct letter shapes and subtle curves on the characters, in order to make them pleasant and easily discernible when reading on screen. Note for example the judicious choice of including a small tail at the bottom of the lowercase letter L, in order to avoid common confusions with the capital i (example: l I).
The Aptos font also offers different styles, with or without serif, weight levels and spacing, to adapt to various typographic or creative needs.
As promised, Aptos is gradually making its appearance within the Office suite applications, with updates to Microsoft 365. So be attentive the next time you open Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook, you may notice that the new font has found its place in the list of fonts offered by your favorite office applications.
This little typographic refresh is welcome, especially as the new font is particularly elegant, pleasing to the eye and comfortable to use. It participates in the continued modernization of the Office suite, which remains by far Microsoft’s most successful and coherent product, and we even hope that Aptos will become the default font for Windows.